It all started months ago when the travel bug bit me and I began pestering Mom and Dad that I wanted to "see the world". After much debate I was able to convince them that now was as good a time as any, so, the planning began. Mom started by checking things out on the internet. With the combination of great short notice air fares and our busy fall schedule, it became apparent that we were going sooner rather than later. I was finally going to "see" part of the world.
We left out of Dallas on the afternoon of Thursday October 7th. I don't know if you have ever been to DFW airport before, but it is HUGE. There are planes everywhere, including driving on bridges over the highway into the place! My eyes were coming out of their sockets and my neck was sore from goggling around so much. We made it through security with no problems, although Mom and Dad had to take their shoes off and I didn't. When we finally made it to the gate I was fascinated by the comings and goings off the ground crews servicing the aircraft. I'm sure glad they know what they are doing! After we had boarded the plane and settled in, the flight attendant noticed we were in the row ahead of the emergency exit and my car seat was in the way. We had to swap rows at the last minute with the people in front of us to meet the airline regulations. Since we had the same seats booked for our trip back we knew we would have to do it again. Oh well, beats walking to Oregon. I was excited to finally fly and it was not dissapointing. When the captian taxied out onto the runway and hit those throttles it was amazing. I couldn't stop giggling and was saying "go faster, faster!" When the plane finally lifted off it was fun watching everything getting smaller and smaller underneath us. Since it was an evening flight I fell asleep and missed the landing so you will have to ask Mom or Dad how that went.
After a leasurly breakfast at the hotel Friday morning we headed out to see the sights. The first things I noticed was the difference in the scenery. The trees in Oregon are different than the trees in Texas and the there is a lot more change of elevation in Portland than Dallas. Our first stop was at my great-grandad Adys old house. Our next stop was at Grandads church where he put in what has become an award winning rose garden. He started years ago with cuttings from his own garden and expanded it over time into what it is today. You can see the garden HERE. All that gardening and visiting was hard work and we were getting hungry so we went over to Dads uncles print shop to meet up and get some lunch. See me drive a forklift HERE. Friday night we went to our friends the Smiths house for dinner. Steve and Susanne used to live in Texas and have since moved to Portland. I had a great time playing with their daughter Adrienne and her cats. The Smiths have a neat old house they have been fixing up since they moved in. They let me run entirely amok in their home. What great people.
On Saturday morning we headed out for Auburn, Washington to meet with Mom's cousins Pamela and Sarah. You can see their picture HERE. After our visit with Pamela and Sarah I was worn out! I zonked out in the car and Mom and Dad thought I looked funny so they took a picture. See if you agree HERE. Saturday afternoon we headed up to Seattle to see Dad's cousin Jean and her family. They have a really neat gaming store called Fire and Sword Hobbies that Kyle runs full time. It has all kinds of neat stuff for a boy to get into and keep his parents busy trying to keep him out. We had a great visit with them and then decided to get some supper while we were still in Seattle. Mom wanted some seafood so we found an applicable restaraunt and had a great meal. We asked where the shrimp came from and wouldn't you know, it was from Florida! Right next to Peuget Sound and they bring the seafood in from the Gulf. Go figure.
Sunday morning we decided to do some more local sight seeing and went by the house Dad lived in as a boy and also saw his other granparents house. The pictures are HERE. Since it was down the street we went and played in Laurelhurst Park and then over to our friend Terri's house for lunch. You can see those pictures HERE. Sunday afternoon we went to Dad's aunt Patty's house for a family get together. Most everyone was there and we had a great time. Watch us party HERE.
Mom and Dad wanted to do some sight seeing around Oregon so we used Monday as our free day for exploring. Dad's family used to vacation at Cannon Beach when he was a boy so we went there first. See me get my toes wet HERE. We then drove down to Arch Cape for lunch and had a great homemade sandwich at the Arch Cape Cafe. After lunch we headed up the coast to Seaside where we saw all the kites in the air for the kite festival. Check out the pictures HERE. After getting our fill of the kites we continued up the coast to Astoria. When we saw the big bridge over the Columbia River we just had to cross. Once we were in Washington we stopped so Mom could get a picture with a genuine Washington apple tree. You can view the evidence HERE.
We didn't have a lot of time on Tuesday before we had to get to the airport so we dicided to keep it simple. We did some drive by tourism around Portland and stopped by the cemetaries where Dad's grandparents are buried. In our running around Dad spotted a Mercedes Benz Unimog and just had to stop and take a picture. Mom had spotted a cool Harley Davidson in Astoria on our trip up the coast on Monday and both sets of photos can be seen HERE.
Our friends the Lastingers bought me a disposable camera to take on the trip. Mom and Dad broke it out for me on Monday to take pictures of the kites at Seaside. Please enjoy my first attempt at photography HERE. All the pictures are untouched and exactly as I took them. Only two were left out. One of Mom's nostril and one of an empty chair at the airport.
I hope you have enjoyed my trip down vacation lane and I want to thank everybody that helped make my first trip to "see the world" an unforgetable experience. It was so nice to finally meet you all and see the Pacific Northwest. I hope we can do it again sooner rather than later. Love Nick.
Drop me a line at: nick@justady.com
Please click HERE to go back to my page.
