For Independence Day, we saw the world-famous Monmouth/Independence parade (actually it has miraculously stayed the same since the last time I saw it 5 years ago. But hey we're a small town, we don't change much). Then we BBQed at my mom's house (also world-famous). Tany
a even made home-made elephant ears that were SOOO good. Later, we went down to Riverview Park for fireworks. Mariah loved them. She was a little scared at first because they were loud, but then she had fun pointing at them as they lit up the sky.
On Monday, we went to the Woodburn Outlet Mall. I love Oregon: no sales tax. We bought up Carter's and Children's Place. We found Mariah a super cute pink and white striped bathing suit. Now she's ready for the beach! On the way home we stopped at Yang's Teriyaki for dinner. If you ever go to Oregon, please put this at high priority for places to eat. It's a little hole-in-the-wall teriyaki joint on the outside of WOU campus in Monmouth. A huge serving of teriyaki and chicken costs under $5. It's so good.
On Tuesday we ate at Spirit Mountain Casino buffet for lunch. My family went there all the time when I was growing up. Apparently they re-did the whole restaurant and it's twice the size it used to be. Then we drove all the way up to Tillamook to see the Cheese Factory. It was glorious. Unlimited free samples of cheese. Plus you can buy any of the 38 different flavors of ice cream. I had peach, Brian had the Triple Taster (chocolate, peanut butter, and some sort of brownie-cow concoction). The drive was so pretty!
On Wednesday we went up to Portland and spent the day with my sister Monica. We toured Portland, went to the zoo, ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant, and walked around Portland State University. Portland was cool. We wanted to see a few other places (the bookstore and the rose gardens) but we ran out of time. Next time.
On Thursday we drove the coast. We went to Newport. The beach was perfect. No clouds and it was actually kind of warm. We just put our feet in the water but that's about it. Mariah HATES sand to touch her. I don't know if she had such a fun time. She pretty much cuddled with me so she wouldn't be put down. After a little while at the beach we walked along the bay where all the shops are. We bought an obscenely large bag of salt water taffy (and subsequently left in Oregon after our trip, dang it) and a magnet (we collect magnets from everywhere we go).
On Friday, we went to Silver Falls to hike the Ten Falls trail. It was so beautiful. It took about 3 hours to do the whole thing. Mariah was in the back pack carrier the whole time and even slept half the hike. I'm not much of a hiker, but this wasn't too bad. The scenery is worth the work.
On Saturday, we went to the wedding of my really good friends Nick and Catherine Freeburg. The wedding was really nice. Catherine was such a beautiful bride. It was fun seeing all my friends too.
On Sunday we spent some time with the family. We BBQed again and said our goodbyes.
It was a lot of fun going to Oregon and showing Brian all the places I used to go. We'll be back soon!
