Oregon/Washington Road Trip: Day 8

Saturday morning we said goodbye to Port Townsend and our family and headed down 101 to Rockaway Beach, Oregon.

The drive took us quite a long time {mostly due to a horrible accident} but we got there in 1 piece. Well, 2 pieces, since Gary & I are not connected at the hip.

Cool bridge above and below

I could have a photo album of just pictures of me driving on this trip thanks to my hubby.

Lunch at Slater's Diner...lots of food that kept us full until we ate dinner at 9pm that night.

Hello Oregon!!

So we were right on schedule and about 30 minutes from our hotel when a HUGE accident happened.  It seriously happened about 10 minutes ahead of us and we were at a standstill for 15 minutes before Gary got out to walk down and see what was going on.  The news was being passed down the road that there was a horrible accident and that Life Flight was being brought in.

No traffic was getting through either way for at least an hour or two.

That left us with 2 options - take another route that would take us an hour out of the way, or head to Seaside, Oregon, one of the places we wanted to visit the next day.

We opted to check out Seaside, which we thought was a cute little beach town, and kept us busy for 2 hours.  We also got the best caramel latte on our trip so far there!

We finally hit the road to Rockaway Beach again and this time had no problems getting to our "beach bungalow."

The view from our patio:

Even though we hadn't had dinner yet, we had to run to the beach for some pictures!

Our bungalow was at the top of the stairs right in the middle of the picture.

Some random people having a bonfire

We finally did a run to Safeway to grab a rotisserie chicken and some deli sides for a quick, cheap dinner at 9pm!

I don't want to leave...can you blame me?!?!

Oregon/Washington Road Trip: Days 4 & 5

Day 4 we were heading from Albany, OR to Port Townsend, WA.  But we couldn't pass up Portland without trying some hole-some {see what I did there?} goodness from Voodoo Doughnut!

Doughnuts & that is it!

Box of yumminess!

Gary got the Old Dirty Bastard {it had Oreo on top and was drizzled with peanut butter}

And my taste buds enjoyed a Portland Cream.  We bought the rest for my family to enjoy.  I am NOT a doughnut person....I can walk by a box of them without trying to inhale that special doughnut smell.  So let me tell you, these doughnuts were VERY good!

We then spent some time in Powell's City of Books.  To be honest, I didn't have as much fun as I thought I would.  This place is huge and a bit too overwhelming for me.  Maybe because I knew we didn't have too much time, I felt anxious, but at least I can say I've been there!

We walked through Portland for about an hour then had to get back in the car and drive for a few more hours.

Oh, Washington, how we have missed you!  Gary & I have a 5-10 year plan that includes moving to Washington State.  Each time we have been, our souls feel at peace.  This trip reinforced that WA is where we want to call home by the time we hit our mid 40's.  

We stayed with my Aunt Vickie & her husband Michael in Port Townsend.  What a great community!

Our first few hours there and we were impressed by their automobiles. ;-)

It was a bit too chilly that first night, but still gorgeous.

SHORTY!! This dog cracked me up the whole time we were in Port Townsend.

The next day was the 4th of July and MUCH sunnier, so Michael took Gary downtown while Vickie and I went grocery shopping and got ready for a BBQ later that day.

When the guys got back, we headed over to my cousin Lisa's home for a festive BBQ.

I thought he was going to bite my arm.

If you are going to read ONE portion of this blog post, let this be it.

See this house below???  Well, my cousin and her husband designed it themselves.

Oh, and THEY BUILT IT!  Not like "we hired someone to build it for us" built it, but actually built it all themselves.  I am 153% serious when I say that you can feel their love in every beam, window, door, etc. that is a part of that house.

I am in awe of how awesome they are for being able to do this!

They also have the biggest dog I've ever met, Argus.  

Yup, I'm drinking out of a mason jar.  That's how I roll!

We were spoiled with a tasty BBQ and met a bunch of their family who were so kind to include us in their lives for a day.

After that we headed to Fort Worden for a hike and {later} a fireworks show.  Fort Worden was where "An Officer and a Gentleman" was filmed.

Me & my cousin, Lisa

Lisa's daughter, Rosie, Lisa, and my Aunt Vickie.

Stars and Stripes Forever

Gorgeous view

The moon was extra amazing on the 4th.

We didn't get to bed until almost midnight on the 4th and had to wake up at 6am the next morning to meet Gary's family, but we had the best 4th of July in a long time!