Oregon

We usually go somewhere for my birthday, since it's on a convenient day, July 3rd. Everyone always has the following day off, so it's easy to go on a short trip within driving distance. We decided to visit Portland, Oregon. We had a great time visiting the Pacific Northwest! We even visited Oregon's coast, which is spectacular! I highly recommend everyone going to Cannon Beach--and getting crepes there. Here are some photos of our mini vacation.

The Hotel Monaco in Portland...we have a history with Hotel Monaco. There is one in Chicago (there are others across the country), which is where we were staying when we got engaged there. They have great service and great amenities!

You can see that Marlowe is enjoying her room/crate.

Our room was a suite!

Another view of our amazing room!

Oregon Pinot Noir Grape Juice--I've never had such fancy sparkling grape juice before!

The dogs really enjoyed the bed.

Chris is a hotel hopper. He likes switching to hotels for a variety of reasons. This hotel greeted our babies.

Portland is known for its food trucks. There are probably 40 food trucks all within a mile of each other. Cheap, fast, amazing food!

View of Mt. Hood on our way to the Columbia River Gorge

The Columbia River Gorge is beautiful!

He's actually in a picture!

I love this picture of Marlowe with the waterfall in the background. I think this one is Latourell Falls.

Gorgeous scenery!

I believe this waterfall is Bridal Veil.

Multnomah Falls--The hikes were worth it to see all these waterfalls. This area has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the world!

The following day we went to Mother's Bistro & Bar. Wonderful breakfast!

We decided to drive the long way back so we could visit Oregon's coast, which is incredibly beautiful and different than any other coast I've seen. Notice the huge boulders in the ocean.

Cannon Beach

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse in the background

Puffins live on these humongous rocks...I didn't see any though.

Homes on Cannon Beach

I want to go back already.

Summer!

We've been enjoying the lovely weather here in Seattle this summer. With the temperature averaging about 70-75 degrees, how could we complain? We've enjoyed Puget Sound a lot, specifically kayaking. And I've enjoyed walking the dogs around our beautiful neighborhood.

One day when we were finished kayaking, we were loading up, and a photographer asked if he could take our picture and if we minded being in the Mukilteo Beacon. So we made it into the local newspaper. We've made it big! Haha. Here is Face 52, the photographer's blog.

We kayaked over to Hat Island, which looks close, but it was about a 3 1/2 hour trip altogether.

But the trip was definitely worth it! We saw God's creation up close, really up close. Not only did we see nature, but we saw lots of seals. That black speck in the picture is a seal. We didn't get a picture of the seal that was 5 feet from us, as we were startled and amazed that we were so close to a wild animal. We could hear it breathing...it was awesome! This is the best photo we have of a seal, but I'm sure we'll be more prepared next time.

Cruisin' With Grandma

Christopher's whole family (parents, brother, aunt, uncle, and grandma) all came to visit us this month, and we all went on an Alaskan cruise together. We spent a couple days together in Seattle before heading out to Alaska. We had a great time together exploring "The Last Frontier."

Thomas, Chris (the mom), and me

We went on the ferry to Whidbey Island.

Deception Pass at Whidbey Island

Aunt Cheri and Thomas

The next day, we went to Pike Place Market to eat some good food.

Later that afternoon, the boys went kayaking to Whidbey Island.

We just hung out at Mukilteo's Lighthouse Park. You can see Christopher and Thomas in the background.

The following day, we departed for the cruise. Christopher's mom made us all matching t-shirts. These were the guys' shirts. The girls had the same design but had purple shirts.

Everyone on the ship

Gorgeous view of our city and Mt. Rainier

On day 2 we went on a kitchen tour and saw these flowers carved out of fruits and vegetables.

And we saw this fish watermelon.

There's always something to do on a cruise. Christopher is doing a chipping tournament.

Formal Night #1

Day 3: We made it to Juneau, AK and headed to Mendenhall Glacier.

Thomas, Chris, Christie, and Christopher

Christopher and Me on Mt. Roberts in Juneau

Later that day we went whale watching. Grandma had a great time!

We didn't just see whales; we saw bald eagles. We saw so many while we were in Alaska!

Humpback whale tail

We came back to our room to find our favorite towel animal of the cruise...Roll Tide!

Day 4: Hubbard Glacier

Just to the right of Hubbard Glacier are green landscapes.

Me and Grandma in front of Hubbard Glacier

Me and Christopher

Day 5: Sitka

We saw some brown bears at the Fortress of the Bears.

Downtown Sitka

On top of Castle Hill (where Alaska became a U.S. Territory and State) with our ship in the background

Beautiful and quaint house we saw on a walk around Sitka

Totem Pole Park

The lucky person who has their city on their license plate.

Ketchikan, Alaska

Creek Street in Ketchikan, where Ketchikan was founded

We went on a floatplane above the Misty Fjords

The pictures don't even do Alaska justice...such amazing terrain! I was in awe of God's magnificent creation the whole ride!

Waterfall

Our pilot stopped here, and we were able to walk outside. The water was an amazing shade of green!

Eddystone Rock

Captain's Dinner

I think this was the towel ballet.

I participated in the ping pong tournament. I made it to the semi-finals and lost to the person who won the tournament. :(

On day 7 we made it to Victoria, B.C. This is Fisherman's Wharf.

Fan Tan Alley in Chinatown

Empress Hotel

Christopher took some beautiful pictures of Victoria at sunset.

Parliament building all lit up

Victoria at night

Us at Victoria's inner harbor

We had an awesome time on the cruise with family! Can't wait to do another trip like this again in the future!