Oregon in April, Part 4: Drift Creek Falls, Sweet Creek Falls, Florence

On Wednesday, April 10, we did the Drift Creek Falls hike to the suspension bridge. We had to go out of our way to hit this one but were glad we did. Another rainy day, another crazy gorgeous hike.

There was lots of mud to avoid.

Bear, jumping over a puddle:

Bear did this weird thing where she'd simultaneously jump, toss her head back, arch her back, and loudly grunt. Over and over. It was hilarious. Ever started imitating her.

I hate my stupid camera that can't handle light.

We had a snack at the far end of the suspension bridge before heading back.

Panorama by Jim.

Next we drove south down to Sweet Creek Falls. (It was a "Creek Falls" kind of day.) On the way, I found us a place to stay that night, and Goosey plowed through her chapter books.

We saw really pretty coastline and a lighthouse to which my camera did not do justice.

I admired lagoons and/or lakes from the car.

The Sweet Creek Falls hike was beautiful. Lots of water everywhere.

Bear sings as she hikes, and by "sings," I mean she makes incredibly high-pitched, ear-piercing sounds. While Jim and I find it amusing, Ever is not a fan.

We passed lots of waterfalls. This one was Annice Falls. I only know that because Jim took a picture of the sign.

As we walked through the mossy trees, I felt as if we were on a movie set for some 80's movie that I can't quite identify. The Dark Crystal? Labyrinth? In any case, it definitely didn't seem real. Again, my camera sucks.

The end of the line:

And the upper lookout at the end of the line:

From there, we drove to Florence for the night. Becky Holbrook (formerly Wilson) lives there with her family. We thought it would be fun to hook up but ended up getting there way too late. We had Subway for dinner and then went to an insanely over-priced ice cream shop (the only one in town). 

We stayed in a fun little cabin that night. The lady at first put us in a one-room cabin that was not the one I booked, but she was super nice and ended up putting us in one that was better than the one I booked. The littles played a raucous game of baptism in their underwear. Not an amazing video, and it doesn't capture the wildest portion of their antics, but I like having a record of their interactions at this age.

Again, not a ton happening in this video, but at the end, it gives a glimpse of Wren's violent love of Tiny:

Oregon in April, Part 3: Tillamook and Cape Meares

On Tuesday, April 9, we drove to Tillamook and then Cape Meares. Friends had told us the Tillamook factory was a highlight. It wasn't life-changing, but it was nice. The girls practiced feeding and milking cows.

It was fun to see inside the factory.

The girls loved the cheese samples, and Ever was instantly obsessed with the cheddar jack. Jim bought a package of it to take with us. Then we ate lunch there and topped it off with nine different ice creams, I believe. It was classic Jim over-ordering, and it was way too much. I ate and ate even though I didn't even want it, and we still had to throw some away. I decided that although Tillamook seems like a very nice company, and I believe they probably have some good fruity flavors, they don't have any flavors involving chocolate that really knock my socks off. I hate to say that, but it's true.

Jim saw the picture below and said, "Why is Wrenzy sitting on a different table?"

The coast was beautiful.

We had a hard time finding the hike to the Cape Meares lighthouse that we wanted to do. Ended up exploring a very wet and muddy trail that one man told us we couldn't do with kids.

I sensed nice views up ahead, but we finally turned around because it was getting late.

Tiny wanted to pick all the flowers she saw, and there were millions of them.

We made a quick side trip to the Octopus Tree.

We were disappointed to learn that the lighthouse was closed, so we just took pictures outside.

We got a bit lost in an interesting lagoony/coastal area that I didn't get pictures of, and then we drove south to a hotel for the night.