Joy: Our trip up the West Coast

Well this is going to be a mega-picture post! I'm way behind on blogging but for anyone who like the pictures I don't want to leave anything out.

So I left off right before Josh and I took our trip up North.

We felt like such big kids with our rental car!!!

Our first stop was visiting Uncle Cory & Aunt Carrol in Modesto. We only got to spend a bit of time with them because we were hurrying to get up the coast, but it was so fun to see them!

Then to Newberg to see Auntie & Uncle very briefly! I got to help cook on the Aga - Auntie's fancy Elnglish stove!

After that we spent a few days with Auntie Andrea & Uncle Mike in Vancouver!

The first day Auntie was our tour guide and she took us to several beautiful waterfalls at one of which we had a picnic lunch. Then we went to the Bonneville dam locks. This was SO neat! I didn't want to leave. We got to see them fill up and watch a little boat push out this huge barge. I really wanted to see them open the locks and let out the water but there was no way of knowing when that would be and their best guess was a couple hours. It was just amazing to me how much water there was a how HUGE the big gates were! You can see where they come together in the picture below. On the other side of it were tons of hydraulics used to open and close them and several hundred foot drop to the rest of the river below.

We took some pictures for Mom & Campo - family joke. =)

The next day Uncle Mike took us on a more geological themed tour. We explored Ape Cave and climbed through 2 miles of underground lava tubes. It was super fun and very cold!

My cousins Ryan & Cameron. (Cam was visiting Ryan from Phoenix for his annual summer trip and he got there on the same day we did. It was fun to have him around too!)

Some parts were pretty rugged

Lava "waterfall"

Rob & I

The exit - light at the end of the tunnel!

We had a picnic in the warm air above ground

Trail of Two Forests

Cameron and I climbed through a tunnel formed by lava that flowed over a tree then the tree burned or rotted. We had to be on our bellies except for this one spot.

Mount St. Helens

My favourite part... (NOT)

Dinner with Uncle Mike & Auntie. Too bad we didn't take pictures of US! Not that we didn't try, but that's a different story.

Our beautiful view of the river from inside

Thursday morning Josh met Uncle Doug and went to Intel to meet with some of his friends there. I took Cameron and Ryan and we met up with Aunt Anette and had breakfast at one of their favourite little places

One day we went with Aunt Andrea and the kids to Cannon Beach and dug a hole!

And more holes!

And buried people!

I just thought this was pretty cute. =)

On our way back from church with Carley

Then begun our trip down the coast! The first attraction was the Redwoods

Neither of us had ever been through and we were blown away by the beauty and expansiveness of the trees. They just kept going and going! Also I've seen lots of trees in my life. LOTS of trees. And I was very impressed by how beautiful this forest was. Also we loved the fog that was prevalent because of being so close to the ocean.

I HAD to take a picture with Paul and Babe. I grew up watching Disney's American Legends and was so bummed that none of my family was with me to share in this fun discovery.

At our really neat inn in Eureka (The Eureka Inn) - talking on my cell phone in the phone booths

We loved how old fashioned and authentic this old inn was. It had all the original wood paneling and many antiques from when it was built. It is one of the many historical sites in the city and we really enjoyed being there. I would highly recommend it as a fun destination and place to stay.

After we checked out of the inn we walked to this beautiful church.

Stunning.

More Redwoods

We stayed in a little inn in Santa Rosa. This evening was when Josh got offered his job. We bought dinner at a grocery store to celebrate! I let Josh buy Lunchables. ; )

We drove through San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge. Josh had never been there and it had been years since I had. It is everything it's cracked up to be, I wish we could have driven back and forth on it over and over. And the fog was a GREAT touch! (Thanks God! You're very thoughtful!)

It's right there! I promise!

That night we stayed at The Inn at Morro Bay. Again, VERY great place to stay.

The view from our room leading to an overview of the bay right out back

The next morning we tried out a little bakery. I love this shot of Josh with food in his cheek!

My pastry

Cool bread art

He wanted me to take a normal one too.

Morro Rock - we were so bummed we couldn't climb it!

So we went out onto the Sandspit instead.

We were worn out so that day we went home! It was a great trip! We were so glad to see so much family and to be able to spend time together.

The last thing in July to note was Dad's 50th birthday. I'll post those pictures in a different post but here are the ones I took on the eve of his birthday. He had dinner with some of his sons and we all hung out.