Alicyn Shea James - Our North/West Tour May 8-16

Day 1...Friday, May 8

May 18, 2009

We left our house around 8 am and we had a goal to make it as far as we could in Oregon. We ended up staying the night in Grants Pass, Or. We started our trip by going up I-5 and we would come back the coastal way on HWY 101. On our way there we stopped in Redding, CA to see the Sun Dial Bridge. This was a neat bridge. We did walk out to the middle of it. We left there and had lunch in Weed, CA. We took some really good pictures of Mt. Shasta from there. We made it to Grants Pass around 5 pm and we went to the movies to see Star Trek. After the movies we went to Chinese food. It was really good. That was all we did the first day.

Day 2...Saturday, May 9

May 18, 2009

We got up and left around 8 am and got back on the road. We stopped at Grave Creek Ranch to look at the cover bridge. We took a few pictures of our car going through the covered bridge. Our next stop was Albany, Or to see the Community Carousel Project. This was really neat. The whole town is restoring a W.H Dentzell Carousel. The are hand carving all the animals. It was really fascinating to see this. We spend about 2 hrs there. We did take lots of pictures there. They started this project in 2005 and they aren't expected to be done with it until around 2013. Well worth seeing if you are ever in Albany, Or. We left there and we drove through the outside of Portland. We never made it inside. It was a HUGE city. We ended up staying the night in Troutville, Or. Very cute little town. This was by the Columbia River.

Day 3...Sunday, May 10 Mother's Day

May 18, 2009

We got up early and went to Multnomah Falls. This was a really beautiful place. This waterfall is the 4th Largest Waterfall in the U.S. Very breathtaking to see. We walked up to the bridge to see it closer. There is a lodge at the bottom that has a restaurant and gift store. We were there for a while. I didn't want to leave. We ended up taking the old Historic Columbia River Highway to see some more of the falls. There are a total 77 waterfalls along this Highway. Most you have to hike to. We ended up seeing 4 of them. We only took a short portion of the Highway. We saw the Horsetale Falls, Wahkeena Falls, and Latourell Falls. Latourell Falls was really neat because you could walk right up to it. We drove to the Vista House Crown Point. Here you can see Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood together on a very clear day. We weren't able to see them. We did get some really good pictures of the Columbia River. Oneside has Washington and the other is Oregon. We were there until the afternoon. Then we got back on the road and drove to Allyn, WA. This is were we stayed over night. We stayed with Marie and Glen Claire. They are Ed and Jo Ann's friends. Marie made Alicyn Shea's Friends/Family 100 Good Wishes Quilt. We went to go and pick it up. It was all done. It is so beautiful. We still need to take pictures. I will post pictures as so as we do. It is so pretty. There are dragonflys around the edge and 18 hidden in the quilt. She did it all by hand. I can't wait to show all of you . I also can't wait to give it to Ali Shea. This was the perfect Mother's Day gift. Husband also made me 2 Mother's Day cards.

Day 4..Monday, May 11...My 38th Birthday!!!

May 18, 2009

This was my Birthday!!! We got up early and went out to breakfast with Marie and Glen at the air port restaurant. They drove us done to where we caught the ferry. We took the ferry to Seattle, WA. We went the Seattle Aquarium and Pike's Market Place. We stayed in Seattle till 3 pm. We took the ferry back and decided to start our coastal trip back down. We were headed to Port Angles for beginning of my Twilight Tour. We only made it to Sequim, WA. It really took us forever to get there. We arrived there around 7 pm. We stayed the night in Sequim. We ate dinner at a nice Mexican Restaurant. We ended up going to Safeway and buying 2 cupcakes for my Birthday. Husband bought me a beautiful bright purple rose and a purple balloon at the Pike's Market Place. This was my birthday gift. I had are really nice birthday.
Side note...Husband did get pulled over for speeding. We lucked out that we didn't get a ticket.

Day 5...Tuesday May 12...FORKS...Twilight Tour..

May 18, 2009

We got up early to get on the road. We made it to Port Angles in the morning. We walked around town for awhile. We saw the restaurant that Bella and Edward had dinner, the department store where the girls bought their prom dress (this is a Gottschalks), the movie theater and the bookstore that Bella goes to. This was my beginning of the Twilight Tour. We also went into a few antiques stores and a really neat glass store. Dean bought me a purple glass banana slug and a really pretty necklace. We left there and drove to Forks, WA. I was so excited. When we got to town we had lunch and then we went to the Twilight store. Bought lots of goodies and they told us to go to the visitor center to get our map tour. The town really played up the whole Twilight thing. We saw Bella's truck, Bella's House, Edward's House, Cheif Swan's Police Station, the High School, the Thriftway (where Bella shopped), the Outfitters where Bella worked and the Hospital where there is a parking spot for Dr. Cullun. It was really neat. I had lots of fun doing this. I am so glad that Husband played along with it. We also went to La Push to 1st Beach. We ended up staying the night in Forks. It was lots of fun. It is just a small really cute logging town.