Washington and Oregon Pictures

Okay, I feel like I'm failing miserably at this blogging thing already...apparently I can only post one picture at a time in each blog entry -- or I just have no clue what I'm doing.
Anyway, I will post links to the web albums I've made of the pictures I took on our trips.

In this web album are pictures from Washington -- mostly of Kylee's graduation and party. It was really nice to meet Sonny and Mel's extended family. Unfortunately, Jerry had to cut his part of vacation short, but J.D. and I were able to stay and fell in love with Washington and Oregon.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TillieElvrum/WashingtonandOregon2009


After a couple of days in Port Orchard with Sonny and Mel, J.D. and I drove down to Portland to spend a day with Fred and Geny. We followed Holly and Gloria down as they would be flying back to Colorado from Portland. Fred and Geny were wonderful hosts and showed us as many sights as they could during our very short stay. We visited Multnomah Falls which was a highlight for me and on my "Must See" list for Portland because it was a location in the Twilight movie (you can see the falls during the vampire baseball scene). Before we got to the falls we stopped at the Crown Point Vista House overlooking the Columbia River Gorge -- from there we could see the clearing where they played baseball in the Twilight movie as well. The view was spectacular but too hazy to see any of the five major peaks. While at Multnomah Falls we hiked up the Larch Mountain Trail up to the Falls.
The following day Geny took us to the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park -- it's FREE and beautiful! There is also a Japanese Garden in the park that we want to visit during our next trip to Portland. We then went on to the Pittock Mansion where we could get a view of the Portland Skyline...again very hazy and no view of the major mountains. From there we headed to the Pearl Street District to Powell's Bookstore -- this is the worlds biggest bookstore and J.D. and I were in heaven! J.D. picked up quite a few books and I was happy to find a book for my Norwegian Book Club, too. We had a nice lunch with Geny before heading back to pick up Eric and Hannah from school -- and then J.D. and I made the 3 hour drive back up to Seattle.
It was a far too short visit in Portland -- but we will definately go back and spend more time in the future.

http://picasaweb.google.com/TillieElvrum/Portland

In the next album are pictures from our day in Seattle and our trip to Mt. Rainier National Park.
Seattle is about an hour from Sonny and Mel's home in Port Orchard. We headed downtown and went straight to Pike Place Market...that is a shopaholic's dream come true! You can buy just about anything you can imagine there...fresh flowers, fruits and veggies, arts and crafts, jewelry, clothing...like I said anything you can imagine. We stopped in a collectibles store that was a real hit with Kylee and J.D. We bought movie posters, action figures, cool postcards and we picked up some things for Courtney and Dillon since they were still in school at this point. And of course we saw the famous fish mongers of Pike Place Market -- they put on a good show throwing all the fish around, but their prices were outrageous! Bring your wallets folks!!! By then we were hungry for lunch so we went to Ivar's Fish Bar -- we had fish n' chips and J.D. had clam chowder for the first time. He loved it!
We then made our way to the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi Museum near the Space Needle. The Experience Music Project had quite the collection of memorabilia and lots of guitars -- J.D. loved that. And the Sci-Fi Museum had a very nice collection of memorabilia from Sci-Fi Literature and movies. If you like Star Wars and Star Trek you will enjoy your visit to the Sci-Fi Museum.
Also in this album are pictures of our trip to Mt. Rainier. Sonny took J.D. and I on a little hiking expedition on Bear Gap Trail and Crystal Lake Trail. It's important to note that we didn't see the Mt. Rainier the whole time we were in Washington until we actually drove up to about 5,000 feet in elevation -- we got out of the cloud bank and there it was in all it's glory! Mt. Rainier's peak was still covered in snow and the rivers and streams flowing below it were still frozen into icy-blue pools in spots. The Crystal Lake Trail was beautiful beyond words -- we only did about a mile of 3 mile trail because of time, and I hope to someday hike all the way to the lake...I can only imagine the beauty at the end of that hike! I'd also like to mention that the ONLY rain we experienced during our time in Oregon and Washington was on our hike on Bear Gap Trail -- rain and hail, but not bad considering we visited the rainiest place in the Continental U.S.!

http://picasaweb.google.com/TillieElvrum/PikePlaceEMPMtRainier?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ_-1LWWtMbCowE

And finally...my personal highlights from all of our sightseeing in Oregon and Washington...our Twilight Tour of Forks and La Push, Washington. I have become a huge fan of the Twilight Saga books by Stephenie Meyer -- most of you may be familiar with the movie, but the books are what started it all and the movie pales in comparison. To visit the actual sites from the books was a dream come true and brought the books to life in a whole new way. Please forgive all the Twilight references -- but this part of the blog wouldn't be complete without them. We left Port Orchard and were very happy to be able to cross the Hood Canal Bridge as it had just reopened after being closed for construction -- this saves a lot of drive time. We hit the 101 and eventually drove along Crescent Lake -- this has got to be one of the biggest lakes in the U.S. and so gorgeous! We drove thru Port Angeles -- it was bigger than I had imagined and my excitement started to build -- I mean this is where Edward and Bella had their first "date" afterall!!! It was an incredibly sunny day for the Olympic Peninsula and we could actually see the Olympic Mountains in the distance -- they still had snow on them. We made it into Forks and our adventure began -- bless Sonny's heart...he was surrounded by Tweeks! Let me explain...he started calling us Tweeks -- Twilight + Geeks = Tweeks! Courtney and I are definately big fans and J.D. has read Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse (he's got a bit of a crush on Alice) and Dillon couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement...Sonny was outnumbered. But he was a great sport and indulged us (especially me) and he made sure we hit all the major sites in Forks and La Push. We did the whole Twilight Tour visiting City Hall/Police Station, Bella's Truck, the Welcome Sign, High School, and the Hospital...I kept looking for our beloved Cullen's, but it was so sunny that I'm sure they were off hunting for the day. We also planned our visit just right to attend the Editor of the Forks Forum's Twilight Territory book signing at Forks Outfitters. We did a lot of shopping...I was Forks personal stimulus package! We ended the day in Forks by stopping by Sully's for a Bella Burger -- it was delicious and gave us all the energy we'd need to head to La Push.
La Push is about a 15-20 minute drive out of Forks and it's the home to the Quileute Indian Reservation. The Quileutes are a very important part of the Twilight Saga and many pivotal scenes take place on the La Push Beach. I just about jumped out of the car at my first sight of James Island! Our sunny day in Forks, turned grey when we reached La Push...we definately needed our jackets for the rest of the day. We drove through La Push and finally parked near the Marina. Right away I couldn't help but notice a large black dog following us around...dog or werewolf...hmmm. We proceeded to name him "Jacob." First Beach is the most beautiful beach I've ever visited -- it's not the sunny, tropical beach that most of us dream about -- it has a beauty all it's own. The shoreline is marked by large outcroppings of rocks and boulders, and the biggest driftwood I've ever laid eyes on. Because of the overcast skies the water was a dark grey and almost black at times...I could just imagine Bella and Jacob walking along the beach and of course it brought to life Bella's turn at cliff-diving, too. We climbed out onto the jetty over the huge rocks and driftwood piles, and this gave a us a great view of the surfers -- and I actually saw a seal poke his head out of the water, too.
Sadly, our time in La Push had to come to an end as we had a 3 hour drive back to Port Orchard...I hated to say goodbye to this magical place that was brought to life through the wonderful writing of Stephenie Meyer. The title of this blog is derived from her words in the Twilight Saga -- Bella talks about her "happy place" and for just a day I felt like my "happy place" and Bella's were one and the same. I left my heart on the Olympic Peninsula....

http://picasaweb.google.com/TillieElvrum/PortAngelesForksLaPush

Our Trip to Washington and Oregon June 2009

There is something to be said about spending time with family...for us it's time we never take for granted because for the last 10 years we've lived so far away from our family, our trips have to be planned and saved for and they are never often enough.
Last year we vacationed with all of Jerry's family in the Outer Banks, NC...we made a promise to each other that we would start spending time like this together on a regular basis...and our niece Kylee's high school graduation gave us the perfect excuse to make the trip to Washington and Oregon this year.
We left Cincinnati on June 4th for Seattle. Kylee's graduation was on June 5th from South Kitsap High School. Her graduation and party was the start of a wonderful trip. We spent time with Jerry's brothers Sonny and Fred, their families, and with Holly and Gloria, too. We really missed having Mitzi and family, and Megan and John with us...we really need to get serious about planning our next BIG Warner, Elvrum, Seibold, Lusk, and Gotch Family Reunion...Walt Disney World anyone????

In this picture: Courtney, Jerry, Kylee, Me, and Fred
Dillon and Eric

Greetings from my happy place...

So, I've decided to finally start my own blog...not that I have anything really important to say, but if you know me -- you know I'm wordy and love to communicate. I hope you enjoy my random ramblings and that this blog can help bridge the miles between us.

Blessings,

~Tillie