Day 3, 4, 5? Oregon Vacation:

(only 4 days left)

I found Nemo!! He's at the Oregon Coast Aquarium!

It's after midnight and I'm on my way to bed, but thought I'd post a few pics. We've seen lots of wildlife over the last few days. Some at an aquarium in Newport, some at a place on the coast that you have to pay to get in (to see Sea Lions in their natural habitat-odd) and some in the wild.

The best gift of all today, was just as we were leaving the Redwoods we came upon 5 beautiful male elk, all with awesome racks on their heads. As you'll see in the photo, one of them walked right across the street in front of our car and grazed next to one of those binocular signs that says "wildlife viewing". It was so funny! Like he was saying, "O.k. is this close enough for you?" What a gift to be able to see them so close!

Sad news, I dropped my long camera lens last night and seem to have tweaked it somehow so it's not working right. The glass of the lens didn't break, so I'm hoping I can take it in and get it fixed when we get home, but who knows. Because of that, you won't be seeing any great close-ups for the rest of the trip.

Did you know that Oregon has massive sand dunes that run for miles between the ocean and the forests? It's so bizarre. We were driving down the highway and every now and then you could see these huge mountains of sand within just 50 yards or so from the highway hidden behind a few rows of trees. It was actually pretty amazing. I had no idea.

We stopped for a great dinner last night at Benetti's Italian Restaurant in Coos Bay, Oregon. (thanks for the tip, AAA.) The link actually shows you the table where we sat for dinner. I won't go into detail about dinner, although it was excellent and the service was first rate. The reason Coos Bay is significant is that my mom and dad lived there before any of us kids were born, probably some time in the late 40's/early 50's. My dad was on an iron-working job, probably building a bridge or something and my mom came with him (of course). We called to talk to her while we were in town to see if she could remember anything about their stay. It was just a few months and she thinks my dad was working in Northern California. Although after making the drive down, we're doubtful he would have gone all that way every day, unless he just drove down once a week. We need to clarify. Anyway, my mom said they stayed in a motel. She remembers them going out to dinner one night and there was a live band that played the Tennesee Waltz, which was one of my dad's favorites. I'v.e posted a pic of one of the bridges we drove over going south. These are the kinds of bridges my dad built. Maybe he worked on this one? He was quite a craftsman!

In keeping with the theme of the week, here's also the food posting of the day. Marionberry french toast !!! Wow!! It was delicious! Are the calories just adding up in your head? Our hope is that with all the walking we're doing, that we're burning all the calories for these special treats that we're having. I had clam chowder again tonight, but it was pretty average compared to Mo's.

I'm not sure how much internet access we'll have in the next few days, so hold tight if you don't hear from us. I'm too tired to mess with this formatting any more...to close for the night, here's a northern Cal sunset.