This year we took the big road trip we had wanted to take prior to COVID to
bring the boys down to Oregon and see the Pacific Ocean. To be fair, it was likely better
that Walter was older and it definitely made the driving a lot easier too.
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We started our 4000km journey by heading into Banff and then through the Radium highway. Our
first stop was in Radium for a picnic lunch at a lovely playground there. Here are the boys
crushing it at said playground.
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After driving through a downpour in southern BC, we crossed the boys' first land border to the US
(they've both flown multiple times there), and then had dinner in Sandpoint. This is a sweet
restaurant and brewery called Mick Duff's where the boys loved the pinball games.
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This was a bridge that doubled as a farmer's market where Walter found an indoor playground.
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Natalia found the boys some LED light strips for their bikes. Henry's is multi colour.
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And Walter's is green. This is arriving at Farragut State Park, a GREAT campground we will
frequent again in the future.
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This is a 'large' beer to be fair and it even comes in a larger size too!
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One of the cool things about Farragut is that there are trails throughout the park that our boys
could bike and manage. I needed to pull Walter on the tow-whee a couple of times, but overall
they covered over 10km on this day and did well.
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Our family out for a bike ride to the Museum of the Brig.
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Henry sticking his finger in this sailor's nose.
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Yes, I know this is irreverant, but the boys thought the statue of many sailors was fun.
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Henry has been quite intrigued by anchors of late, and these huge ones he thought we cool.
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Walter getting to look at sunspots at the Museum of the Brig.
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The boys in the 'brig'. This is a pretty neat museum explaining the history of the massive naval
training base that was built pretty swiftly after the US was pulled into WWII. They had something
in excess of 100,000 soldiers here at one time for an inland naval training base. Not bad.
For more on Farragut's naval history, see HERE .
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What do you do with a massive base when it's not needed anymore? Host boy scouts, obviously!
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The Junior Ranger portion of the Museum was terrific and Walter was super engaged in filling out
what he needed to in order to earn a badge. In this case, he's drawing different kinds of rocks.
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Henry was less keen on the badge stuff, but did like playing with the different exhibits.
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We woke up on our travel day to the beach with a dead battery. It turns out that it's not a camping
trip without killing a car battery. Thanks to SUPER helpful neighbours at Farragut along with
learning that we CAN actually jump start our new Highlander from posts in the FRONT of the car
(good to know since the trunk CAN'T open with a dead battery), we were only about 30 minutes
delayed getting out of the park and on our way. We decided to stop in The Dalles, OR since their
Toyota dealership was able to help us diagnose the residual error codes in the car and reset the
'Check Engine Light'. We then hit up a wicked ice cream shop called Shannon's that I would go to
again anytime I'm out this way. They have home made ice cream along with a bunch of famous
artwork that's redone with larger smiles and with ice cream.
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And it had a sweet penny farthing locked up outside the store.
Beach house in Oregon
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One of the first things we did after getting to our beach house was watch this deer get awfully close
to the kids. Pretty obvious these things are being fed.
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This is the reason we finally got back to the Oregon Coast. We had planned a trip here with
Paul and Allison three years ago and then COVID happened. So, we finally got a chance to
do the trip and we chose Pacific City. Big sand dunes, great beach, and great company made
for a terrific trip.
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Paul and I went for a bike tour to the beach to ensure we had the best path to the beach for the kids
and we definitely found it up this rad board walk, although bikes aren't allowed. It's still fun to
see Paul make his way around on this banana seat bike that came with the property.
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The ping pong table in the garage was also a terrific addition as the kids got great fun out of
it and it's fun to beat your friends too. That's Quinley on the right along with Walter and
Eliana and Henry playing.
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This big sand dune will be climbed on the next day, but first we came down to the beach for a
good sun session. While the wind was a bit gusty, the kids still had a blast digging in the sand.
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Natalia and Allison enjoying a bit of wind protection in their kids' tent.
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The kids had a blast running up and down this smaller dune and the sand is amazing here.
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Walter found this water gun in the garage and HAD to bring it with him.
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After a full family fun bike ride to the candy store that was far more type 2 fun than type 1 fun
due to the lack of safe biking options for the kids, Paul and I went back with the car and bike rack to
bring the kids home. This paid off though as the kids were crushed and went to bed so we could try out
these amazing cocktails! This is a gin cherry smash and it was smashing!
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The next day the kids insisted on taking a trolley ride back to the beach (~0.6 km seriously) so that they
could climb the sand dunes. Here are Henry and Elly loving the ride.
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Natalia and the big Pacific City dune. I think it's officially called Cape Kiwanda.
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Full pano of the big sand dune and people making their way up.
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Looking back towards the beach we started from.
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Henry and Elly were the first to the top. Good thumbs up photo for this guy.
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Walter was next with Natalia and the rest of them coming soon after.
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Natalia looking north to McPhilips Beach on a gorgeous morning.
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Walter thought this area was pretty rad.
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Our family at Pacific City, OR, July 2023.
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Henry wanted to go check out the sand dunes further below us as the parasails were getting after it.
He claims to want to do this at some point, so we'll see how his fear factor is then.
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This looks like a desert with just sand everywhere.
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The rocky top of the cape goes pretty much all the way out to the water but Henry didn't want to
go any further, so we turned around here.
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Maybe this is Henry's first fun Christmas card??
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Henry and Elly at the top of the Pacific City dune.
Henry, Walter, and Elly running down the dune
Paul and Quinley running down the dune
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I was proud of myself for capturing Henry and Elly in the air jumping waves.
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Henry, Quinley, and Elly found this cool cave they wanted to explore further.
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I tried to get a sense of the size of the waves with the kids playing.
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Elly got buried in the sand, which is mandatory for a beach visit.
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We got to have dinner at the Pelican Brewery in Pacific City. We were able to get a big booth
which was perfect so we could lock them in place. They were just excited about the ice cream though.
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Walter was so proud of himself he pulled off the bunny ears on Quinley for a photo.
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Walter giving bunny ears from another angle.
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Ingredients for Natalia for the bacon pea salad.
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It turns out, just like the Cheesecake Factory chicken madeira, that it's always better in
your mind. Although, the recipe is now here for the next time Natalia gets the hankering. The
secret is fresh firm peas not soft and squishy ones.
Tillamook Cheese Factory
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The next day the boys got to experience the fun that is the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It turns out
that they've massively renovated and now have space for WAY more people. Sadly, on this day, every one
of those new parking spots were filled as it was a nuthouse here. This is Walter feeding a cow.
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The boys and Natalia on the self-guided tour. This factory has made steps to automate as much as they
can (including in their 2x production facility in Boardman, OR), but there is still a role here for
humans.
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The kids and I with their 'samplers' of ice cream and me with my cheese curds.
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After a morning in Tillamook along with a 90 minute detour due to a traffic accident, our boys
actually fell asleep. I think this might be the first and only time they've both fell asleep
in the car.
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We finally arrived back to Portland and checked into our room at the Kennedy School. The boys
LOVED the fact that they had chalkboards in the rooms since these all used to be classrooms.
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Our friends Ross and Kelli met us for dinner after we had a soak in the soaking pool here. Their twins
had just turned 10 and Ryan and Keira joined too. This was an attempt at getting them to all
look at the camera, but it was full speed craziness.
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Playing on the grounds at the Kennedy School.
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The boys were pretty excited to get a chance to tour a real submarine at OMSI. Here's Henry in the
steering position where he would be a NUB or a 'non-useful body'. The red lights in the control room
were to keep any light from escaping up the hatch.
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This is the 'business end' or the torpedo room.
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Walter got to sit in the main seat in the engine room, which he thought was pretty cool.
The sub at OMSI is the USS Blueback
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Walter and Natalia with the USS Blueback.
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One of the greatest parts about OMSI is the amount of interactive exhibits available. This is
part of a chemistry lab that the boys got to touch and play with.
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This is Henry learning about surface tension.
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Putting soap into water to see the mini boats move.
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Playing with baking soda and water to see buoyancy differences as it bubbles out.
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One of the cooler experiments they had in the chem lab was using a Bunsen burner to assess the colour
of different chlorides in solutions.
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Setting up the harmonograph was a highlight for Henry.
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Playing with the massive crane was also pretty awesome.
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The pre-natal exhibit of real human fetuses is always a bit creepy. The boys took it in stride and
I thought for sure we'd get constant 'balls' comments but they simply looked and watched.
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This might be the coolest thing they found though as they are enjoying playing occasional Minecraft.
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These two cool kids got to check out Voodoo Doughnuts, and here they are being cool at the
Davis St location.
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Checking out the assortment of awesomeness.
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Henry found this one and thought he won the lottery. He needed me to take this picture and send it
to Uncle Justin for some reason.
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Henry with his Voodoo donut on the pink wall.
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Walter crushing his donut on the pink wall.
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They actually cut a voodoo doll into the hedge by the shop that the boys thought was fun.
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Walter's prize from going to Powell's Books was his coffin full of zombies. I'd call it
a barrel of monkeys but it's zombies since that sells.
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Our friend Avie came to meet us at the Kennedy School for dinner and here she is trying hard
to beat my 90 second time for picking up the zombies.
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Natalia and I on our 14th wedding anniversary at Kennedy School. Thanks to
Avie for taking a photo for us!
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Oliver and Walter drawing and playing Tic Tac Toe.
Montana
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Our next day had the longest drive of the trip with an 1100 km push to get to Butte, MT.
This was our first and only visit to a Cracker Barrel with Walter loving the big checkers game
out front. This was in Missoula, MT.
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Henry thought this cookie straw was the cat's pyjamas.
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After a way-too-long drive, I successfully got the tent set up before losing light.
It made for a long session in the car, but it was pretty much the only way to do this trip and
not have Natalia away too long from her plant babies.
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I thought this sign at the KOA Butte campground was funny.
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The highlight of the trip for our boys was the Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine where they got to
mine their own sapphires in a bucket of gravel.
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Step one is washing the gravel out and making it easier to see and sort the stones.
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Here's Alex, our guide, showing us how to use gravity and water to sort the sapphires since they're
lighter than the rest of the gravel.
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Then the gravel gets dropped out onto picnic tables and the boys use tweezers to pick them out.
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Here are some of Henry's finds. He took it quite seriously and worked hard to ensure he didn't
miss out on any sapphires.
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Here is Henry actually working the sluice box a bit.
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Their rocks then got graded and sorted. Henry found up with 14 carats total weight and Walter
got about 4.5.
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Here's one of the older machines they've used here to sort gravel and stones.
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After realizing that we couldn't get in on an underground mine tour, we went over to the Mineral
Museum to have a look at cool stones. Here's Henry deep into a geode.
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Then we had dinner in the back of a truck at Sparky's Garage, a cool diner-esque experience for the boys.
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Then we found a MASSIVE new playground at Stoddard Park. Butte is an interesting town for sure
having had a few massive booms and having a population as high as 100,000. With major mining booms
for silver, copper, and gold, and after having pulled ~$48B of ore from the ground, the city is
definitely fighting to keep people here. They do have over 6000 historically registered buildings
which are gorgeous and are worth seeing, including the last legally open bordello. But if these
buildings could be moved, they would be moved. Sitting on the continental divide makes this town's
winters really long and cold, and other than mining, there's not a lot here for families. Cheap place
to live though. See more on Butte HERE .
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The boys climbed up this sweet playground climber.
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The boys were pretty excited to have a snack party and watch movies on Natalia's phone after the
heat of the day.
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We managed to get onto an underground mine tour on our last day in Butte and got there early to have
time to look around the 'Hellroaring Gulch' historical town. This felt like a WDM display but it
is all outside and was actually pretty cool. Check out the sauerkraut here!
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Like many towns in the west, there was a strong Chinese presence in the restaurant and laundry sectors.
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You can see the red light here along with the lady in the window.
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I liked this sign. It's good to rid women of weakness, generally with aggressive use of whiskey.
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A PBR inside the saloon. I had one tonight in fact, so I'm clearly just trying to keep history alive.
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Henry thought the headframes (top of a mine) were one of the cooler features in Butte. He's presently
trying to build one out of Construx to see if he can hoist things up and down our stairs.
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A functioning player piano was fun for the kids to listen to and watch.
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Our family before heading underground to the 100 foot mark of the old Orphan Girl mine.
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Really cool painting of what the 'Big Butte' or the 'Richest Hill on Earth' looked like at the time.
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Some of the maps on the wall just after the tour guide accidentally slammed the door.
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Some of the structural support holding up the mine.
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Henry walking in the mine with his headlamp on.
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Shaft going down to the next level. This is immediately below the headframe we saw on the top.
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Our family at the Orphan Girl mine at -100 feet down, Butte, MT.
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This might be Walter's most prized photo now as he actually got to see a pick axe.
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Some of the impressive framing work done in mining. These frames are self-supporting and use
a neat system of mortise and tenon.
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Walter and the Continental Pit mine, the only active mine in Butte.
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We also got to see the result of what happens when you stop pumping groundwater out of an
open-pit mine, as evidenced by the Berkeley Pit. It's so toxic that they have to constantly
have audio recordings play to scare birds away since they'll die if they go in the water.
It's mostly copper, cobalt, zinc in the water, and it's super acidic. It's also the second
largest Superfund site, second only to the Clark Fork river to the west of here, which was
also the result of dumping tailings right into the river.
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After a session at the excellent Ridge Waters waterpark, we got to go for a quick rip on the
bike park near Montana Tech. Here's Henry riding a berm.
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And climbing back up. Even later in the evening, it was still HOT here.
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Natalia and Henry riding bikes with the headframe of Orphan Girl mine visible behind them.
Natalia riding her bike at a bike park
Henry crushing the bike park
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The last night of our trip, our boys actually got to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. For two
boys who strongly prefer boiled hot dogs, it turns out that hunger is the best spice.
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On the drive home to Cochrane, we stopped in Helena so Natalia could try to find Pyrex bowls at
an antique shop. Since that's not a useful place to take children into, I took them on a tour of the
Last Chance Gulch in their old downtown and found this stellar candy and soda shop.
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Henry and Walter got to have actual sodas from a fountain. Henry chose lemon and Walter chose vanilla.
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Walter got to see a juke box and he thought it was awesome to see the records play.
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The little tourist train rolled through the old downtown too.
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Henry is quite fascinated with headframes now so he thought this one was cool.
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The numismatist shop (coin shop) gave the boys suckers, which gave them more energy to troll
around and see more things in Helena.
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We finally got back into Canada and had dinner in Lethbridge. Here is Walter having his popsicle
while lying down on the curb. He's a strange duck for sure.
Jumping Pound Creek
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Since the heat warning was still in effect when we got home, I took the boys to the Jumping Pound
Creek for a soak.
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Our friends Ryan and Tanya also brought their kids Madi and Lyndon and they enjoyed our floaties.
