One of the strange parts of growing up is not seeing your family as much as you did when you were little. That is why quality time together becomes so much more valuable! So when my mom’s 60th birthday was this year, my siblings and I decided that the best way to celebrate her and her life was together! My parent have a timeshare in Oregon, and on account of some of her siblings living there, we decided a weekend together out of state was just what we needed. My sister, who lives in Kentucky, flew in and we all made the trip up California and into the Pacific Northwest!
Our first major stop was at the Tilamok Cheese Factory, which was very exciting for me because Tilamock is in my opinion one of the best cheeses! My close friends will attest to our many conversations about good cheese and bread. It was also really interesting to read about the cheese making processing and to watch it get cut and wrapped for delivery.
Our timeshare is in Seaside, Oregon and it was so amazing to be near the ocean! The rain had stopped just enough that it was windy and overcast yet incredibly gorgeous on the beach. We had such a fun time running around and Eli and my future sister in law even took off their shoes to put their toes in the sand. There is something so peaceful about looking out onto the sea, it really helps clear your mind and put things in perspective.
The next day, we ventured into Portland where we explored the Saturday Market, took lots of pictures, ate lots of yummy food and took in the beautiful autumn colors in the city. We stopped at VooDoo Donuts for maple bacon doughnuts, the food trucks for some of the best Chinese food I have had in quite some time and then to McMinimum’s at Kennedy School for dinner. One of the things I love about cities is the wide variety of things to see and do, plus it is so refreshing to be somewhere new and explore!
On our last day, we got up early and headed up into Washington to visit with my uncle that we haven’t seen in years and it was so nice to see him! We stopped along the way to take pictures of the beautiful forest and on the way home stopped at Multnomah Falls at the Colombia River Gorge and it was breathtaking! Eli said it felt like he was in Rivendell, too bad their weren’t any elves around 🙂
My favorite part of this trip was spending quality time with my mother and my siblings and experiencing all the places we went together! It was also fun for me to have Eli there with us as well because he had never been to Oregon or Washington. It is such a blessing to me how much he fits in with my family and how much my family loves and accepts him. I truly am looking forward to traveling and seeing more of the world, and it is so much better with family and friends! I hope you enjoyed this little look inside our trip! XOXO ps To see more of our trip, you can look up our hashtag on instagram #momsoregonbirthdayvacay.
