Tag: family vacation

Family Vacation to Oregon: Depoe Bay

LaurenLeave a comment

Last summer, my parents took a trip to the Oregon Coast and returned a week later with whale sighting reports, pictures of beautiful beaches and a deep desire to return the following summer, but this time, with the entire family!

I’m so used to travelling places and feeling all go-go-go to see all the “must see” spots, so when my parents warned that there wouldn’t be a ton to do and lots of down time, I was so absolutely THRILLED.  If the whole point of vacationing from your normal workaday life is to return feeling rested and rejuvenated, you sometimes just need a vacation without an agenda, ya know?

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Before leaving Portland, we hit the grocery store and piled our rental cars full of fresh food for the week.  I’m all about hitting up new restaurants when we travel but staying somewhere with a fully stocked kitchen and people who wanted to cook made my heart so happy.  It was like I didn’t realize what was missing from my vacations was home-cooked food until I had it.

Also, my parents weren’t kidding when they said the ocean was right outside the window.  Wow, wow, wow!  We whale watched for a bit then Joey and I were on dinner duty and cooked up some crab cakes for everyone.  We maybe didn’t realize there might be shells in there so they had a little added crunch but whatever 🙂  Maybe also retreated to our room to watch Game of Thrones afterwards (LOOT TRAIN!) and remember when GoT was still on?  Those were the days.

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The Oregon Coast does NOT mess around with the fog, you guys!  It was eerie in the best possible way.  On our second day, we took a little drive to Newport for lunch and then we took off our shoes and walked around on the beach.  I was so surprised by how warm and soft the sand was!  I wonder if people who live near the ocean ever tire of seeing it?  I don’t think I would.

We did margs, guac and tacos for dinner that night and whoa, Oregon, whatcha doin with those teensy shrimp?  I’ve never seen such a thing!

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Hit the other side of Newport the next day — after the Dorsey Girls made a beautiful chicken Caesar salad for everyone, of course — and these sea lions were ornery!  They were not about sharing space or having their nap disrupted by another sea lion moving around.  It got a little heated between them at times.  Highly entertaining though!

Afterwards, we headed back to our condo for a little happy hour action and my sister and Wayne made wings for everyone!  Afterwards, I was like, “WHY DON’T I EAT WINGS MORE OFTEN??”  And then we watched The Matrix like a good little 90’s family and look, if I’m living in The Matrix right now, please leave me here because I am not cut out for that bleak real world of bald heads and rag clothing.  Let me get a blue pill over here!

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We hit up Tillamook for the County Fair the next day and I was so excited at the prospect of eating a really legit grilled cheese and then there wasn’t any.  Sad times!  But we DID watch a horse race (thrilling!), pet a baby cow (aka a calf) and saw a bunch of pigs that really grossed me out.  We were so close to the actual Tillamook Factory that we couldn’t not go, so we stopped in long enough for my mom, Joey and I to eat several cheese samples (CHEESE CURDS, FTW!), for me to realize I should have just held out for a grilled cheese from the factory and for Joey to discover he also has multiple stomachs and is maybe part cow?

For dinner, Joey and I made everyone our favorite spinach goat cheese turkey burgers (plus waffle fries, roasted broccoli and margaritas!) and tried not to be sad that we were leaving early the next morning while everyone else stayed for a couple more days.  Family vacations are a dicey business and even though my sister was making side bets on which family members would be the first to fight, this trip was so fun and so easy going and now I’m plotting our next vacation destination 🙂

Thanks for this trip, Mom and Dad! ♥♥♥

Weekend Things: Family Time in Estes Park

Lauren1 Comment

This weekend was just so so good.  When it comes to vacationing, I find I always have my sights set on far off locations and forget about the places, like Estes Park, that are only a few hours drive away, in our very own state.  And I always forget just how refreshing and re-energizing that fresh mountain air and time spent with loved ones can be!

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We stopped in Lyons to grab a beer at Oskar Blues Grill & Brew and look, I thought I didn’t like Oskar Blues beers, but then I had the Nooice Saison and loved it so much.  So I guess I don’t know who I am or what I like 🙂  They have an old school video game arcade that Joey and Adam were pretty into but my childhood mainly consisted of Mario Party on Nintendo 64 so I guess the nostalgia was kind of lost on me.

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Once in Estes (we saw three elk on our way!), we checked into our BEAUTIFUL condo, maybe locked ourselves out within three minutes of being there — four adults should be smarter than this, right? — made a very important beer run then had dinner at Tavern 1929, because when the lodge you’re staying at has its own restaurant and 18 microbrews, you obviously make a reservation.  We all dubbed Joey’s elk chops the best dish of the night and considered ordering dessert but then decided to retire to our condo for some hot tub/puzzle/sad sad Rockies game time.

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Saturday morning waffles for all!  Remember how I mentioned Joey made a bunch of buttermilk waffles last weekend?  Purposely, because we froze the extras then packed them up and just popped them in the toaster for everyone on Saturday morning.  I’d never tried this re-toast and revive method but they were great!  Plus, drinking coffee outside in the crisp mountain air is MY FAVORITE.  And I never pass up a coffee-mug-with-the-mountains-in-the-background picture 🙂

At 10, we made our way into town for the event of the weekend: The Scandinavian Midsummer Festival!  I didn’t even know A) Joey’s family had Scandinavian roots or B) that those painted horses are called Dala Horses and are a Swedish thing!  We totally had one of those in our house, growing up.  In all seriousness, the weather was beautiful, the festival was packed and it was cool to see all the Scandinavian culture.  We had lunch, made a stop at the taffy store and grabbed ice cream in town before heading back to our condo to rest up before dinner.

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We had a bit of a dinner party at our place later on.  Everyone came over with food and Joey and I cooked salmon with a recipe we’d never used at a size we’d never cooked but it all went swimmingly (sorry, had to make a fish pun) and this beet salad always impresses.  And I learned what potato bologna was and even got to try it for myself.  Had many Swedish learning experiences this weekend, guys!

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Okay, all I have are food photos from the beginning and the end of Sunday, but in between was a bunch of good stuff, like a quick and painless drive back from Estes, lunch at BriDer, couch lounging, garden surveying (my parents watered for us while we were gone and I love them for it ♥), running (amen for a quick weekend cool off in Denver), kombucha brewing and dinner cooking.  It felt like there were 10 extra hours in the day and I was not mad about it!  Joey made garlic scape pesto with scapes from the farmers’ market and, get this, chard from our garden.  Yes!  It was so good and we used it in some pasta for dinner and all was right in the world.  Except the Rockies… WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE SUCH PAIN??

Please tell me what you did this weekend, I’d love to hear!