Driving farther West: Idaho to the Oregon Coast

   We said good-bye to Rexburg and all the cousin craziness, looking forward to the more peaceful half of  the vacation.  We stopped at the Idaho Falls Temple, to see the newly renovated interior, while my parents kindly watched the younger kiddos.
  Sean and I were married here 23 years ago!   (The photo below is not one I took personally.)

   The renovation was beautiful. The old wall murals had more life and clarity to them.  You don't often see murals like these in the new temples.
 

    This is also the temple I remember taking 5-hour-long bus rides to from our town in Montana as a teenager. Before we would get back on the bus for the ride home, we'd always eat lunch at the temple cafeteria. ( I don't know of any other temples with a cafeteria in them!)  Sean and I both have fond memories of the temple scones and chocolate pie from our teenage temple outings.  So, of course, we had to take Asher into the beautiful temple that had so many good memories for us.

      He agreed that the fresh, hot scones and  pie were "divine". The wall murals were also astounding.  It was really satisfying to share a place that we love so much with one of our kids.

    Then back into the car for a cross state drive.  I had hoped that the Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho would be a good stopping spot for lunch. Unfortunately, wasps in the picnic area, combined with 100 degree temps, made us gulp down our cereal and milk,  take a couple scenic pictures of the falls, and jump back in the air conditioned van.

   
     The Shoshone Falls are really epic.  All that water in a sagebrush wasteland!   There were kayakers coming up the river, right to the base of the falls, getting showered in cool mist.   If we come back this way again, I'm going to schedule more time, and figure out how to rent kayaks and make this a memorable outing instead of a quick scenic stop.

     We arrived in Meridian in time to gather tomatoes and grape for a delicious dinner with Sean's parents.

     Brad has an amazing efficient backyard growing area.  With very little space they get bushels of peaches, berries, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots.   They have thick vines of grapes growing over their back porch.  Ephraim was in heaven, helping Brad harvest produce.

     Ephraim and McKenzie also came to an agreement this trip.  If Ephraim didn't get too close to her, McKenzie wouldn't bite his face.  I felt this was a positive step in their relationship, and boded well for the next week when they would be housemates at the coast.

   I thought the sleeping arrangements for the kids was pretty funny.  Ephraim, Asher and Sylvia could all fit head-to-toe on the leather couch in the TV room.

     I took the kids to the swimming pool in the neighborhood while Sean shopped for groceries.  We also went to a great museum in Boise, "The Discovery Center of Idaho".  Having gone to several science museums all over the country, this was one of the best.  I'd put it second only to the one in Milwaukee.  The kids would love to come back and spend more time here.

The favorite exhibit was a giant bubble maker.  Sylvia and Ephraim loved it!

      Finally, we were off to Oregon. We drove half way to the coast and stopped into our motel.  They had accidentally given our room to somebody else, so the made up for it with giving us a suite with a hot tube in the room!   We all climbed in, watched TV (Ephraim may have jumped on the bed), and decided we were really living the luxury life.

   The next morning... we planned on picking up Asher's girlfriend (Beth) at the Portland airport and driving to the ocean  So much anticipation!

     Thursday morning, after a small glitch with the GPS taking us on a detour to a private airport in Hood River, Oregon  (very cute town, would love to explore it another time!), we found Beth at the correct airport in Portland. 
     We smooshed this smiling girl (whom we had only met briefly previously) into the backseat of the van with Asher and his viola, and headed off to find the ocean.   We nervously hoped she would survive our family vacation.

      After a delicious lunch at "King Torta's" (an authentic Mexican restaurant outside Portland), we stopped at the Tillamook Forest Nature Center.  It had a lot of cool exhibits explaining the logging and forest fire history of the mountains between Portland and the coast.
    Beth made immediate friends with Ephraim by being willing to play animal puppets in one of the nature exhibits with him.  She did not realize that she would then have a little buddy attached at her side for the rest of the trip.

     We enjoyed playing in the river behind the center, as well as hiking a bit on the trails. It would be a good place to explore more another time.

Asher and Beth got a chance to sit and visit, after somehow surviving a summer apart.

     We continued on, arriving at the amazing Air B&B house in Oceanside that Brad and Liz had rented for us all to stay in for the next 5 days.  We unpacked, made dinner, and headed to see the ocean before sunset. 
     When got to the Oceanside beach,  we saw a man drawing a giant geometric pattern in the sand.  Ephraim though it was a cool idea and started copying him with a piece of driftwood.

   
    Sean talked with the sand-artist a bit.  He said "The ocean and I are in a relationship.  I give her my art, and she tells me what she thinks of it."   Fair enough.

    We waded out into the ocean, of course!  You don't just drive 2,000 miles and keep your feet dry!   Brad and Liz hadn't driven as far, so they kept dry and enjoyed walking their dog, McKenzie, along in the foggy sunset.

    It was a nice time to get to know Beth a little better. 
    This is me asking if I can touch her boing-y curls, and her laughing about it.

    Asher and Beth also walked a long ways, enjoying the beautiful view and each others company. It was tough to leave, but we knew we could return the next day, and several days thereafter.

  The night ended with everyone exhausted, and lounging on the couches watching TV to wind down.   Sean and Ephraim made this a nightly ritual.

     It was really nice to have the two separate floors, with two couch areas, three bathrooms, and five bedrooms.  We had lots of space for everyone to spread out in and not feel like we were tripping over each other. It was a great find!  A perfect homebase for the many adventures in the days to come.