Pivot-cation: The PNW Epic Adventures!

There...are a heck ton of pictures in this post. Buckle up. Because we had to buckle up for the 12 or 13 hours it took to drive up to the greater Portland, Oregon area!

But, ya know? They all did all right. We listened to some Harry Potter, watched some movies, and rocked out to some Weird Al.

A little somethin' for evereyone.

Micah and Cole were stoked to ride a dinosaur at some random rest stop in Idaho!

We pulled in LATE the night and descended like a sleepy horde on my sister's house. 

They were such good sports to put up with allllll of us!

The next day, we had a picnic at a park with a couple of my siblings (the ones who were available). 

The kids were so excited to just RUN. To PLAY. With Covid, our kids hadn't played with other kids in months.

They were so excited to play with cousins!

Eliza couldn't believe there was another human her size. Cousin love-at-first-sight! It is one of the sweetest things I have seen.

The next day was Independence Day!

Of course, that calls for karaoke!
Just us?

It calls for delicious BBQ!(thanks, Malcolm!).

It called for some last-minute scrap wood tables to be built so there was a space for everyone to eat (bringing a horde like ours to dinner is tricky to host).

It absolutely calls for lighting sticks on fire and handing them to small children! I mean, it calls for sparklers and fireworks ;)

And of course, there was time the next day for playing out back with cousins and uncles!

And for Amelia to grow attached to the hammock out back.

Then we ditched everyone and headed up to the Olympic National Park!

It was quite a contrast to Arches and Bryce; instead of worrying about heatstroke, we had to worry about staying warm in the drizzly chill! The park is really spread out over the Olympic Peninsula and is over one million square miles. We had a lot more driving once we got there.

Our first stop was the Quinault Rainforest were we took the short hike to the World's Largest Spruce Tree!

It was huge! The roots were taller than me! It was so fun to explore around this huge tree!

My kids were fascinated by the hollowed out trees everywhere.

It was cool and damp and mossy.

And ferny.

The hike had very little elevation change, which was a huge difference from our hikes in Utah!

We drove up north and HAD to get out when we saw the ocean.

Because...Ocean. <3

We hiked down to get to the beach. 
These are not the sand dune beaches of New Jersey.

These beaches are rough and wild.

And completely wonderful.

We were all so happy to be there!

We're glad we took a chance on Ruby beach. 

Micah gives it a solid two thumbs up!

Then we headed to Forks, where we were staying!

We picked up some super-delicious tacos at a random taco truck.

And then we check into the Forks Motel!
They had a suite option available that was perfect for our family.

Cole thinks it was SWEET!

The next day we headed to the Hoh Rainforest to check out the Hall of Mosses.

Spoiler: there was a lot of moss.

Everything was so green. The Hall of Mosses felt so other-worldly.

It was not crowded. It felt like the perfect setting for either a fairytale or a horror movie.

I loved it.

Eliza is ready to enter into the world of fern sales. She would love you to take a look at this lovely model. It comes with a free banana slug.

We kept marveling at how huge the trees grow in the PNW.

We got to learn about nurse trees and how they cause such cool root development.

The next day, we headed up to Lake Crescent and hiked to Marymere Falls.

It was a sparkling cool, sunny day. The kids may have grumbled a bit at yet another hike, but I'm fairly sure they eventually got over it. Ha!

There were big trees...

and big tree stumps...

and so many big, hollow trees!

T

The beginning leg was mercifully flat...

but then we crossed some narrow wooden bridges...

and climbed hundreds of steps.

Totally worth it! Look at that view!

Look at this crew!
Ha, one of the other differences between the PNW and Utah was the comments about our family size. People were really shocked that these were all ours.
I was not offended friends, there are days I am just as amazed that all those kids are mine.

The views on the hike down were just as magical.

And the kids were goofy as ever.

We all survived and arrived back at Lake Crescent in one piece.

Let's talk about how dreamy Lake Crescent is!

The water is a vivid, sparkling turquoise. Tree-covered mountains are all around.

Along the roads, pink foxglove and white daisies were in full, brilliant bloom.
We would absolutely love to take a trip back and spend more time at Lake Crescent.

But...the ocean calls. When we checked out of our hotel the next day, we headed back to Ruby beach during low tide. I really wanted my family to be able to experience tide pools.

We were all enchanted!

Forget the touch pools at an aquarium. These are the real deal!

They were able to touch anemones, starfish, and barnacles.

It was good for Tyler's beach-loving heart.

Sheridan found a crab shell.

There were just SO many pools!

Eliza loved the baby starfish we found!

My guys!

Last family pic!

And then we headed back to Portland!

While in Portland, we were able to meet up at a park and have lunch with Grandpa and Grandma Carla.

We got to visit with cousins outside. Popsicles, puppy, and pasketball. 

Pasketball, basketball. 

Whichever game it was, they had fun.

Eliza fell in love with their dog and refused to let anyone else hold the leash.
She was devastated to leave Bruno.

The rest of us were totally bummed to leave cousins.

We even went blueberry picking! Those fresh blueberries were so good!

...And, we made our way back to the beach!

This time, we headed to Cape Lookout near Tillamook, Oregon.

Sadly, the Tillamook Creamery was closed to the public when we went. Boo.

It was a cool, cloudy day, but the kids were game to play in the sand!

And some crazies were even game to swim!

Guys, that water is COLD. My kids must get their ability to handle that level of cold from their father, because I just huddled in my sweatshirt on shore.

Sheridan even caught some crabs while we were there! I think she caught 9, but they were all female so we had to throw them back.

Then they pinched her.

Tyler and I got to take a romantic walk around the cliffs that surround the southern end of Cape Lookout beach. They were just so wild and beautiful.

I call this: A Man in His Happy Place

One highlight of the trip was family church, since we hadn't yet been cleared to meet in our congregations. It was so nice to gather and feel the Holy Spirit together.

Such a blessing!

We were also blessed with the chance to witness our niece/cousin's baptism!

We don't normally baptize people in backyard pools, but the pandemic had everything shut down.

We felt so fortunate to attend in person, and that the rest of the family could attend over zoom.

We sure love this cute girl!

And then it was time to start preparing to go.

Cole hung out one last time in a hammock.

We squeezed in one last round of Garbage.

And we fit in one more trip to the coast.

Hug Point was fantastic!

Freezing cold waves for the Elsas among us,

warm sand for the kids,

and mysterious caves for the slightly adventurous.

Does the ocean make you as happy?

It was low tide, so we got to go around Hug Point (historically, wagons would drive up the coast and wait for low tide to be able to haul their goods around Hug Point).

There were spots to pose,

some more colorful than others.

It was so fun to walk the same path that wagons would have travelled!

It was even better to spend time with people we love!

We explored the nooks and crannies,

Tyler built a sandcastle (with a little help),

and those silly kiddos took another plunge!

And Jack huddled up in his sweatshirt and read.

He gets that from his mother's side.

Eliza communed with the sand.
She gets that from Jack's side.

And then we really did head home.

Sigh.

We stopped in Boise on our way back.

A little pool time takes the sting out of leaving family.

And then a quick visit to one of our favorite missionaries in Twin Falls was the cherry on top of this pivot-cation! We loved catching up with Sister Hyde and meeting her awesome companion.

It was the perfect was to end our pivot, by spending it with a member of the family we would have seen in Jersey.

And we really did miss and mourn our chance to visit New Jersey, to take the road trip we'd been planning for years. Yet, we loved the memories that we wouldn't have been able to make is Jersey hadn't banned Utahns from visiting.

Covid was rough, but we loved our pivot-cation. The end.