by Kristin Echols | Oct 10, 2017 | Travel
We left Portland early because we wanted to get to Silver Falls State Park. The weather forecast indicated it would start raining at 2:00. We drove through more beautiful countryside. We arrived at the park at 11:30, had a quick lunch and hit the trail for a 3-mile...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 9, 2017 | Quilting, Travel
Due to our adventures in gastronomy while traveling, we usually eat a light breakfast of yogurt, berries and granola. Today was our first breakfast out. Sean recommended Blue Star Donuts instead of the usual Voodoo Donuts. At Blue Star, there was a selection of...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 8, 2017 | Travel
We left the beautiful Oregon coastline and headed inland to Portland this morning. Once again, the scenery along the way was gorgeous. Rolling hills with farms and a backdrop of mountain forests. We crossed innumerable creeks, streams, and rivers. We are staying at...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 7, 2017 | Travel
It rained all night. Boy, was I glad we weren’t tent camping! When the rain stopped this morning, we took the opportunity to walk along the dunes and the beach. The tide was out and the hard packed sand made it perfect for walking, running, biking, chasing kids and...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 6, 2017 | Quilting, Travel
On a driving day, we start out by figuring out how far we are driving to our next campsite. Today it was estimated at about 100 miles and 2 hours. We left South Beach at 10 AM and arrived at Nehalem Bay State Park at 5 PM. It turns out there is a lot of good stuff...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 5, 2017 | Quilting, Travel
Since we are staying two days at South Beach, we started the day with a long walk. The trails around the park are very well groomed. We walked along the interpretive trail learning about the local plants and trees then along the jetty leading into Newport. We...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 5, 2017 | Quilting, Travel
I feel so special today. My husband is awesome. He started the day by sneaking off from the campsite to shop for my Valentine’s gift. Sure it’s a bit early, but they don’t charge sales tax in Oregon. I am now the proud owner of a Stihl 18” chainsaw…but this is a...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 3, 2017 | Travel
This morning I had to show Shawn all my adventures of the previous evening. It wasn’t nearly as scary in the daylight with Shawn by my side (except for the old van with darkened windows tucked away in the bushes…still creepy). Steve the dinosaur found a slug. Just...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 2, 2017 | Travel
When we arrived at our campsite yesterday, I thought “oh how pretty and secluded, look at all the beautiful ferns”. Who was I kidding? It is creepy. It’s all dark and damp and slimy vines hang from the trees, and there are scary sounds coming from the bushes. I’m...
by Kristin Echols | Oct 2, 2017 | Travel
For my birthday last month, my 4-year old grandson, Malcolm, gave me a dinosaur. He is about 3 inches tall and named Steve. We usually see Malcolm a few times a week, so two weeks without seems like a long time. I decided to bring Steve along on vacation so that we...
