Honeymoon Report
Sunday
Our new life dawned bright and pretty and for our first married activity we went to church. We enjoyed a last opportunity to listen to Pastor Carl preach and to say good-bye to the Sunday School class that we had been attending. After church we
caught a quick brunch at Le Peep's where we saw Erik, Barbara and Vince and headed over to Mom and Dad Windham's house to visit until it came time to leave for our plane trip. Getting to the airport was uneventful, the plane ride was quiet and we
were able to get our rental car in Portland without hassle. Once on the Oregon roads we only encountered one bit of excitement where the road signs are somewhat lacking in information and we had to make an important turn. Luckily traffic was
light enough on a Sunday afternoon that we encountered no difficulty.
It takes a little over an hour to drive to the coast, and when we got there the sun had been below the horizon for about 20 minutes. Arriving in Cannon Beach we rounded a headland and Jennifer got her first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean with a pink
and orange sky in the background and Haystack Rock in the foreground.
We were staying in the Stephanie Inn. The room wasn't so much a hotel room as it was a mini-condo! We had a family room with fireplace and balcony overlooking the ocean, a bedroom with a giant king-size bed, a bathroom with a whirlpool tub and
everything was decorated with a Country/Victorian style that felt very elegant. The staff at the Inn knew that we were honeymooners so they had two champaign glasses and a bottle of sparkling grape juice waiting, as well as some balloons and rose
petals on the bed! We felt like royalty!
They even took our picture, as they apparently do for all their honeymooners!
Monday
We started the day Monday with a walk down the beach to glimpse Tillamook Rock lighthouse.
On the way we took the time to snap a picture of us in front of Haystack Rock. Heading back we had breakfast at the Inn and then took off on our day's trip. We visited the tallest Sitka Spruce in North America, went to Fort Clatsop (the
wintering quarters for the Lewis and Clark Expedition), saw the
Astoria Column and also explored the
Columbia Maritime Museum. When we got back to the Inn we were pretty tired but went out and had a cheeseburger with Tillamook Cheese on it. Than we came back and watched the sun set into the ocean from our balcony.
Tuesday
After breakfast we took a last walk on the beach. One the way we fed the seagulls, and they would eat right out of your hand! The one that ate out of Jennifer's hand snuck up from behind to do so, and scared her!
We walked down to some rocks that were part way into the surf. We had to wait for the right wave to get out to them, but once out there we got some good pictures of each other. We then (regretfully) left the Stephanie Inn and headed south along
the coast. Our goal was Newport, but there was plenty to see along the way. We hit the Tillamook Dairy Association cheese factory, home of the world-famous (and bloody expensive) Tillamook Cheese. After that we went to the Tillamook Naval
Air Station. This was one of the bases for the U.S. Navy's coastal patrol blimp squadrons, and boasts a hanger that is the largest wooden structure in the world. This hanger is huge!
Standing in the middle of it makes you feel very, very small. Inside they had a collection of fully fly able World War II vintage aircraft, some old Air Force trainers
(which Charles goofed around in) and a number of displays of pictures relating life on the base during the war. After the Air Station we had planned on visiting the Cape Meares lighthouse, but a wrong turn left us 35 miles south of it and
uninterested in backtracking to it. Instead we went by the Devil's Punchbowl, which is where Charles' Dad almost fell into the Pacific trying to get a good picture in 1973. Leaving the Punchbowl we quickly arrived at the Yaquina Head Park, home
of the
Yaquina Head lighthouse. Entering the park, we rounded a corner and there was the first lighthouse Jennifer had ever seen, real-life and up-close. We got to go into it and climb all the way up to the light. While resting on one of the
landings on the spiral stair Charles looked out the window
and spotted a whale blow! This was almost as exciting as the lighthouse, and once we had seen the light we hurried back down to try and get a picture of the whale.
That evening we spent in Newport, where we could watch the lighthouse blink during the night while playing Uno!
Wednesday
The Shilo Inn (where we were staying) had given us a guide to Newport when we checked in, and the guide listed quite a number of interesting shops one could visit. We decided that we'd go check out the shops, maybe get some saltwater taffy and try to
find a souvenir. On the way to the wharf we stopped by to photograph the Yaquina Bay lighthouse, which is reportedly haunted.
Once we got to the wharf we noticed two things while wandering the shop fronts. First, we heard an odd noise and upon further exploration found a group of sea lions lounging on the dock.
Second, we found a sign advertising whale-watching. Jennifer got very excited and wanted to go whale watching, and Charles agreed that it sounded like a great idea. So at 11:00 AM we headed out on the Discovery into the waters of Yaquina Bay
and the Pacific Ocean.
During the trip we saw at least five different individual whales,
sometimes blowing,
sometimes diving
and one came within three feet of the boat! We also saw one breach about three times. All in all this was probably the highlight of the trip.
When we returned to port we skipped the Aquarium that we had at first planned to go to and headed on down the coast. We went by the
Hecta Head lighthouse and the
Umpqua River lighthouse before finally ending the day in Coos Bay.
Thursday
By Thursday all this activity was getting to us. We decided that instead of heading inland like we had planned, instead we'd go back up the coast to Lincoln City. On the way back we took in the Aquarium that we had skipped on the trip down and
got to see a baby sea otter as well as a number of seals swimming underwater. Jennifer got to touch a leatherback starfish, which freaked her out pretty good! Getting to Lincoln City we checked in about 2:00 PM and rested the remainder of the
day.
Friday
Friday we headed inland and visited the Willamet Valley. We went by the
Rex Hill Winery so we could see what went on there, and we visited the Champoeg State Park, which is where the first Oregon settlers gathered to determine whether they wanted to form a government. While there we visited a
log cabin that was built and is maintained by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a pioneer museum.
That evening we searched for over an hour trying to find a place to stay. Not having a guide to the lodging in the area was a definite drawback! We finally located a Ramada Inn and two very tired honeymooners checked in.
Saturday
Saturday we had no idea what to do. We looked at the map and thought about the various rose gardens in Portland. Then we remembered that we'd mentioned maybe trying to visit Mount St. Helens when we first got to Oregon. Still uncertain we
headed into Portland. Jennifer went to sleep in the car, so Charles made the decision to head to St. Helens by himself. Jennifer woke up just after we got to Washington State. It's a long ways into Mount St. Helens from I-5, but the
clouds swirling around the mountains were so cool that we didn't mind. The visitor centers were great, the film about the explosion very impressive and the beauty of the area something to remember.
When we were done with the park it was 4:00 PM so we found a hotel in the town of Longview. We wanted pizza for dinner so we searched the phone book and only found one pizza place listed. We also thought about maybe going to church the next
morning, since we had the time and nothing to do with it. On the way to the pizza joint we drove by the place where the church we had picked out was located. We discovered church row!
There were a number of big, beautiful churches along Kessler Street in Longview. Most were built in the 1920's and 1930's. Charles took a picture of one of them for Jennifer to use as a model in her drawing. Oh, and the pizza? The
place we went to was closed down, but on the way back we discovered a Pizza Hut that had not been listed in the Yellow Pages!
Sunday
Saturday night it rained, but Sunday dawned cloudy but dry. We went to church and enjoyed an early worship service at First Baptist of Longview before heading back to Portland. The plane trip was uneventful as usual. Once back in Denver
we went to the wrong parking lot and naturally had trouble finding our car. Once Charles got it figured out that we were in the wrong parking lot then we rode the shuttle over to the other parking lot and found the car quickly. We stopped by
Mom and Dad Windham's and had a nice dinner and opened our wedding presents. We have a lot of generous friends! We packed as many as we could in the back of the Grand Am and headed home. Once home we found even more presents from Charles'
family members sitting on the kitchen counter! Whew! Happy and home at last we settled down to a new life.
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