OK, everybody, sorry the Oregon post is a little addled but for the life of me I can't figure out how to edit it! Anyhow, here's a bit more info. Mike, Mel, Byron, and myself flew into Portland on a Thurs. night. We stayed at a little rented house in John's Landing, which was a nice neighborhood, close to everything and nice enough that Byron and I could go for exercise walks in the morning. Our first day in Portland I met up with Tiel and we spent the day cruising around, seeing the sights. Mike, Mel, and Byron went out to Albeke farms in the hopes of picking apples, but were told only grapes and some late veggies were available for picking, so they picked the grapes. They also hit the local Costco (I came home to find our travel laptop had given birth to a mini netbook!) and a couple of other shopping destinations. The second day we drove out to the Columbia river gorge with Tiel and Todd for a day of waterfall viewing (lovely!) and more shopping.
On Sunday we drove out to the coast, getting a lovely tour of the countryside (the gps took us there via the back roads) and got to our rented condo (on a cliff overlooking the beach, with steps leading down) in time for sunset and low tide, which gave us the chance to check out the tide pools - lots of barnacles, colorful starfish, and sea anemones. We were also there for the full moon, which was just gorgeous! The next day we drove up the coast to Cannon Beach and Haystack rock, stopping at Tillamook farms for cheese and ice cream on the way back down.
Our last full day started out exploring the aquarium in Newport, where I went on the octopus encounter tour, and driving back to Portland for a last night of attempting to fit the incredible amount of stuff we bought into the airline-approved amount of luggage we had (we did make it, but just barely)!
All and all, an excellent trip!