Our visit to Oregon!

We ventured up to the good old North West to explore Oregon, check out some practices and meet with some Doctors. All I can say is beautiful! The views are breathtaking! James and I kept saying " Why doesn't everyone live here?"

Look at how green it was...keep in mind this is winter. Isn't this amazing?This was a little town called Lake Oswego. It is my dream place to live. Right on the lake with your very own dock. You could go boating every day. We looked at houses for fun and they were all about 1.8 million. A little out of our budget :)We spent about 6 hours a day in this thing. It was so hard to leave Tray home, but we knew he wouldn't be able to handle the car. He still remains the only baby that HATES the car. He had a blast in Utah with the Grandparents. But boy, did I miss him!! We stopped at a couple of national forests along the way. I have to admit it... I am a tree-hugger!! Oregon was my kind of place. Check out these wildlife sightings. Pay close attention to 12-14!! WHAT???We actually already knew that Big Foot was a native to Oregon, but I couldn't believe someone had actually seen him. I looked really hard and sadly we never saw him. Better luck next time.Yeah, for real. I could have touched that Elk. You are like one with the animals out here! We made a stop at the gorgeous Portland Temple. It was so big and beautiful!

I thought this was worth taking a picture of. How rad! I am probably related to them somehow and maybe next time we will find out for sure.
We drove over the mountains, through the beautiful Tillamook Forest. I have never seen so many trees.

We stopped at the Tillamook Forest Museum and it was awesome. There were several devastating forest fires back in the 40's that wiped out the whole forest. It was amazing to hear the stories of all the dedicated people who planted seeds and rebuilt the forest. The forest has made a full recovery and it was a really inspiring story. Nature is amazing and it can be such a spiritual experience being out there immersed in trees. James checking out the Salmon. I took this one with my nifty underwater camera.Hanging with Smokey. He is one cool Bear.

Next, we headed for the coast. I know I sound like a broken record...but it was beautiful!!I just don't think it gets any better than this. Forest and Ocean, it was spectacular! ( I am trying to use some different adjectives)

We also got to make a stop in Corvallis and see our favorite Oregonians, Mark and Lindsey. We had a blast catching up over a gourmet dinner (thanks Lindsey) .They are so fun to be with and it was so good to reminisce about Ohio. We miss you guys!

Overall, we loved Oregon! I could totally see myself living there. There are so many great outdoor activities and you would never want to go inside. It is a tree-huggers paradise!