family from Iowa

Last Friday Wah-Wah's dad and step mom came to visit us for the week. This was a pretty big treat since they are the first and probably only family that has came out to visit us from the Midwest (with the exception of my sister who is making her second visit to Portland in a few weeks). Wah-Wah and I decided to take most of the week off and show them around Portland and the coast of Oregon. The kids were delighted to see their other grandparents. We thought of some of the best places we've been that best represented life in the Pacific Northwest. Luckily the weather was great and they just missed the start of the rainy season.

We spent a day in Tillamook and showed around the Tillamook Cheese Factory and my favorite winery-the Blue Heron. Here's Wah-Wah feeding the goats in the Winery's petting zoo with the Grandparents waiting for the perfect camera shot.














No trip to Portland is complete without visiting the Columbia Gorge's Historic Highway. Three major waterfalls are along the highway. Here everyone is at Multnomah Falls-the most spectacular of all of them.
















We took the Grandparents to Newport since we know it so well. We all spent the night in my parents house on the beach in their downstairs apartment. Incidently, we saw all the expansion my parents have done to their home including an extra bedroom, storage, another bedroom, a wood shop and a little auto showroom. Anyway, my parents volunteer at the Oregon Coast Aquarium and got everyone free tickets. I always have to take eveyones picture in this mammoth shark's mouth at the end of the tour. It's tradition.




This picture is back outside the Tillamook Cheese Factory. I know it sounds boring to watch cheese be made, but it is worth it to get all the free samples. Tillamook also makes legendary ice cream which is available. Oregon Strawberry is best strawberry ice cream I've had.














Here Woogy is with Grandma at the tide pools at Yaquina head lighthouse (another place my dad volunteers to tell visitors about the local sea bird population). Our timing was good to see the tide pools because it was low tide.











Our last day in Newport, we were on beach below my parents house when I noticed this would make a great picture of Yaquina Head Lighthouse. You can see the ocean is starting to pick up before the storm season hits.