YAAAAY!

Ray gets a big screen TV or an Xbox. Me, I'm intensely happy because my pretty black refrigerator got a new friend:

Even the dock guy at the Sears outlet said "Huh, that's an upgrade" as he took away our sad, ancient electric coil stove. Now I just have to learn to bake bread in this baby!

Honeymoon 3

Installment 3 of the honeymoon (I really do need to get the pics in picasa...). We didn't get to spend nearly enough time in Oregon, but it was still some amazing views. I think the highlight was the dunes - southwest Oregon has these huge dunes, which are rapidly disappearing thanks to the introduction of European beach grass. But we had some fun on them while they're still there (and without getting run over by an ATV, which was a distinct possibility).

First, the obligatory light house - Umpqua River light station, way at the top of the hill above the dunes (possibly a 1/4 mile off of the water?).

And the dunes - Ray let me play king of the mountain before I rolled down (and used the windbreaker to try to vacuum pack myself, for what good it did):

Ray just accepted all the sand... and the fact that perhaps we're too pointy for this sport:

We finally got a good picture of the tsunami sign as we were leaving Umpqua. We'd seen these for the last two days, and they probably cropped up after Crescent City got devastated a few decades ago... but what killed me is that they offer no instruction as to what you're supposed to do in a tsunami - just that they could happen. This struck me as odd... and somewhat amusing. Especially since I enjoy the "stick figures in peril" website.

Our last night we decided to stop in Newport, OR. Turns out that this town not only houses another aquarium and the Hatfield Marine Science Center (which we did get to check out), it also hosts another form of Mecca:

The Beerquarium (hey, don't blame me, they named it, if you click on the picture you can read the tiny white print), aka Rogue Brewing headquarters. Just down the block from the marine station - lucky, lucky oceanographers. We left with a large box  for (much) later consumption. The guy at the shipping store was a little annoyed to be packing up all of the California wines and no Oregon ones, but he couldn't complain about the beer. :)

From Newport, we managed two last tourist stops on the way up to Portland. We really wanted to see "devils horns" (blow holes in the rest of the world), but we had the tides all wrong. However, our stop in Depoe Bay to check them out was not for naught - this is the home of "The world's smallest harbor", which is pretty tiny and has a very hairy entrance. And of some gorgeous surf. Here's my favorite shot of the many Ray took:

As we were trying to book our way up to Portland (and finish the trip at 1171.7 miles!), we kept seeing signs for the Spruce Goose and Evergreen Aviation Museum. Ray couldn't resist, so we made a quick stop to check it all out. Even the building was a feat, never mind the incredible collection of aircraft. I enjoyed seeing the shear size of the Spruce Goose - there were other planes fully underneath its tail! Here's Ray looking at the SG from a **second story** balcony. Note the tiny Wright flyer on the left. This was a nice end to what was an incredible trip all the way around!

More Honeymoon

Hmmm... given the previous photo experience... Here's another try.  And more honeymoon stories! I'm still learning as we go, so let me know what you can/can't see.

So, from Elk we toured around Mendocino and the Anderson Valley - Mendocino turned out to be where all the city folk went for the holiday weekend, so we didn't stay long there. The Anderson Valley was gorgeous (redwoods and wine country), but I never did achieve a 

great video of what it was like to be a passenger with Ray on those twisty wooded roads, so I won't try to explain... ("you're running through the forest" came to mind). I think Ray enjoyed the drive. :)

Northern California: Redwoods. We left the coast behind to drive the Avenue of the Giants. Gorgeous. Probably my highlight of the trip. And much photo idiocy ensued... In the interest of protecting the not-so-innocent, we'll skip the "help, I'm stuck in this tree" shots and go with one that shows how big these things really are (before we found out that you're not supposed to walk on them... but we certainly weren't the first):

I have another where we went to separate ends of the tree and I took a picture of Ray (the bright shirt was helpful here), but there's no way you'd see him - soooo tiny. This baby was several hundred feet long (the record holder in the area is something like 360').

Of course, we had to stop and check out the drive-through tree. There are a lot of other goofy redwood things to see here (cheesy Americana was, after all, part of the trip mission!), and it kept us amused for quite some time. Here's Ray after maneuvering the rental in:

The rest of the drive was gorgeous, and we did stop at Founders Grove and do the eco tour (and more dumb photos, of course). We made it back out to the coast that night to stay in Crescent City, which boasts TWO lighthouses. Only one of which is easy to see. The Battery Point lighthouse is actually out on an island, but you can walk to it at low tide (the gravel beach in the foreground). It is still a residence, and I'm jealous of their view, but I'm not sure how they get the groceries out there.

The lighthouse also had some friendly squirrels. We watched a guy feed them, and he gave me a few nuts to pass. They reminded Ray of feeding Quinn....you couldn't give them food fast enough.

From Crescent City, we headed into Oregon. There is a fabulous Azalea park in Brookings, and if you're into either azaleas or wooden playgrounds (the lumber lobby must be strong - we saw several), we've got some fun shots... but instead, I have to add a beach shot - this was one of many, as Ray stopped for waves often: Pistol River Beach, OR:

Yes, Ray liked the beaches (so did I!)

Everybody's doing it...

So, we're joiners. Or something. It seems like everyone has set up blogs so that they can share pictures and updates with their far-flung friends and family. Well, we've definitely got the far-flung thing down (less so, I guess, with Steve G's return from Japan). So Ray and I decided it was time to try the blog thing. And yeah, since most of our friends are on blogger and we're cheap (sorry, typepad), we're trying this...

... and since we're both scared of the internet, you'll have to get a google account if you're interested in checking in on this after your two week trial (if you already have a gmail account, that'll work). Hopefully we can make it worth your while!

For now, a couple of photos from the honeymoon trip (Highway 1/101 from Monterey to Portland)... 

The photo on the left is one of many attempts to capture the jellyfish at Monterey Aquarium. The aquarium was soo cool.... too many pictures, although there is one sea otter over on the right there, too ->

(Ray has decided they're just wet cats)

We paid to drive through Pebble Beach -and checked out Pacific Grove and Carmel, which were both gorgeous- Ray got what is probably the highlight shot from the trip, the "Lone Cyprus" at Pebble Beach (it's on all of their logos and in a Lexus commercial at the moment).

Ray's mom requested light houses, so here's the first: 

 Cabrillo Point Lighthouse (AKA "Stumpy" - for the somewhat longer than advertised walk, Ray was a little disappointed by the size of this lighthouse...but the views were nice):

Point Arena Lighthouse... again, gorgeous views. And some of the cleanest port-a-potties I've ever encountered (hey, high value for a kayaker, never mind during a 1000 mile trip!)

Tomales Bay- We found an oyster farm with picnic tables that let you buy them fresh and would sell a shucking knife (pretty much what Heather taught me to look for in a seafood shack!)  Here's Ray telling the oysters who is boss!

Check out the farm: 

Tomales Bay Oyster Company

This is the view from the second hotel.... yes, those are kayakers. I had to sneak them in somehow! 

More pictures to come now that I've got the posting figured out. Stay tuned!

(Laura, posting as Ray :) )