Oregon coast roadtrip- unplanned danger and such- Part I

Lately Jarrod has been away on business a bit too much for our liking.

A week or two ago he was going to be gone for most of the week, so he convinced us to come with him on his first leg.  It took a bit of tackling, but I eventually packed up our family of five and we were on the road the next morning.

We had some amazing scenery to oogle on our way up...witness the cloud cover over Shasta:      

It was an easy 9 hour ride up the 5....and once we were settled in, we had a total of 48 hours before we had to be back in California....whirlwind huh?

But we made the most of it...and the weather was amazing.  

The Oregonians were baffled at the 68 degrees in February.  I'll take it I thought!

The kids and I got up for the complimentary breakfast Monday morning and we headed up the street to Face Rock, can you see it? 

I actually think she's a little creepy.

Like she's trying to get up after being underwater.  She definitely doesn't look happy.

Maybe it's the nose-picking....

Our latest unit study had us learning about Lighthouses.

PERFECT since there are quite a few still located on the Oregon coast. 

Unfortunately, the lighthouse tours don't start until late Spring....bummer, but it was fun to stomp around the grounds. 

We also found a great tidepool reveal.  Yes, I'm THAT mom that lets her kids go out on slippery wet cliffs.  Shhhhh, don't tell Marmar. ;)

A huge wave came up a few minutes later that left Talia and I squealing with fear!

Even better......as we were leaving to walk back to the van we had one MORE run in with danger.  Or not, but it felt dangerous.  You see as we were driving out onto the tip of this peninsula, we passed a large white van. You know, the commercial type that makes you think of worst case scenarios. 

Well this was a special kind of van and I was glad we were leaving them in our dust.  

Well, after our 20 minute tour of the lighthouse and surrounding area we were headed back to the van and I was confronted with a group of men in orange jumpsuits.  Oh yeah, that was no ordinary van.  It was filled with INMATES, atleast that's what was emblazoned across their chests.  Awesome.  

I tried to find a path around them, but they were parked RIGHT.NEXT.TO.OUR.VAN.

So I started praying and made eye contact with the man with the shotgun.  

Well that's what I was hoping was in his hands.  

I ushered the kids as far right as we could manage and tried to avoid the hellos of the inmates.  

Yeah, friendly or not, you're wearing a jumpsuit, yo!

Needless to say we made it back to our van and hightailed it outta there!

Thank God our adventures for the morning were coming to a close.

And my babies were safe and sound.  

I love how they were oblivious....witness two of their smiles:

Ian on the other hand is going through that GOOFY smile phase.....seriously I can't get a decent smile outta him to save my life!

Good thing he's cute and all, just wish my arms were long enough to tickle him AND push the shutter button at the same time!

More Oregonian fun to come....