1994 Oregon (mother-in-law with us)

This year we brought my mother-in-law with us for 1 week of our 2 week stay at my Mom and Dad's.  She had never been to Oregon before, or anywhere on the west coast.  It was fun showing her the beautiful northwest.

One of the first places we took her to was the coast.  You can't come to Oregon and not see the coast! 

We don't often do much in Newport but sightsee and find a bite to eat, but this time we did drop the kids off at the Ripley's Believe it of Not and let them go through it.   They seemed to have a good time, although I'm not sure what they're doing here!

Since we were on the coast for a couple of days, we got to enjoy the sunsets, too.

The kids also enjoyed playing in the ocean.  It is COLD, but I guess that's half the fun!

These were the days of film cameras and Tiffen filters.  I liked playing around with filters.  Where better to do that then at the beach.

Just inland from the ocean by Lincoln City is Devil's Lake.  The guys usually liked to drown a worm there while the gals went shopping. 

On rare occasions, they even caught a fish!

There was a bumper boat attraction on an inlet of Devil's lake, too.  Looked like a lot of fun.  So we let the kids do that this time.

We also rode up and down the coast a bit.  I never tire of that ride!  This was one of the pull off's. 

I don't know if she was as impressed with the ocean as we are, but I think she had fun.

Another day we sent the kids off to Newport with their Uncle Tom to do a little crabbing.  They always loved spending time with him.  He was quite the character!

Angie entertaining herself while they were there.

They even got a crab or 2.  Instead of having them boiled there, he brought them back to their brand new home in Dallas and cooked them in their new kitchen.  What a way to christen a new house!  I'm not sure they ever got the smell out of there!! 

Angie just chilling out in Newport.

Newport marina---always a great place to take pictures!

Couldn't leave without taking MaryAnn up into the Cascade mountains, either.  We don't see trees like this back home in St. Louis, Mo.!

One of our regular stops is Clear Lake.  We didn't spend much time here this trip, but had to give it a look.

The Cascade drive that we like to take goes by Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie River.  It's an easy walk to the waterfall's overlook.  Another great place for a photo.

We tried doing a few little walks up there, but MaryAnn was having problems breathing with the thin air.  I did get Angie to reluctantly pose for a picture here before we turned back.

MaryAnn had a bit of a time walking up the Dee Wright Observatory with it's 5,300' elevation. 

We accidentally came upon this observatory a few years ago.  The expansive lava beds that it's built on is impressive.  This "dial" points to the many mountain peaks you can see from the top of the observatory.

There are many lakes along the scenic byway.  And a chance to play with my split focus filter!

The sun was starting to drop low in the sky, so it was time to take one last picture and start heading back down to the VAlley.  I'm sure I used another filter for this shot, too.

Back in Dallas MaryAnn enjoyed sitting out in the back yard and relaxing.

Our always wonderful hosts!!!  Miss them LOTS! RIP!!!

A picture from one of the many backyard bar b qs with our various family members who also lived in Dallas. 

Some people may get tired of going to the same places every year, but I felt a sense of comfort from it and how could you not enjoy going to Oregon every year!!???  You don't know what you have 'til it's gone!  This year we had the added bonus of checking out a new place, too---Vancouver.   Hopefully we'll get back there some day.