Our Family Vacation

We left for our first real family vacation early Sunday morning. We drove all the way to the Columbia River before stopping for lunch at The Dalles Dam and Lock. The lock was interesting. We drove over one dam and saw the lock, and later learned that for some of the huge river barges there is only about 6 inches of room to spare on both sides before being lowered or raised on it's way down or up the Columbia River.

We went to a fish hatchery and saw these HUGE sturgeon. "Herman" was over 12 feet long and over 70 years old!!! The other one was a little guy... just over 10 feet. :)

The fish hatchery was near the Bonneville Dam. They hatch Salmon and ship them all over to "grow up." In front of Bonneville Dam.

Bee, Penguin and Steelhead watch the Salmon go up the fish ladder. They had an observatory below the level of the river where you could watch fish swim by. They have a fish counter down there to count how many fish and identify the different kinds that go by. Steelhead decided he finally knows what he wants to do when he grows up... work along the Columbia River and watch the Salmon all day!

Multnomah Falls

One of Hunter and Zookeepers strategies on our vacation was to take a good long hike first thing in the morning before we drove. It got the critters all tuckered out before getting in the van... then most of them slept until our next stop. This is Multnomah Falls along the Columbia River Gorge. It was just a little hike way up to the bridge. The falls were beautiful from up there.

We got all misty from the spray of the falls.

We found trees with funky roots and trunks all along our trip... and took pictures with many of them.

We found a cave and went back a few days later to explore it.

This was some of the critters first time at the ocean.

Lemur loved the wind and the sand. He got filthy dirty and wet, but he was one happy critter!

Cape Dissapointment, Washington

One night we walked to the North Head Light House overlooking the ocean. It is around the point to the North of the mouth of the Columbia River. We were there at sunset. There wasn't a breeze, no sound but the crashing of the waves and it was perfect outside. I've never been to the ocean when the wind wasn't blowing like crazy, but this evening it was perfect. We enjoyed the sunset, saw some deer and soaked in the awesome sight of the mighty Pacific Ocean.

We went to the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon. It was very interesting. I had been there in the 7th grade and loved it. I think the critters liked it too.

Ft. Clatsop - Lewis and Clark's winter fort on the Pacific Coast. We enjoyed a few hours at Ft. Clatsop. There were lots of things for the kids to do and we all learned a little history.

One night Hunter took the critters down to the beach and to explore some caves they found. Lemur was asleep so I was just sort of tidying up camp. I brushed my teeth and went to spit in the bushes and felt like I was being watched... I was. A raccoon came out and went through camp. He wasn't the least bit worried about me as I took pictures of him. He scurried about, eating the Cheetos Lemur had dropped and the popcorn we had spilled. Not long after, another one came. They took their time going through our camp before moving on to the next one.

We decided to go to another light house not far from our camp. The 2 light houses are just 2 miles apart, but because the way the cliffs and the land is, they needed 2 light houses right there. We happened to go there during the 2 hours a year that it was open to the public! We got to go up inside it and see the view of the mouth of the Columbia River and the ocean... AWESOME!

The girls by the old light. This one originally was in a light house somewhere back East. It was then moved to one in California before ending in this light house. Now they have a new more efficient light, but have left this one "for looks.

Tillamook, Oregon

Hunters sister, Sea Lion lives near Tillamook, so we went down to see her. She took us to some neat places. She is a High School Science teacher and knew all the good places to go. We really enjoyed her hot shower and the chance to do a little laundry!

You can't go to Tillamook without stopping at the Tillamook Cheese factory. We actually went there twice due to Zoo Keepers obsession with eating ice cream. The first day we all got triple deckers (and a stomach ache) and the second day we had a bowl of clam chowder and a single scoop... and not so many tummy aches. We went to a HUGE sand dune. The critters got tired running up and down them. I got tired just watching them.

Sea Lion showed us a good beach to find sand dollars. The critters found a bunch of them, along with some other cool sea shells to bring home. We also saw some sea lions which was pretty cool.

Sea Lion also took us to some tide pools. We saw star fish and sea anemones. The weather was perfect!!

We love the beach!!!

On the way home... :(

Lemur loves the water be it the bath tub, a creek, the sprinkler, the ocean or Lake Detroit.

Going for an early morning swim in Lake Detroit on the Santiam Pass (over the Cascades)

We love the time around the campfire when it is quiet and peaceful and a little chilly outside. (the s'mores are yummy too!)

The critters were pretty good in the van and found all kinds of funny ways to amuse themselves.

We had such a nice time, it feels good to sleep in our own beds again! We had the critters take all the dirty laundry to the back deck and we sorted it there... it was a good thing because I think we brought home enough sand to fill our sand box!!

2 busy 2 blog

Hi everyone,

Sorry we haven't been blogging lately, but man, things have been so busy here at the Funny Farm. The older boys have been keeping me running doing odd jobs to earn money for Scout Camp in July. On my way to pick up my work at the Vet in the mornings, they have been having me drop them off at a pond to go fishing. Bee had surgery on her arm again on Tuesday. She is recovering nicely and didn't have to take hardly any meds this time... tough little insect she is! Penguin has been a huge help with Lemur this summer. They get a long really well and she's a pro at taking care of him when I'm working. Martin, Bee and Monkey all got to go for a week with Grandma Kitty (the most cuddly, warm, huggy animal Bee could think of) and they all had a super fun time with her.

We went camping up in the mountains for Fathers Day and had a really relaxing time. We took a break from all the house hunting, prequalifying, decision making and tried not to think about all that at all. Now this week we've been doing more of it and are trying to figure out which house to buy. We are also getting ready to go on our first family vacation ever. We've been buying groceries and goodies and packing the trailer. Everyone is really excited to go!

Hopefully when we get back I will have time to show you some pictures of our fun adventures.

Happy Summer!