Klamath Falls, California Friends, the Coast, and a Crazy 50th Birthday

Jake and I spent a whole lot of time in the car these past few weeks doing lots of mini trips, but it's been so much fun! I'm in the middle of garden day camps for the whole month of August, so we're thankful that we were able to get away for a little bit beforehand. Here's a quick recap of the past couple of weeks:

The last weekend of July we headed south to my parents' house for a little anniversary celebrating. My parents' 30th wedding anniversary was actually July 10th, but trying to get all of us kids together is rather challenging. We spent our 4 days there relaxing, helping out in the garden, and enjoying some fam time. It just so happened that our good friends, Brad and Sarah, were just starting an Oregon roadtrip, and they took a little side trip over to K. Falls to hangout at my parents' anniversary party. We had such a good time visiting! It wasn't nearly enough time, but we were so thankful to see them at all. I think they enjoyed visiting the state we now call home for the first time... we're hoping that maybe one day they want to call it home, too :).

30th Anniversary party favors

 California friends!

We got back from Klamath Falls Sunday night, and turned around to head to the coast the next morning to celebrate our anniversary. Our first stop was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, which was fun, but not quite as cool as I remember it being in my childhood. We breezed through their exhibits pretty quickly, and headed just a few blocks up the road to Rogue Brewery. One of the things we l-o-v-e about Oregon is the micro and craft brewery culture. Candidly, we'd love to find a way IN to the culture. Home brew? Growing hops? Most of it's a pipe dream, and we live out our fantasy by visiting and touring as many as we can. We just have a real appreciation for the commitment to buying local and employing locals, and the prioritization of quality ingredients and quality product over profit. All of that to say, we enjoyed a few beers, took in a tour, and joined Rogue Nation. Afterwards, we spent a little bit of time at the beach (it was high 60s and sunny--a gorgeous day by Oregon Coast standards, even for July) and then headed about 20 minutes north to Salishan Resort in Gleneden Beach. We just spent one night there, but it was so nice to have a getaway, however brief it was.

Oregon Coast Aquarium

Rogue Brewery

Nye Beach

Japanese dock on Agate Beach

Relaxing at Salishan

Made a quick stop at Depoe Bay on our way home

World's smallest navigable harbor!

A few days later, I headed up to Portland, Jake had to work :(, to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday! My mom and her girlfriends (who also celebrated the big 5-0 this year) got a hotel room downtown and spent the weekend up there. The rest of us all met up for a night out at Darcelle's, one of the oldest drag shows in the country. It was pretty dang fun, and I'm fairly sure my mom had a great time. The pictures say it all... ;).

My mom and 90-year-old great aunt (Sidenote--how good do they look for their ages?? Geez, these women in my family...)

 Mom and friends

This is a, "there's a dance floor?!" face.

We thought that was going to be the extent of our travel this summer, but we're so excited to be making a visit to San Diego in September! As many of you know, our sweet nephew had major surgery and has been in the hospital overcoming some liver issues (he got to go home today! Yay!). We miss the little guy and have been anxious to get down there since he had the procedure. We got a crazy deal on flights, so we get to spend a whole 7 days in SD with family and friends.

Can't wait to see this face!

In the meantime, we are spending a whole lot of time here trying to beat the heat. 90-100 degree temps on the second floor with no AC do not a happy couple make. But the river sure helps!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer!