Vacation

We arrived home on Monday tired, happy, and sad. We had just spent the past five days on vacation in Lincoln City, Oregon. We stayed at the Comfort Inn, right on the D River. Michelle was able to get a discount through her work - at least there's something good about her job.

We left Wednesday, October 13 after work. We stayed at Michelle's parents' house for the night so we could be 1 1/2 hours closer to our destination. Thursday morning we hit the road. After stopping at Multnomah Falls for a brief walk and lunch we arrived at Lincoln City around 2 pm. We got checked in to our room and went across the street to enjoy our first walk on the beach since arriving. It was sprinkling a little. but it was still wonderful to be there. There's just something amazing about hearing and seeing the roar of the ocean that makes you thank God for His beautiful creation!

Our first night we enjoyed dinner at our favorite Lincoln City restaurant - Mo's. For those of you who have never been to Mo's, you need to go! They have the BEST clam chowder ever! (Mo's was actually the reason why we chose to go to Lincoln City instead of a different location.)

Friday we decided to drive down to Newport. We walked along the Bayfront, saw some Coast Guard ships, and then went to the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. After playing around on the beach we went to the lighthouse and took a tour of it. Surprisinly, this lighhouse was only used for 3 years before it was replaced by another one a few miles away.
Michelle in the ocean.

Jon standing in the cold ocean.

Saturday morning we woke up early (6:30 am) to go search the beach for glass floats. Fortunately the weekend we were in town corresponded to the weekend of a Finders Keepers event. The organization put out about 200 floats along the 7 mile beach. After walking for about 1.5 miles we decided to head back to the hotel to get some breakfast and get warm. It was a little disappointing not finding anything, but it was still fun to walk on the beach before sunrise. We drove down to Depoe Bay and walked along the main road checking out a few stores. We also went to the Whale Observation building and saw a whale in the distant (we really only saw the spout of water it shot up when breathing). We also got to see a beautiful sunset!

Sunday we drove to Salem to visit some friends at Faith Baptist Church. It was so nice to see them! We also got a chance to talk with our friends, Brandon and Kate Weber, about their pre-field work and their support level. (They are missionaries with ABWE going to Africa.) After enjoying a Russian lunch at the church we headed back to Lincoln City for our last day at the beach. We enjoyed some more time at the beach and enjoyed one more meal at Mo's. At Mo's we finally found a Christmas ornament to represent our trip.(We have a tradition that we try and get a tree ornament from places we visit.)
Monday held yet another early morning as we packed up and headed home. We stopped in Tri-Cities for lunch at the Double Dragon. Then we stopped at Michelle's parents' house to see the deer her dad and brothers got over the weekend. Finally we made it home. We enjoyed one last dinner out and went home for the night. We were happy to be home but sad that our vacation was over.