We had so much fun with our missionaries and they were anxious to show us as much of their mission and all the beautiful places they had discovered around the surrounding area. So our visit with them was jammed packed with fun, breathtakingly beautiful sights and a taste of their mission experience! The only downfall is that Eugene is the allergy capital of Oregon and as soon as I stepped out of the car and took a breath I could literally feel my nose stuffing up. All three of us came down with giant headaches and runny noses and etc... However, we were determined not to let it get in the way! We arrived around 6:00 p.m. had dinner and left for a walk around the area. We saw beautiful parks and walking paths and then they took us to the mission office for a tour of where they spent their days. We got to visit with some of the office Elder's and Jaden's favorite part was the big canister of licorice.
The next day we headed off to the coastline near Eugene but before reaching the coastline we stopped and took a hike at "Sweet Creek Falls" which has become my new favorite hike, it was absolutely gorgeous! Then we went to lunch at "The Firehouse" in the town of Florance and walked around a bit and then we were off to view the coastline of Florance and it's lighthouse.... WOWZER!!! And I thought Cannon Beach was beautiful, Florance sure takes the cake! We visited a spot called Devils churn where Mark and I were able to sit right next to the crashing waves. That was an incredible experience to feel the power of the waves crash against the rocks just a few feet from where you are sitting! We visited a few other spots and then headed back to their mission apartment but not before stopping at Dairy Queen for a bite of Ice Cream (YUMMY!).
The next day I was really not feeling good and Jaden didn't look so hot either so we took a down day while Mark and his parents went for another hike this one overlooking the city of Eugene and then toured a beautiful vinyard. They came back that evening and we went to the Mission Home and met up with President and Sister McDonald (what makes their mission so fun is the mission President and his wife are long time friends and neighbors of Mark's parents and Mark grew up with their son). We toured the mission home and then went out dinner with the President and his wife at a yummy mexican restaurant. Then we went to what Mom Stratton likes to call "the duck park." You can see why from some of the pictures there are ginormous amounts of ducks walking all around the park... We went home that night and played lots of games (our very favorite thing to do with Mom & Dad Stratton and we had been missing our game playing partners while they were gone so very, very much!)
The next day we went to church and afterwards went to the Roadadendrin (sp?) park. This type of flower grows very well in Oregon and I remember we had some in our front yard growing up, they are absolutely beautiful! While walking through the park we got held up by a different kind of pedestrian. Just a few feet in front of us out jumped a Deer and some Does they stood still in front of us for several minutes and then they scampered off into the bushes. It was pretty cool to be standing that close to them. We also stopped by "Prefontaine's" Crash site (a famous runner in Oregon who died in a car accident, it was his coach and a few others who came up with what we all know as "Nike" his coach was looking for shoes with better traction and stuck some rubber in a waffle iron. Pretty cool eh?) When we got to the crash site there was a van of people there in track clothes laying flowers on the memorial. It turned out to be some members of the U.S.A track and field team. Eugene was hosting a huge track and field event the same week we were there. After that we went for a drive around the Oregon Duck's stadium. It's pretty huge!
When we got home some sister missionaries showed up at the door. Their dinner appointment had canceled and Mom & Dad Stratton had always told the missionaries they would feed them if their dinner appointments fell through. The Sister Missionaries where so much fun! We had a great time with them, especially Jaden! Before they came over we had put on Jaden's cowboy outfit on to show his grandma and grandpa and he was still dressed in it when the sister missionaries arrived and they thought he was the cutest thing! Jaden really loved one of the sister missionaries in particular, I call her Sister BAAMMM!!! because she taught Jaden how to pull his shirt collar and say "BAAMMM!!!" They did that over and over that night and had all of us rolling on the floor with laughter! They left us with a wonderful message and challenge before they left that really brought the Spirit and it made me excited for years down the road when Mark and I will have an opportunity to serve a mission together. Come to think of it we all ready are serving our most important mission at the moment, raising our children.
Sadly it was time to say goodbye the next day but we still had more to look foward to in our last portion of the trip to spend some more time with the Dowd side of the family.
Sister :) Mom Stratton, Mark, Elder :) Dad Stratton, Jaden & Me
Jaden in his cowboy getup and the sister Missionaries!
Jaden and Sister BAAMMM!!!
Jaden having more fun with the Sister Missionaries!
Oregon Ducks stadium
Jaden & his Grandpa & Grandma Stratton
Jaden loves to swing. Anywhere there is a swing Jaden is on it...
Higher Daddy!
Jaden checking out the Eugene Schools ;)
Let me out Mom! I promise I never sneek a cookie again! ;)
This Stage Coach is also a Teeter Totter...
The "Duck Park"
Mark's photography... He took alot of nice scenic shots on his day out with his parents I included alot of them below... They give you a taste of how beautiful & green & lush Oregon is.
More of Mark's Photography
A Vineyard Mark visited with his parents
More of the vineyard
Mark overlooking the city of Eugene
Mark & his Mom :)
Mom Stratton loving her mission in Oregon!
Some Lazy Sea Otters on the Florance Oregon Coastline
A VERY Windy day on the Oregon Coast... But what's new! It's still absolutely beautiful!
The Florance Lighthouse... I think this is one of the most beautiful locations for a lighthouse I've ever seen.
The Lighthouse Caretaker's house.
I love this picture
There is some interesting History about this beach. In the 6o's a whale washed up dead on the shore. The city couldn't figure out how to get it off the beach so some one came up with the idea of packing it with dynomite and blowing it into smaller pieces that could be more easily removed. Well their plan backfired on them, literally. When they blew it up large chunks of blubber flew sky high and landed on cars crushing them. Well another whale washed up in the 90's and this time they had learned their lesson. No more dynomite! They just decided to bury the whale right there on the beach. So it was interesting to think that somewhere buried beneath our feet was the remains of whale. :)
The thick forage of the Oregon Coast. If you look closely you can see the Ocean through the trees.
Dad Stratton
Mark sitting near "The Devil's Churn"
The Devil's Churn has a blowhole, when the waves crash in just right water shoots out the hole. It's a pretty amazing sight.
This has become my new favorite picture! I joined Mark a few minutes after taking this and sat beside him there is nothing quite so incredible as sitting right next to the ocean and feeling the raw power of the waves crashing so close to you that you can feel the spray on your face.
Jaden & his Grandma Stratton peaking over the wall...
Mark & his Dad
The "Firehouse" This is a Restaurant we ate at in Florance. Jaden was in Heaven because there were Firetruck's everywhere. He barely touched his food.
In honor of "Groundhogs Day" one of our favorite movies ;)
A Bridge in Florance
Mo's floating Restaurant... Mo's is a popular restaurant up and down the Oregon Coast
Sweet Creek Falls... Sweet Creek Falls has become my new favorite Hike. It was absolutely gorgeous! So bare with me I have a lot of photos from the Hike.
Mom Stratton, Mark, Jaden & Dad Stratton
Jaden hitchin' a ride in the Snuggli
Our Hiking Shoes :)
Soo Cute!
Our trip was full of driving and it was not just the drive there and back. We drove from Orem, Utah to Boise, stayed in Boise for a night. Spent the morning with friends then drove from Boise to Hillsboro, Oregon. Stayed the night got up the next morning and drove to Banks, OR stopped for a minute then drove to Seaside, OR played for an hour or so got back in the car and drove to Cannon Beach. We spent a few hours at Cannon Beach and then got back in the car and drove another 4 hours to Eugene, OR. We rested for a night then got up drove another 2 hours to Sweet Creek Falls (By that time I was getting really, really car sick and I never get car sick but it was such a windy road, combined with allergies and being in a car for almost 4 days straight I thought for sure I was going to toss my cookies so I asked if I could sit in the front seat of the car. Thankfully I was able to hold it down and the fresh air of stopping for the hike shortly there after gave me a renewed energy to get back in the car.) Then we got back in the car drove to the city of Florance, ate, saw the sites for a few minutes. Got back in the car and drove along the breathtakingly beautiful Florance Coastline and returned home that evening. The next day I just couldn't get back in the car and I was so fogged up with allergies and so was Jaden so I let Mark go with his parents and the break from the car did us good. We got back in the car for a short drive that night but nothing major. We were going to leave on Sunday to go to see my family but Mark by this time was getting car sick and his allergies were catching up with him. We decided to stay util Monday morning. I was glad we did! We got back in the car on Monday and drove 3 hours to Banks, OR. We didn't get back in the car until the very next day to return home to Utah. Because we were all sick by that time with allergies or cold, who knows, we decided to drive straight through instead of stopping in Boise because we were worried about getting our friends kids sick if we all really did have colds instead of just allergies. We got back home at 1:00 a.m. Our trip was a total of 8 days, I think Jaden & I only went 2 of those days without a significant amount of driving and Mark went only one. All in all it was completely worth it and I was so impressed at how great of traveler Jaden was!
Jaden asleep with his "Georgey". Jaden's Aunt Marilee gave him a Curious George Monkey for his Christmas present. He can't go to sleep without it. So he and Georgey were the best of traveling companions.
The thick forage of the Oregon Coast. If you look closely you can see the Ocean through the trees.
Dad Stratton
Mark sitting near "The Devil's Churn"
The Devil's Churn has a blowhole, when the waves crash in just right water shoots out the hole. It's a pretty amazing sight.
This has become my new favorite picture! I joined Mark a few minutes after taking this and sat beside him there is nothing quite so incredible as sitting right next to the ocean and feeling the raw power of the waves crashing so close to you that you can feel the spray on your face.
Jaden & his Grandma Stratton peaking over the wall...
Mark & his Dad
The "Firehouse" This is a Restaurant we ate at in Florance. Jaden was in Heaven because there were Firetruck's everywhere. He barely touched his food.
In honor of "Groundhogs Day" one of our favorite movies ;)
A Bridge in Florance
Mo's floating Restaurant... Mo's is a popular restaurant up and down the Oregon Coast
Sweet Creek Falls... Sweet Creek Falls has become my new favorite Hike. It was absolutely gorgeous! So bare with me I have a lot of photos from the Hike.
Mom Stratton, Mark, Jaden & Dad Stratton
Jaden hitchin' a ride in the Snuggli
Our Hiking Shoes :)
Soo Cute!
Our trip was full of driving and it was not just the drive there and back. We drove from Orem, Utah to Boise, stayed in Boise for a night. Spent the morning with friends then drove from Boise to Hillsboro, Oregon. Stayed the night got up the next morning and drove to Banks, OR stopped for a minute then drove to Seaside, OR played for an hour or so got back in the car and drove to Cannon Beach. We spent a few hours at Cannon Beach and then got back in the car and drove another 4 hours to Eugene, OR. We rested for a night then got up drove another 2 hours to Sweet Creek Falls (By that time I was getting really, really car sick and I never get car sick but it was such a windy road, combined with allergies and being in a car for almost 4 days straight I thought for sure I was going to toss my cookies so I asked if I could sit in the front seat of the car. Thankfully I was able to hold it down and the fresh air of stopping for the hike shortly there after gave me a renewed energy to get back in the car.) Then we got back in the car drove to the city of Florance, ate, saw the sites for a few minutes. Got back in the car and drove along the breathtakingly beautiful Florance Coastline and returned home that evening. The next day I just couldn't get back in the car and I was so fogged up with allergies and so was Jaden so I let Mark go with his parents and the break from the car did us good. We got back in the car for a short drive that night but nothing major. We were going to leave on Sunday to go to see my family but Mark by this time was getting car sick and his allergies were catching up with him. We decided to stay util Monday morning. I was glad we did! We got back in the car on Monday and drove 3 hours to Banks, OR. We didn't get back in the car until the very next day to return home to Utah. Because we were all sick by that time with allergies or cold, who knows, we decided to drive straight through instead of stopping in Boise because we were worried about getting our friends kids sick if we all really did have colds instead of just allergies. We got back home at 1:00 a.m. Our trip was a total of 8 days, I think Jaden & I only went 2 of those days without a significant amount of driving and Mark went only one. All in all it was completely worth it and I was so impressed at how great of traveler Jaden was!
Jaden asleep with his "Georgey". Jaden's Aunt Marilee gave him a Curious George Monkey for his Christmas present. He can't go to sleep without it. So he and Georgey were the best of traveling companions.A video of the water shooting out the blowhole at Devi's Churn.
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