Cameron and Mom take Portland

For Cameron's 16th birthday we gave him a trip to Oregon.  He has been wanting to go to Oregon for a long time because it is the only western state he hasn't been to.  Cameron and I planned our trip and we were so excited. We had quite the adventure just leaving Las Vegas and for a minute I thought the trip was going to implode.  

We were scheduled to leave Vegas at about 10:45 am.  I got a text telling me the flight had been delayed for several hours so we decided to wait at home instead of the airport.  Note....if your flight gets delayed you still need to go to the airport.  We left the house at about 10 am.  I got another text telling me the flight was now on time.  This meant that we had 45 minutes to drive across town, park the car, get through security and board the plane.  There was NO WAY this was going to happen.  I drove as fast as I dared.  I missed the parking lot the first time.  We were only checking Cameron's golf clubs so we had to leave them behind.  We ran through the airport.  Security was a zoo and the security guard wouldn't let us cut the line.  I see them do this almost every time I fly so the fact that he wouldn't do it for us made me very angry.  We ran through the airport like mad and got to our gate just as they shut the door.  I was nearly in tears and Cameron was doing a much better job at remaining calm.  The nice lady at security got the supervisor and they made the decision to open the gate.  They NEVER do this.  It was amazing.  We boarded the plane and made it just as planned only without Cameron's golf clubs.  I couldn't believe it.  

 We started our trip by heading out along the Columbia River toward Multnomah falls.  I have been there several times and it never disappoints.  The drive is beautiful and the falls are breathtaking.

 We stopped at several other falls along the way.



Our selfie game is strong.

 Thirsty

I don't know what it is about Multnomah falls but you have to get ice cream.  It's just a thing.

Oregon is for sure one of my favorite places to visit.  There is nothing in Oregon that isn't pretty.  You can just wander off the road a bit and find some of the most magical places.

 Cameron loves bridges and geography so we took this bridge that connects Oregon and Washington and we spent some time on the Washington side of the Columbia river.

Cameron was less than thrilled when we were running short on time so I made him change his clothes in the car while driving down the highway so we could make it to the Portland temple in time to do baptisms.  

I am so grateful that Cameron always wants to do baptisms when we travel.  There are many other things we could be doing but he loves to visit other temples.  

This is also where Erik and Shanelle got married so it was fun to remember their special day and place.  

After the temple we went and found the house that Grammy grew up in.  She often talks about this house and her time in Portland.  She was in 2nd to 8th grade.  It was such a charming neighborhood.   I was tempted to knock on the door and I probably would have if it had been during the day but I decided not to terrify the current occupant.  

Cameron is my favorite kind of travel buddy.  He loves a good road trip.  We were up at the crack of dawn ready to hit the road.  We drove through the beautiful Oregon mountains heading for the coast.  

There were these huge lily pads everywhere. 

Cameron really wanted to see Bandon Dunes golf course.  We drove about 4 hours through beautiful Oregon to get to the coast.  

 Bandon was not my favorite golf course that Cameron has taken me to but he thought it was awesome.

Cameron just started heading down this dirt road that went out on the course.  I was a little uncomfortable thinking we weren't supposed to be there.  He didn't care.  He just marched right on our there like he owned the place.  He is definitely comfortable on a golf course.  

 There were some really pretty spots.

 The reason we were bringing Cameron's clubs was because you can golf this little course for free.  It was made in honor of a long time Bandon dunes caretaker.  Cameron was bummed to not be able to play but it was probably a good thing because we were running out of time.

 We headed up the coast highway and finally saw something for me.  A beautiful lighthouse sitting on a cliff.

We stopped at the sea lion caves.  You go down an elevator into a cave with a bunch of sea lions.

 We saw some beautiful scenery along the coast.  Cameron loves to stop and see things.  So do I.  We stopped all along the coast highway.

 drove out of our way to find this lighthouse.  It wasn't really worth the time it took us to find it but still a cute one.

  The sun started setting and we still had a lot of coast to cover so we tried to speed up a bit. 

We made it to Cannon beach just as the sun was going down.    

 

We decided to stay and eat here.

 
One of my favorite cities is Astoria.  Unfortunately it was dark when we got there but the Astoria column was lit up which was really cool.

We pulled into our hotel at 1:29 am.  This was after I refused to drive over a few more bridges for Cameron.  I was beat.

It really is amazing how green and beautiful Oregon is.  These streets were in downtown Portland.  They were lined with big beautiful green trees.  There were rose bushes along the highway.

The next day which was a Saturday we headed to downtown Portland.  It was a little dirty and we probably could have skipped it but it was a fun experience anyway.

 We decided to skip the line to Voodoo donuts.

 Cameron loved this sign and bought a shirt with the same saying.

 The weather could not have been better.  

The skies were clear which gave us clear shots of hoth Mount Everest and Mount Hood.  So pretty.  

I love my "little" boy and had so much fun exploring with him.  There is nothing like spending one on one time with my kids.  I love being able to do whatever they want to do and not really having an agenda.  I hope Cameron and I have the chance to travel together again.   He and I have the same travel goals.  We like to cram as much into a day as we can and then deal with the exhaustion later.