9/28/09

Day 6: Depoe Bay, Sea Lion Caves and 8 hours of driving down the 101

We are behind so we have to make up alot of time driving.

This is Depoe Bay from outside our motel room window. Last night we ate at Gracies Sea Hags. SUCH GOOD SEA FOOD! I tried osters for the first time. Not so good. But the clam chowder, and kaulins staple fish and chips. I had the sea food pasta with crab, shrimp & prawns. It was amazing.


There are supposed to be 12 grey whales that always live in the bay. This is as close as we got to one though. They cleaned out the river 2 days ago that drain into the bay so they were MIA the last couple of days.

So we went to the SeaLion caves so we could as least see a few wild animals. Kaulin took this picture right as B-Man went to yawn. It looks like he is a hand puphet I carry around with me to keep me company. He looks really creepy!!

On the drive down the 101 we ran into herds of elk.


Lots and Lots of Elk!!!



9/26/09

Day 5: Portland

We have been so lucky this trip because the sun has shown the entire time! No drops of rain once!

We spent the whole first half of the day in Portland with Beau and Kim. They went out of their way to make sure we got a great time in town and ate in the right places. First thing in the morning (After they made us a killer breakfast) we went to the Multnomah Falls outside of Portland.


Kaulin, Julie, B-Man, Beau and Kim




So, Beau and Kim warned us it is a bit of a hike to the top. When we got there, I under estimated how tall this thing actually is. IT KILLED ME. I got so dizzy hiking up, but i tried to be cool and tried to press on until i had to stop because i thought i was going to fall over i was so light headed. It was over a mile straight up hill. But so worth it. :)

(View from the top down at the parking lot the picture above was taken from)

We have the hardest time getting around with this little lady  killer in the blue polo here. (and the guy in the green polo, but people don't stop what they are doing to pet Kaulin). Little Beanie is quite the little show stopper.  Probably doesn't help that i make him wear little clothes. haha.



We've now made it to Depot Bay just in time to find a hotel, dinner and an internet connection. Bentley B has been great in the car this far. He has his favorite places he perches or just sleeps on our laps. It has been super easy to travel. Plus he's learned that if he just stays in his bag he gets to go inside. Dinner was so nice tonight because he came inside, but just stayed in his bag and slept. No one knew he was there and it was nice to not have to worry about him being cold in the car.

Day 4: Long Beach, Astoria, Cannon Beach: Indian Beach, Portland


We stayed in Long Beach, WA for the night at the Trend West. 2bd full kitchen for us! hehe. Long beach was super small and quiet. There signs say they have the longest beach in the world. I believe it. Although no on gets into their beach or really hangs out on the sand because the wind is so strong there! We took a walk down the board walk and check out a grey whale skeleton they have on the beach.


Then back to more driving. From long beach we went over the longest bridge I have EVER been on that crossed the Columbia River from Washington to Astoria, OR. Astoria is adorable. They are cute little homes all built up on the side of a hill. This is a place I would have really liked to stay in long.


We crusied on down to Cannon Beach and stopped into Ecola State Park and check out Indian Beach.

Indian Beach


Our drive through Ecola State Park. Kalynn told me its like faries would jump out and touch you. She was so right! :) It looked alot like Olympic National Park with the tall green trees, winding roads and moss dripping from everywhere.


After checking out Cannon Beach we drove a few hours to Portland to stay with Kaulins Cousin Beau and his wife Kim. They were so great to us! They took work off just to show us around town. That night we ate at The Grilled Cheese Grill. Yup, you eat outta a bus. They serve only different kinda of Grilled cheese and tomato soup. I'm glad we had the pro's to show us the ropes on what to order. Who would have thought brown sugar on a grilled cheese would be good?


Day 3: Port Angles, Olympic National Park, La Push


The PCH has been beautiful to drive down. Sometimes you are right on the ocean, and other times you are in the middle of a green forest.



We stopped into Olympic National ark. It is beautiful covered in green trees and moss covered trees. It is considered the only rain forrest in the US.

Kaulin and Bizzle on an overlook in Olympic.


From Olympic we went out of our way about 40 minutes to La Push. IT IS BEAUTIFUL! It is on a reservation and is just a small fishing area. But the beaches are gorgeous. And yes everything in this area of Washington seem to want a piece of the Twilight mania. This town had alot of references to Jacob and wolves.




Just down the road was Forks. We weren't about to waste our time with a Twilight tour, so we used their bathrooms in a grocery store and went on our way. Forks is a small town right on the 101. Everything was "Twilight Headquarters" according to businesses signs.


We stopped to get gas and a run on for the little b-stain on the beach and found this cool beach with all these tree trunks.  It also has a ton of crab shells! I had no idea crabs lost their shells.

9/23/09

Day 2



So little Bentley and I dressed up this morning and waited for Kaulin to hopefully bring back a car.
And he brought us back this!! A Lexus SC430 convertiable with 20 inch chrome rims.


I love it! It is probably the prettiest car we have owned.

First thing we did was head over to Seattle for The Underground Tour.


 
 
 
 
 
 



In down town Seattle there are under ground walkways. After Seattles big fire in 1888, they needed to rebuild the town but needed to raise it so the tide would stop washing everything out. Well the businesses owners didn't wanna stick around and wait for the city to build up the land, so they built there businesses anyway. The city still went with the original plan and built up these tall retaining walls around each block and filled it up with dirt. They had to use ladders to get to the first floor of businesses. Eventually they got covered up because ppl kept dying falling off now they are abandoned walk ways.
 

 


Then to Pikes Market Place where they throw the fish.
We had lunch and had to get some shrimp, fish and chips!



Then off to Lake Washington Ship Canal and Hiram M. Chittenden Locks to see where the fish swim up the ladders and a nice walk in the gardens.



Tonight we are in Port Angeles staying on the Harbor. We had a great crab dinner and are now relaxing.

9/22/09

Day 1


We made it to Seattle!! I didn't feel honest about sneaking little B-stain onto the plane for the first time, but now I know we should have. We paid $75 (more then our ticket) and no one even asked if we have a proof if the dog could be with us. It def. wasn't needed. But its good to be honest right?
 When traveling with a dog, everyone wants to be your friend! He is one popular little guy. Everyone wanted to talk about their dogs, when they had a yorkie etc etc.

We are now just hoping he doesn't get discovered at our hotel (Which was supposed to be dog friendly!) Oh no, they hate dogs! $250 if they catch you with one in your room. So we are just crossing our fingers he behaves tonight.

First thing we did tonight was order dinner, then walk 4 miles to take alook at the auction cars going through tomorrow. It look about an 45 minutes to walk 2 miles there and 2 miles back on a busy industrial road. We're exhausted now and are just watching TV since we are carless till tomorrow.

9/17/09

Adventure Here We Come!!!

Here we go! We finally did it and booked a 1 way ticket Sunday up to Seattle so we can drive home on the coastal highway. We decided to let little Bentley come along since we will be going to lots of national parks and we don't think there will be many places he won't be allowed. Airfare if a different story though. His ticket cost more then ours!! Crazy huh? He costs more to sit under my seat.
I hope the little guy enjoys this. :)


I'm so excited to just get away for a little bit. We have nothing planned other then some great suggestions on what to see from family and friends.
The scariest part of the trip is that we have only 1 night of hotels booked and no rental car booked. We are getting there in time for the seattle auto auction where Kaulin is going to buy us a car to drive home. (I'm secretly hoping its a convertible, but lets be realistic, I need to cross my fingers that we just get a good car without any mechanical problems.)
Isn't it beautiful!! I can't believe I've never been there before even though we live so close!


We're taking our computer so hopefully I can post pictures of our adventure as it happens.


Check back for the next week!! :)

9/3/09

Flirty Pink, Black and White Wedding

Who: Jensen and Yardley Wedding
Where: Minersville Utah in their Uncles backyard
Colors: Black, white, & hot pink
Photographer: Jenny Hollaway
Cake: Heidi Smith
Floral: Dolly







This was the beautiful back yard I got to work with. I love seeing a space for the first time and envisioning what can be done with it.







From there I created a site map scaled to the measurements as close as I can get. I like to do this with each wedding to help with all the table, tent and dance floor placements.



And here is the finished product! It is so rewarding to see what you've designed on paper come together on the big day.



There were 9 white tents in all. Each had a custom Hot pink damask flag made to match the custom linen.

All the hot pink and black and white stripe linen was custom made for this wedding in California.



Cute as can be, flower girls.



There were 4 food stations around the perimeter of the event. There was an ice cream sundae station (which had some technical difficulties), a cotton candy station, drink and sandwich station and a fondue station. Each had the custom black and white stripe linen, which was one of my favorite things of the wedding.



4 types of crystal chandeliers hung in each of the 9 tents.


The cotton candy station had hot pink rock suckers.
The guests got to pick a sucker and have the cotton candy rolled onto it.


This massive beauty is there wedding cake done by
Heidi Smith with Icing by Design in St. George.


Favorite parts of the Events:
(1) The custom linen!
(2) The bride and groom and there families had to be the sweetest people ever! I loved working with them.