Time For More Pictures...Days 142 to 148

Well, I'm back with more P365 photos!  I'm hoping to get caught up before too long so I'll have to post several times in the next while.  I don't want to overload anyone with the pictures, though, so I'm doing about a week at a time.  This time I had some fun editing photos and was really able to improve some of them that weren't necessarily too bad to begin with.  I've been learning a lot on photo editing through some of my digi-scrapping sites, too.  It's pretty cool.

I did get some other things done this weekend, too.  I got all of my kitchen cabinets washed down and we bought some wood filler.  Now, next week, I can fill the holes, drill new ones and sand.  If I'm really ambitious, maybe I'll even get some priming done!  I did discover today that my drawer pulls (of which I only have 3) are about 1/4" too small.  Not even enough room to drill a new hole so I'm going to have to enlargen the holes and hope the handle hides them!  Oh, the joys of trying to change one simple thing.

I also saw how vacation has made Evan a little more flexible.  He actually fell asleep in the car on the way home from Home Depot today.  Before vacation he hardly ever fell asleep in the car, even if he was really tired.  That's a wonderful result from our vacation!

Anyway, here are my pictures...

Day 142 (May 22):

We headed down to Carson City, Nevada in the morning because Jason wanted to go to the Nevada State Railroad Museum.  They had some really old steam engines and Jason had a good time looking.  The boys played with the Thomas the Tank Engine toys and, when Evan was so unhappy, I went to the car with him and we just had a little rest in the seat.  That seemed to improve things!  We drove the rest of the day and made it through Sacramento to the California coast!

Day 143 (May 23):

This is one of the pictures I want to use to show you what I've learned.  This picture wasn't bad but the background was kind of hazy and undefined.  I managed to sharpen up the background and extract it so that it didn't interfere with Evan, who was just fine.  P.S. I love this picture - the wide open beach and the expression on his face as he quickly turned to take a look back!

Before:

After:

This was our first day in the Redwoods.  We drove the Avenue of the Giants and went to the Trees of Mystery (a tourist trap).  We also came upon this beach at one point in time.  It was more rocky than sandy but it was really pretty and it was our first real views of the ocean so it was lovely!

Day 144 (May 24):

This was our second day in the Redwoods.  We stayed at this little local hotel and Jason overheard an employee telling two others that the forest where they shot scenes of the Star Wars movie "Return of the Jedi" at was nearby.  Well, he had to go see that.  It was Jedediah Smith State Park.  Here the undergrowth is minimized by the frequent flooding.  You can walk among the trees and really get a sense of them and them alone.  It was such an awesome feeling walking among the giants.  It really made me feel like such a miniature person.  It gave me a small glimpse into how big God must really be!  We stopped at another beach this day and it, too was GORGEOUS!!  Route 101 is a beautiful trip up the coast.  I really need two or three pictures of the day!

Day 145 (May 25):

This was a crazy day.  Here we are at Oregon Dunes State Recreation Area.  This is an adorable picture of Jason and Xander crossing the dunes.  What you don't see is that we kept crossing...and crossing...and crossing...and crossing.  Unlike the promise on the internet, the path was NOT half paved.  It was supposed to end by the ocean.  We almost gave up until a lovely couple from Seattle offered to help us carry our stuff (we had strollers and everything).  They helped us on the way back, too, which was awesome because it was about a mile and I carried Evan the whole way!  Evan even fell asleep in my arms because he was so tired!  We also went to see the Sea Lion cave and Heceta Head Lighthouse this day but the dunes were the craziest part of the day so they won out!

Day 146 (May 26):

We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and then hit up the Tillamook Air Museum.  It was housed in the most enormous building I have ever seen!  It was an old blimp hanger and it was so big Evan screams didn't echo, they got lost.  Jason was excited to see this because these WWII era planes are all in flyable condition.  He really wanted to see the Corsair (the above plane) and it was just being pushed into position as we wandered around.  It was quite interesting to see the oil leaking...this was a working museum!  This was also the only day that we had fog and rain on our vacation.  It only lasted a short time, too.  This was probably some of the best weather we've ever had on vacation...sunny and hot mostly (though windy so we did wear our jackets at times)!

Day 147 (May 27):

We hit up the zoo in Portland for the kids on this day and then...for me...we went the the International Rose Test Garden.  It was right by the zoo so it wasn't out of the way at all.  I love roses.  They are so beautiful and every time Jason & I have gone to a rose garden on vacation, they're not in bloom.  That's what happens when you go on vacation in May.  However, we were here when they were "in season" so I had to go.  The full garden wasn't in bloom (which would be an AMAZING sight to see) but there were quite a few bushes in bloom.  Evan was sleeping in his stroller and Jason really didn't care so Xander and I wander.  He even posed with the flowers for me so well!

Day 148 (May 28):

We took a side trip out of Portland to Hood River.  For those of you Saskatchewanians who watched Corner Gas - funny bit of info - apparently the Hood River was originally known as Dog River but the missionary couple who settled the area didn't think that was a pretty enough name and so they changed it!  Here we took a ride on the Mt. Hood Railroad.  It leaves Hood River and heads up to Parkdale where you have a beautiful view of Mt. Hood.  We stopped in Parkdale for an hour...which is plenty of time unless you have two small boys to feed lunch to.  So, we just played around in this park and I took some pictures of the mountain.  This picture is actually taken by Xander on my camera.  I love being able to get some pictures of Jason and I without having to always find someone to do it!  On the drive back to Portland we also stopped at Multnomah Falls - what a beautiful waterfall!  Again - two pictures!!  However, the boys were asleep in the car so I was the only one who went to see the falls.  I loved it, though, and could have taken a million pictures and spent hours there! ;)

Well, that's it.  Another week updated.  Slowly but surely I'm getting there!

Until next time...