TaylorHaps

Oregon Coast Part 2

Drove to Lincoln city to pick up jul’s fam. Jul had hurt her foot the night before so we took her to the ER in Newport (after exploring other clinic options) where they X-rayed (it was broken) and put her in a boot with strict instructions not to put any weight on it. She already has a wheelchair so it just meant exchanging her cane for some crutches. Unfortunately it meant that lots of activities were not doable any more. Luckily she was able to make her way slowly down to the ocean and get in on previous days.

The boys and I went to the Oregon Coast aquarium while Jul was at the hospital.
Love the jellies 😊

I spent a long time with the seals and sea lions. I would put my hand up on the glass and one see lion would glide along where my hand was. Awesome!

We went to the special dock where sea lions go and only got one. It was pretty weird.

The cove below Yaquina head lighthouse. We got our feet wet. Well Spencer and I did. Weston watched. 😊

We got a special accessibility pass that let us drive right up instead of walking up the long road. 😊

We drove down the coast to Florence where we stayed at Park Motel and Cabins. I had horrible abdominal pain. I had planned to sleep in my car so that Jul and the boys could have the room with 2 king beds. That didn’t sound good anymore so I got a cabin just for me so that I could be miserable. Pepto bismol helped in the end.

The next morning we packed up the car and headed to Honeyman State Park where we went Stand-up paddleboarding. Super fun! I didn’t change into my suit because I wasn’t going to fall off my board but that didn’t go as planned. 😊

We then drove to Bandon where we met up with Weston’s family. These are his grandparents and their adopted daughter, Skye.

We spent a long time at this place called Washed Ashore where they make awesome sculptures out of detritus from the ocean.

They had a place where you could make your own creation

Jul and I sat and had incredible fish and chips and watched the ocean after the Days had left with the boys.

Didn’t really get a good view of the “face”

We discovered a fun charm collecting scavenger hunt. Got 2 in Brandon and a few on the drive to our rental in Depoe Bay.

We got there super late and with getting stuff brought in and Jul settled, I didn’t get to sleep until like 2 am. But I loved my cute little loft room 💚

The most incredible view from this room 😊

Jul needed a day to rest after all the exertion of travel days so I went to the Columbia River gorge for most of the day.

Hiked over on the rocks until I was right in the spray. Got fully soaked. It was amazing!

Went back into Portland waiting for Alex’s flight to finally make it (he was delayed for hours). Hit a target for dry clothes and then got poutine at a food truck called potato champion

Poutine with Thai peanut satay sauce. Dang son!

Since I had extra time I went into the visitor center where I shared feelings and testimonies of the savior with the lovely sister missionaries. The spirit was strong and sweet. Left us feeling bestie enough to take a selfie together.

Oregon Coast with Jul and her boys and Alex

June 2022

Jul loves Oregon. Weston’s dad and grandparents live there and they try to visit or have the boys come visit them each year. So we decided to combine this with some time on the coast and make a trip of it!

They flew to Portland, took a shuttle to the coast, and spent a few days in a little place right by the beach in Lincoln City while I drove out. Did the boring drive to Reno after working for most of the day, drove and then stopped to work in a little town in northern CA the next morning, then finished the day visiting a string of beautiful waterfalls.

There was a group of annoying kids who played their music at top volume so it was not exactly the peaceful commune with nature that I would have desired

Upper Falls, McCloud River

Stopped for painfully expensive gas in Weed CA

Sleep at Valley of the Rogue State park rest area

And woke up to these awesome wood sculptures and some cool pioneer stuff

Drove to cave junction and got tickets for the cave tour starting a couple of hours later. Joined a video meeting for work that should have been 30 minutes but ended up longer than an hour! and had to RACE up the mountain to make my tour time.

I’m really claustrophobic so going last really helps me

This formation they think comes from ancient bacteria that secreted the CaCO2 to protect themselves!

I got a pin for being the official caboose 🙂

There was a beautiful waterfall right outside

Almost to the coast! Stopped for a lighthouse on my way to my campsite at Oregon Dunes

I couldn’t find my site (it was out on the dunes somewhere so I wouldn’t have been able to get there anyway without a different vehicle) so I slept in the parking lot. But first went hiking out on the dunes right at sunset. Gorgeous!

Utah State Parks

1 June 2022 I bought an annual pass this year and am getting my money worth. I went on this trek after Steve and Mars got Covid and I felt unsafe at home. I had been planning to stay in St George that night but since I was feeling okay, I decided to continue my drive toward Disneyland. I slept at a rest stop just into California. And woke up with a sore throat. So I sadly turned around and came back home. But at least I had a lovely Utah nature day 🙂

Easter with my Actual Family…in Real Life

Birthday at Disney

30 April – 4 May

I flew down Saturday morning, took an Uber to Disneyland, and met Gary for the day (he drove down). On Sunday we went to church and the had lunch at Ralph Brennan’s and then he drove back. I spent a lot of time at the animation academy in honor of my dad’s birthday. Spent my 50th birthday in the park. The next night I went to the Star Wars after hours event which was awesome for short short ride lines 🙂 The next morning i spent with Ethan and Emily (they were tagging along with Jason’s trip with Alicia who were at universal studios for the day). I flew back that afternoon.

I collected 50 delightful things for my 50th. I actually got more than 70! 🙂

Capitol Reef and nearby state parks

13-15 April

Drove through the beautiful Escalante-grand staircase NM

The hell’s backbone road was disappointing. 2 hours of washboardy dirt roads

And the bridge was really short and not very precarious

Beautiful morning at Capitol Reef campground

Northeast Trip Part Two

Pentagon 9-11 Memorial There were benches lit from below for each person who died in the attack

LBJ memorial is built on the Potomac where he and Lady Bird would sit and look at the city.

I had never been inside…just seen it from a distance

The John Paul Jones Memorial…so cool in the moonlight!

WWII memorial…not as cool with no reflecting pool

I had walked more than 2 hours! Good thing Ada stayed back at the hotel.

I slept late so I had to skip Mt Vernon. We went to the National Gallery. Love this sculpture of the black regiment in the civil war

Love these works of Thomas Cole. Such great use of light

We got out of the rain at a Spanish restaurant called Jaleo. I had heard of it.

The food was beautiful as well as delicious!

Tortilla, pan con tomate, ensaladilla rusa, patatas bravas, and Kas limon. We got two extra cans to take with us. 🙂

We didn’t want to wait a whole hour to tour so all we saw of Ford’s Theatre was this portrait…

Riding scooters in the rain right down Pennsylvania Avenue was the most awesome thing we did in DC!

Arlington House, Robert E Lee’s house. the greatest view!

Teddy Roosevelt Island, a nature preserve 🙂

Washington DC temple. From a distance since it is being renovated

Delaware State House, complete with green dome in honor of St Patrick’s Day 🙂

First State NHP was really cool in the early morning fog

If I can’t have a green burial then this is what I want 🙂

After an eventful afternoon of traffic, wild goose chase looking for a bathroom, unpacking all our stuff from the rental car and dragging it on several trains to get to our hotel, we finally made it to Company. 🙂

Loved it! I did stand the whole time after having an attack of claustrophobia, but it was still awesome!

I walked down to Castle Clinton as well but I neglected to take a picture

The memorial always touches me. That’s all 3 9-11 memorials on this trip

The African Burial Ground was really neat

Got tortilla, bread, Kas limon, and nocilla from Despana and authentic churros y chocolate from this place

Hadestown left me speechless. Sad and touching. Love the music!

Fun Stranger Things store with cool photo ops

Little Shop is so fun! We didn’t love Audrey but everything else was great 🙂

Happened upon a Harry Potter experience when looking for a bathroom

The most amazing pastries! Almost too beautiful to eat!

Had some NY pizza at Carnegie Pizza across from our hotel, picked up our bags, and headed to the airport. What a great trip!

Northeast Trip with Ada

11-20 March 2022

We flew into JFK very late, got our rental car, and drove to Boston. Ada stayed to hang out with her online friends and I drove up through Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

The storm made the roads horrible so I had to skip Acadia 😦 I went to the hotel early and went for a swim, got some dinner, and went to bed very early.

Left for my next adventure at 4:30 am. The roads were quite snowy so it was slow-going. And then it was no-going when I ran over some wood dropped in the road and got a flat tire. I called AAA and they promised to send someone in an hour. It was really really cold so I had to run the car most of the time. After almost 2 hours a really nice man stopped and helped change the tire. I called AAA back and told them not to bother. Ugh. At least it was really pretty once the sun came up 🙂

Polly’s pancakes. Delicious maple syrup but I didn’t care much for the pancakes. I was really hungry after the car trouble. I spent the previous hour at a car place getting a new tire.

Vermont State Capitol. Nestled right up against a mountain in a really small capital town.

Frederick Law Olmstead’s beautiful grounds…

Really cool hedges that were unfortunately covered with boards in order to protect them

Picked up Ada from the hotel and we stopped at The Blueberry muffins for breakfast and Captain Parker’s Pub for the most delicious lunch. Incredible mozzarella sticks and seafood chowder!

Cape cod lighthouse was moved 4 times because of erosion.

We missed the New Bedford Whaling museum but we did wander the cute historic village. 🙂

Speakers corner in the first American settlement.

The most amazing pizza made by actual Italians 🙂

The Hartford temple is really beautiful!

First stop after lots and lots of horrible traffic…Paterson Great Falls

Drive through lots of Pennsylvania Dutch territory to get famous pretzels. Alas, they were not big soft ones like I was picturing. 😦

The chocolate, on the other hand, was all I was expecting and more!

Pennsylvania Capitol has the coolest green dome!

The Tower of Voices is cool. A chime for each person who died

Movie night in the hotel room. West side story!

Shenandoah National Park in the early morning.

Picked up Ada from the hotel and headed to Richmond

Richmond temple will be super beautiful when it’s done!

Maggie Walker did so much for civil rights in her time

Colonial National Historic Park -Jamestown

The frogs here were captivating!

Ada wouldn’t pose by the statue of John Smith because he was a terrible person…

We found a little place with the most amazing biscuits and fried catfish!

…made for a great spot for cannon fire onto Fredericksburg

The manor was also used to treat wounded union soldiers

Disney by myself (almost) Feb 2022

20-22 Feb

I flew to LAX on Sunday after going to sacrament meeting. Gary was taking a road trip that weekend so he picked me up from the airport and we had a really nice conversation in the car and an excellent lunch at Splitsville in Downtown Disney. Both of our annual passes were blocked that weekend. He left that afternoon, dropping me off at my hotel.

Came back for dinner at Catal (yum!). Watched the fireworks from the plaza.

Peter Pan was the first ride I hit. Took a bunch of photos with my little Lego guy.

Aladdin characters with Agrabah in Storybook land, at the Adventureland Bazaar where the Magic Lamp is and with the characters! They were very flattered to be able to pose with their Legos 🙂 Poor Aladdin got left out 😦

Anna in front of her castle on Storybook and in the hallway where the Elsa & Anna meet and greet happens

Daisy in front of her bowsprit on Donald’s boat

Scrooge McDuck loves the pirate gold on the island

Hades was hard…in front of the fireplace in Beast’s library, in a fake forge in the Big Thunder line, on Mr Toad in the part where you go to hell didn’t work at all but the blurry image is kind of fun 🙂

I ride the Fun Wheel every time to try to enjoy it and work through my feat

Was able to just drop in at the Blue Bayou. Love that Louisiana lemonade 🙂

The most amazing raspberry crème brûlée tart

Magic Key Slush…not spectacular but the glow cube was fun

Blackened catfish and not-quite-carrot cake at River Belle Terrace

Salmon at Blue Bayou. My server Paul was awesome and slipped me a few free chocolate-dipped madeleines and man were they delicious. 🙂

Traded a bunch of pins. Finished this collection! 🙂

Disney with Alex and Ada

23-27 January

Love the carousel! Alex got the tallest one which is honestly a little backward if you ask me

We had the car to ourselves on Winnie the Pooh 🙂

Space Mountain! Sorry about the poor lighting

We bought matching sweatshirts on Sunday night (it got kind of cold!) and then wore them on Tuesday.

We actually asked a cast member if we could use our anything fast passes on this ride and he just let us in through the exit but didn’t take our passes. We thought about seeing how many small rides we could get away with this on, but ran out of time 🙂

Mickeys Mix Magic is my very favorite! The first night we saw it with fireworks. I went again by myself on Tuesday. 🙂

Catal restaurant in Downtown Disney has the most amazing Spanish food. Even the paella! We went with Alex’s friend Sasha after the park closed at 8

Finished this set and did a whole bunch of other pin trading 🙂

We left the park at 2 on Wednesday and drove to Vegas where we saw My Fair Lady at the Smith Center. Great show! We stayed there that night and drove home Thursday. Stopped at the Creamery in Beaver for amazing cheese related food (in the freezing cold!) Alas, we are not in California anymore!