Mark's whirlwind trip to Oregon! (with pics)

I was extremely excited to have Mark visiting with us. Cory hadn't met Mark yet, so I was excited for that too... I was determined that he would have a fun trip and that we would cram as much into the few days he was here as possible... Oh boy! We sure crammed in a lot!

I didn't really know if I was going to be able to cope with being "on the go" all the time, but I was sure going to give it my best shot!

On Thursday, after the big ordeal getting here we decided to have an easy night. Cory went to work when we got back to Mac and Mark and I just took it easy. In the evening we had dinner a few drinks and chilled out.

On Friday we had a birthday party to go to at a friends house, so we didn't do too much during the day. I showed Mark around McMinnville and we went to a few shops. We dragged him along to my Dr's appointment too (I'll post about that separately) and then came home and got ready for the party. As I was waxing and scraping my snowboard the "boys" started on the drinks... Oh boy! Then we headed to Dave & Heathers place... Heather was turning the BIG 30!

We had a really fun evening, and although we bailed before 10.15pm and before bowling we were beat. Even Mark was ready to hit the hay (even though he didn't want to admit it). He'd had at least 11 shots of varying sizes and concoctions, plus about 6 beers... Ewwwww. No wonder he fell asleep on the sofa! Cory tried to wake him, but there was no budging him... So, we left the light on to his room and hoped he would find his way there when he got cold or uncomfortable.

He did!

In the morning we got up and started getting things ready for the trip to Mt Hood! Mark was a little dizzy, so was trying to get re-hydrated, and Cory cooked a yummy breakfast to keep us going til our late lunch in Sandy.

With the truck loaded, we hit the road!

Snowboarding was such a lot of fun! I didn't really have enough energy or stamina to do as much as I had wanted to, but I still had a blast. At the end I had to sit out in the café and let the boys do the last few runs by themselves. They were having fun, and I didn't want to overdo it and turn to mush for the rest of Mark's vacation. Mark did really well on the snowboard for it only being his second time ever... I realised that I am not as much of a daredevil as I used to be and that I would much rather take things in my stride!

When the "boys" came back to me after their last run they were both laughing so hard. It took a few mins and a few attempts to get the story out of them Apparently Mark had gotten tired and the last run had really stretched him. He did several awesome wipe-outs, including one really hard face plant, and one somersault come cartwheel where he landed hard and his board was upright in the snow! Mark was a little sore, but they'd had fun... and best of all, there was no serious injuries!

We left the mountain at 8pm and were home a little after 10 - that was good going!

On Sunday we got up and going again - this time we headed west to the beach! We started at Pacific City, one of my very favourite beaches. On the road to PC we stopped at Irish Road... We always give a little chuckle as we pass by, but this time we jumped out so Mark & I could have our photo taken!

At PC we climbed up to the punchbowl and then the boys decided to climb up to the top of the sand dune! There was no way I would be able to do that, esp after snowboarding the day before... I decided to walk back down and let them do it themselves! They had fun, and ran the whole way down the dune!

We walked back to the Pelican and grabbed some drinks and onion rings to warm us up... then we headed to Lincoln City, and to the outlet malls!

Man, there was some good deals at the outlet malls... GAP had some crazy sales, and then on top of that there was an additional 40% off the lowest ticketed price! I grabbed a few tank tops... each for less than $2! Cory and Mark both grabbed some awesome deals on jeans, and Mark got some shirts too ... with the exchange rate he got a superb bargain!

After that we were starting to slow down and get tired, so we headed back to Mac. We grabbed some pizza's on the way and went round to Dave & Heather's for a few, then back home and hit the sack again!

Monday and Tuesday in the daytime were fairly quiet. Mark and I just chilled around here, did some shopping and took it easy. On Monday afternoon we packed our warm rain gear into the truck and went and grabbed Cory from work to head up to the farm! Cory gave Mark a quick lesson on shooting a shotgun - he did really well! We threw some skeets (video below) and once all the shells were done we jumped on the four-wheelers and headed up into the trails around the farm!


I was on the back of Cory's and Mark had his own four-wheeler, and we went through the grounds and area where Cory grew up. It was such a lot of fun, and it was a nice relaxing evening! I'm pretty sure Mark had a lot of fun too, there was a big smile on his face as he was revving the four-wheeler through little streams and racing across fields! We had some dinner with Cory's parents and then headed back home... it seemed like we had spend the whole time on the go, and a lot of time in the truck!

On Mark's last evening we took it easy... I made spaghetti for dinner and we had that, a few drinks and watched a couple of episodes of Dexter. By 8.30pm we were all considering going to bed, but we managed to wait til 9.30pm... The alarm would be going off soon... real soon!

At 4am the alarm made it's terrible noise and I knew it was time to get up! Ugh!

We got the truck packed and on the road on time and with just a quick stop at Dutch Brothers for a caffeine fix we headed directly to the airport! I was so sad to see Mark go. We thoroughly enjoyed having him here, and the week had gone so quickly.

Thankfully, his flight left Portland without delay, and the connecting flight also left Newark on time... the flight home had no glitches! I was glad for that!

Here's the video of Mark skeet shooting...

Alex & Tara visit...

We were so excited to have Alex and Tara come up from Salt Lake for a long weekend...

They arrived on the Thursday, so we decided to go to the Horse Brass English Pub in Portland on the way back from the airport for some dinner and drinks! I was so excited to see English beers... Weird I know, but it's crazy how different things here are... I ordered a glass of Blackthorn Cider... Classy I know! ;)

Jeff came and meet up with us for a drink... it was nice to finally meet him, and to see everyone together again.

Since it was Tara's first time here in Oregon, Alex wanted to show her Linfield college, and we had also planned to go on some cool wine tastings... The rest of the day we chilled, and played board games in the evening...



We headed to the beach on Saturday morning - Jeff and Janelle joined us too..... Firstly and importantly we had to make a stop at Kiyllos for Alex... He loves that place, so we timed it right for lunch! ;)

After that we headed to PC to the beach house we had rented... It was awesome, and perfectly located just slightly north of the dune with private beach access!

After settling in, someone (I don't remember who) had the bright idea of climbing the dune! Well, it sounded like a good idea to all of us, so we headed out (leaving Janelle behind to study).

Very shortly I realised that there was no way in the world I was going to make it up the dune... But, instead of being a spoilt sport, I kept trying... chugging along at the back over the first two little dunes.

As I approached the main dune I was feeling light headed and out of breath, my thighs were burning and I just didn't know what was going on. I had never had a problem doing things like this before. Cory came and tried to help me get all the way to the top, but there was no way, and I eventually had to stop and sit down while the rest of the group carried on to the top! I was defeated and extremely annoyed with myself.

Even on the way back to the house I was struggling to climb back over the two little dunes and I felt embarrassed. Little did I know, but it should have been a sign that something was going on with my health... Again the graves disease tried to get our attention, but we ignored it!

Saturday evening we had a great night, playing board games, chillin' in the hot tub and enjoying the group of friends... oh, and Jeff made meatball grinders... they were really good, but I had never been served such a lot of meat (and only meat) in one meal!

Well, the weekend had flown by and Alex & Tara were to leave on Sunday afternoon... We decided to drive up the coast and see some sights before their flight... it was a great afternoon, we saw Cape Meares and the light house.... Then we headed to the grand lodge for lunch before saying goodbye!It was a great weekend... It was nice to meet Alex, who had been one of Cory's closest friends since college. Tara is awesome too - they're great friends to have and fun people to hang out with!

Little did we know we'd see them in Oregon again in a couple months... ;)