McCall - July 2013.

Janet, Clara, and I zipped up to McCall one Wednesday in July for a couple days, just to get away!  Brian was a fabulous host!  He showed us a few spots in McCall that we hadn't seen before.  First, he took us to the lake.  We went to a spot where people can jump off cliffs and swim.  We strapped Clara's life jacket on and he took her right in the water...which freaked her out a little.  She whined until he brought her back to the rocks where Janet and I were.  And she stood on the rocks and got her toes a little wet, but that's all!  She's a wade in slowly kinda girl, I think!

I love this pic of Clara!  She's got such spunk!

On the walk back to the car, Brian spotted some huckleberries for us to sample, and these itty-bitty mountain strawberries that were so sweet, they tasted like candy!

Later that afternoon, we headed to the beach in town so Clara could dig in the sand and wade into the water comfortably.  Brian and Janet entertained Clara, and I actually got to prop my chair in the lake and read!  It was delightful!

She was working too hard to pose for pictures.

I love her face in this one!  I'm sure she was worried that Uncle had some more crazy swimming ideas!

She loved our picnic/beach blanket...it was SOOOO soft!

That night, we walked into town after dinner to hit up Ice Cream Alley.  Clara got more green ice cream...her fave!  This is what the lake looked like on our walk back.  Just lovely!

Thursday morning, Brian took us on a drive to West Mountain in search of huckleberries.  It took a little walking to get to them, but Brain found a huge cluster of berry bushes and we picked until Clara couldn't handle it anymore!  She was ready for nap time!  I ended up carrying her through the bushes and stepped on a log wrong and tipped right over.  I scraped my leg a little and once Clara saw the blood, we were finished!  She was ready to leave!

Later that afternoon, we hit up the beach again!  It was another delightful afternoon on the water!  And for the 2nd night in a row, we walked to town after supper for a sweet treat!  Brian carried Clara most of the way to town!

On our walk, we saw four deer.  These three were all together, and another big buck was a little farther down the road.

And we saw...a BEAR!  It was so exciting!  Clara loved it, and she still asks for me to tell her about "that time and the bear".  She loves revisiting scary or unhappy stories for some reason!

It was dark on our way back from ice cream, and somehow I managed to trip on the edge of the road and I thought I stubbed my toe!  It felt exactly like my stubbed toe days of childhood.  Well, I actually managed to rip my 2nd toenail off!  Ick!  It was disgusting!  So that cut our night pretty short!  I did my best to clean it up and wrap it, but I was pretty much a wuss.  Thankfully Janet helped me fix it up.  I couldn't have done it on my own!  Then I took some pain meds and it was off to bed for me!  I was so bummed, embarrassed, and irritated!

So the next day, instead of spending the morning at the beach again, we high-tailed it home so I could nurse my wounds.  Here's a pic of the huckleberry scrape and toe mishap!  Honestly...

But we owe a big thanks to Brian for putting us up for those few days!  It is always so fun to head to the mountains and see him!

Oregon Coast Trip - part 7...the final chapter.

On Saturday, we drove halfway home and landed in Bend, Oregon.  I've wanted to visit Bend for a long time, and was so glad to finally get the chance to check it out!  I was also happy to chop our drive in half and only spend 5-6 hours in the car!

So when WE think of Bend, we think of Deschutes Brewing Company.  We made it into town just in time to check in to our hotel, and make it to the Brewery in time to taste!  Yay!

Yeah...we took our baby to a brewery.  She had a ball.  The tables were just a little bit too high for her!

 After the Brewery, we apparently hadn't had enough, because then we went to downtown Bend and ate at Deschutes Brew Pub.  The food was delish!

After we dined, we wandered the streets of downtown Bend in search of an ice cream or fro yo shop.  We didn't mind wandering, because there was some sort of music fest going on and we were able to squeeze in some great people watching and listening!

We found Goody's (which we have here in Boise, too!) and Clara was able to get her most recent obsession...mint chocolate chip ice cream!  Really, she adores anything that is GREEN right now!  But she really likes this ice cream, in a cone - not a cup!

 After we satisfied our sweet teeth, we went to a snazzy little shopping center that had the coolest feature...fly fishing golf!  What?  Our friends, the Tyler's, had mentioned that we needed to go to Bend and try this years ago!  And we had so much fun.  By the time we made it there, it was getting close to dark, but we packed our rods just for this, so we decided to give it a shot.  We didn't take it seriously, didn't even start at "hole" 1.  But we tried it out and really enjoyed it!  Boise should so have one of these!!!

After golf, we went back to the hotel to get some sleep and gear up for the drive home on Sunday.  I'm so glad we spent a little time in Bend.  It is a fabulous little city!  I'd love to spend more time there!

Thus concludes our Oregon Coast journal! 

Oregon Coast Trip - part 6.

Friday morning, Brad and Angie had to leave Bandon and head to a wedding in Bend, Oregon, but the rest of us had a final day at the coast.  Luckily for Clara, before Auntie Angie left, she painted some matchy-match toes!  Clara loved that green!

 Friday morning, we thought we'd head into Bandon and try crabbing off the docks in town.  While the guys set up the traps, Clara played around and had a ball on this little stage!  I worry she's a born performer.  But she enjoys it!

 There were fabulous mosaics that ran in a spiral to the center of the circular stage.  It was a lovely pice of art!  Clara loved checking out the fishies and other notable shapes.

 It was cold down on the water, and there the guys were, in shorts, setting up traps for us!

We went in to town to kill some time, and came back to the docks to find these little guys in our traps.  They weren't keepers because they were so small, but it was nice to have something inside when the traps were brought up.

 Clara wasn't so sure about the crabs.  She was pretty uneasy looking at them from afar, and then...

 Daddy held one up close to her, and she couldn't taker her eyes off it, even for a picture.  She wasn't a fan of those creepy, crawly things!

 We tried crabbing for a little while longer, and finally agreed to just buy some nice sized crab to celebrate our last night on the coast!

When we got back to the house, Kurtis, Clara, and I decided to head down to the beach to catch the sunset and relish our last few moments at the ocean!

Clara enjoyed herself...as you can see!

 Look at that girl go!

 We were able to see some tide pools, and Clara showed Daddy around!  She was an old pro at tide pools at this point of our trip!

 There's face rock in the sunset.

 We snapped a few nerdy selfies, but I'm glad we did!  Clara hasn't smiled that big for a picture in a long time!  She just loved the beach!

After our final beach excursion, we headed back to Steve and Mary's for dinner!  And boy was it divine!

Here we are with a crab before he got thrown in the pot.

Here's Kurtis battling the steam to cook the crabs for us!

There they are...my mouth waters just looking at these pics.

Paired with a glass of wine, it was the perfect final meal.  Even Clara enjoyed the crab!

We are so thankful that Steve and Mary welcomed us into their home for the week.  It was such a privilege.  They even suggested we make the trip an annual thing...don't have to twist our arms!

It really was a fabulous week with the Brooks clan.  We had such fun together!  I hope we get to do it again!