Stay and Eat - Oregon

Sunset over the Deschutes River in Bend

Our 12 days in the state or Oregon started and ended at PDX.  We flew non stop from ATL on Alaska Air, and though airfare was high, we were impressed with the airline.  Once on the ground in Portland we took a shuttle to Fairfield Inn near the airport.  The room was small, but they did allow a roll away bed to make Alyssa's first night more comfy than sleeping on the floor. Michael Smith, a Berry grad who lives in Portland came to the hotel the next morning to take Randy and Stephen to get our rental van.  More on Michael later!

We don't camp, so traveling with 9 people is expensive.  Whenever possible we rent through VRBO and enjoy the spaciousness of a house.  On this trip we had two houses, one in Bend and the other in Bandon on the coast. Homes give us space, the opportunity to cook and do laundry.  That may not seem like fun on a vacation, but we enjoy the experience of a vacation rental.

House in Bend

TV and WiFi is always a plus!

Aaron and Brandon enjoy the hot tub

The house in Bend was new and furnished by IKEA!  There were 4 bikes that we could ride around town, plus our house was not far from downtown.

The sunsets in Drake Park were the best.

Always great to enjoy a local coffee shop!

We love to stay in the National Park Lodges but it isn't always feasible.  This trip we spent three nights in lodges.  Crater Lake is in a remote area of southern Oregon and beautiful.  The lodge has lovely views of the Lake, superb food and lots of history.  Warning - staying and eating in a National Park is NOT cheap!  I save, save, save to enjoy a few meals in a NP lodge.

Crater Lake Lodge was built in 1915

Our group of nine enjoyed a variety of foods at Crater Lake Lodge: lamb chops, bison, steak, chicken, clam chowder, duck and some tasty desserts! We also ate breakfast at the lodge and loved the Marionberry syrup and jam.

Bison Meatloaf - yummy

The lobby provides a place for Skip Bo and chatting with other travelers.

Dinner at the lodge!

Crater Lake is all about the view and I have plenty of pictures that I will post later, but here is one to give you a glimpse.

A volcano from 7700 years ago created this beautiful scene.

Our next stop was Oregon Caves, which is a National Monument that was established in 1909.  The lodge was built in 1934.  This was such a pleasant surprise as we didn't know what to expect. There was no TV, no WiFi, no cell service and we loved it!  It was a the end of a 20 mile road and we arrived during the final game of the World Cup when they were in penalty kicks.  If you know our family, soccer is a big deal!  We still loved this location and lodge.  We took the 90 minute cave tour which was awesome and I would highly recommend it.

The Chateau at Oregon Caves

Brandon and Beth at the main entrance of the lodge

Carrie at the piano

Our comfortable bed

Time for games in the girls room.
We had a family suite, which was two rooms sharing a bath.

Fancy salad that was delicious

Old phone between our rooms

Old fashioned diner. The kids all had thick milkshakes with their breakfast!

Relaxing in the lobby

House in Bandon, Oregon. 

Binoculars and a telescope gave us a super close view of the beach.

Kitchen was adequate for all our needs.
We grilled out twice at this house.

Our house was across the street from the beach!
We explored tidal pools, caves and sea stacks.

We love ice cream!
 Face Rock Creamery provided huge portions for an amazing price.

No trip to Portland is complete without experiencing doughnuts, food trucks and Powell's bookstore. 

Open 24/7 and there was a line to get in. 

Many options at 50th and Division Food Trucks.
I had Mexican, Alyssa had Vietnamese, others had Fish and Chips.

Our last night was at the Staybridge Suites near the airport.  The accommodations were nice, the continental breakfast was satisfactory.  We flew home with no glitches while the Williams waited to take Amtrak and will arrive home 5 days later!

Kitchen update

If you have been to my house, you know that I love to cook.  My kitchen is small. The technical term is galley kitchen.  Despite it's size I do OK to feed the multitudes that pass through my door. Without knocking out walls and spending even more money, I was not going to be able to make my kitchen larger.  But I did want to update it, and thus began the decisions.

I would never want to build a house, because there are so many choices. Flooring, cabinets, knobs, counter tops, paint colors, etc...With the opinions of Randy, the kids and neighbors I finally made all the choices needed to begin.

The best part of this remodel, was that we were at the beach!  We planned it so that we would be gone for a week.  That allowed the workers to make more progress, and I didn't have to look.

Old kitchen: painted cabinets, linoleum flooring circa 1994

New kitchen looks a bit different!

Willow Wind and Gentle Pasture make the kitchen warm and inviting!

There are details to finish, but the big portion of the job is done.  I'm enjoying my new kitchen, and happy to report that I purged a slew of kitchen gadgets that I hadn't used in years.

Randy is currently painting the laundry room (garbanzo bean...yellow), where we put tile in place of the linoleum. 

Come see us!

California, the bottom line

It's been almost a month since we returned from our California adventure. Since then Alyssa has been to Mexico on missions, Randy & Carrie to New Orleans with Mission Lab and Randy & Aaron leave for Mexico missions tomorrow. It's been a busy summer. I still haven't printed pictures from our trip, but I will. The bills for our trip have come in, so I thought it was appropriate to give you the details. Along the way I've included a few more pictures that Alyssa took.

This is Lombard Street, known as the "crookedest street" (is that a word?). My girls were so excited to go to San Francisco and see Lombard street, ride a street car and see the Full House street (not sure we saw that, they all look the same). People are always curious how much a trip like this cost. Randy & I are not exactly rolling in the money, and yet we have done 5 of these National Parks trips.

We started saving in 2008 for this trip. We began planning and making arrangements in the fall of 2009. When you stay in a National Park you often need to book your lodging early or you won't get a room. Our trip was 10 nights and 11 days. We needed lodging that would accomodate 5 people, because Aaron chose not to go. Our total for lodging was $1283.


Mirror Lake, Yosemite National Park

We flew into San Francisco from Atlanta, it was not non-stop. We had a connecting flight in Phoenix on the way out and Charlotte on the way back (yes, Charlotte...that is the hub for US Airways). We watched the airfares for several months and eventually booked with United. 5 round trip tickets cost $1346.

Once we arrived in San Francisco we rented a 12 passenger van from Budget. Since we were travelling with another family we could split the cost of the van rental and gas. We paid $744 for the van & gas.

We like to take scenic day hikes, but this sign gives you some other options in Yosemite.

Though we never hiked much more than 3 miles at a time, we drove over 1700 miles on the trip. We bought 94 gallons of gas. The average price per gallon was $3.14.


This is the top of Lassen Volcanic Peak. Alyssa used the zoom on the video camera to get this shot!

We enjoy the scenery in the parks but we also like to visit the gift shops. We buy postcards, t-shirts, magnets, books, puzzles, and other souvenirs. According to my calculations we spent $203 on souvenirs. This does not include what the kids may have spent of their own money, but they were always happy for mom to do the buying!

During our 11 days on the road we had numerous picnics. This eagle was spotted after a windy lunch at Manzanita lake. We typically like accomodations that include continental breakfast, as it cuts down on the food bill. This trip included only one such hotel. In two locations (Redwoods & Lassen) we were in houses so we were able to cook and pack picnics. When we were in San Francisco and Yosemite we at the mercy of the establishments there. The food bottom line was $625.

Here are the bears we saw in Yosemite...these were in Curry Village where some residents did not follow the rules about keeping food in the bear locker!

The miscellaneous of the trip totaled $477. If you are totalling the trip from the numbers above you should get $4678. Per person the cost was $935.60 (10 nights, 11 days) or $85 per day.

Since we saved for two years, I averaged saving $194 a month for this trip. The bottom line is, we went on this great trip and it is all paid for....or will be as soon as I pay the credit card bill.

The trip, the memories, the National Parks...PRICELESS!!!

It's all in the planning

I have folks ask "how do you pay for those trips you take?" As with most things, it's all in the planning. Randy's a school teacher, I have many hats that provide my income...but it's still not big money. We have four kids, and yet still take these great trips to National Parks. I'll give you a few of my tips.

1. God is good and He provides. We have shelter, food and love in our home. We are content with what He has provided. Our jobs, while they may not be high income, are high in other areas - we get to touch lives of students. So, tip #1 is BE CONTENT. That's a biblical principal as well. We have been in the same house for almost 26 years, we have never driven a new car, and we rarely eat out. I don't like to shop, and when I do it's at Sam's, WalMart, and consignment stores.

2. Save your pennies! I know people who don't believe pennies are worth much, but I save them. I save all my loose change. It's hard, because most people buy with debit and credit and not cash....but I still have cash for those quick trips to WalMart, so when I come in from the store I have a container where I stash my change. This is known as the trip bucket. On our first trip in 2002, I had the girls take a large butter tub and decorate it with things we would see at the Grand Canyon (we saw lots of squirrels).This tub has collected a lot of change and cash over the years. Every few months I count it, roll it and take it to the bank. This becomes our souvenir money - t-shirts, ice cream, etc... Here's a picture of the tub!




3. Open a trip account at your local bank, credit union or favorite online savings place. Since our trips are every two years, I put money away every month into the trip fund. Then when the trip arrives, we have the money set aside. Since I often get side jobs for playing weddings,
judging piano events, or other odd assortment of gigs...I take that money and designate it for the trip. My parents give us money every Christmas, and we put some of that aside too. It's been harder with kids in college...but we still do it.


4. Do your homework, and research. I check books out from the library on the places we plan to go, I search online sites, and occasionally buy a travel book. We start looking for airfares months in advance and know the best deal....so we wait and book it when it's hopefully at the lowest. Since we go with another family, we split the cost of the van rental - we rent a 12 or 15 passenger van. It makes the travelling lots of fun! That's where our trip songs are usually sung!


5. Book hotels with continental breakfast if at all possible! This year is the first year that we have only one location with a breakfast included. If you are staying in a hotel, see if there is a refrigerator available in your room, then you can have lunch food for your picnic. We often rent a house or cabin for several nights. This allows us to cook, and wash clothes in the comfort of home. Again, we can split the cost with our travelling friends. We are renting a house that sleeps 10 for $235 a night in Northern California. You can see it here.

6. Make your kids drink water when you eat out, it saves a ton of money & it's good for you.


7. Go to stuff that is free! Museums & parks are often free on certain days, check before you go. We like to walk through a new town and window shop, and look for the local ice cream or coffee shop!


8. The Junior Ranger program is a great way for the kids to learn while you're in the parks...it's a free program! They do activities in a booklet, go to ranger talks, & look for specifics as you hike - gives them a purpose on the trail. At the end they get a Junior Ranger Badge! You can also get a National Parks Passport book. The kids look forward to getting it stamped at the different parks and historic sites you visit.


How much does a trip to a National Park cost? Well, if you camp it's can be very inexpensive, but we aren't campers. We like to go back to the lodge and sleep in a real bed, but you can still find good deals if you look. There is nothing like the time you spend with your family in a National Park. Memories are made that they will always remember....the chipmunk that stole your hot dog, the cold wind on top of the mountain, the mosquitoes on the trail. Remember to thank God while you're enjoying all that He has made and provided!


Back to the cost...depends on where you go and how you get there. We fly, rent a van and stay in hotels, cabins or lodges. Our trips are an average of 10 days, with 5 or 6 in our family. The cost of our upcoming trip will be less than $5000. That is all inclusive. If you save $2000 - $2500 a year you are financially prepared when it's time to go. Break that down, can you put away $200 a month for 2 years? We can't always put that much away...but it's a good goal. And yes, we still tithe...even when we're on vacation.

We're almost packed and ready to go...look for us when we get back.