Our first ever Road Trip!

I survived it!
Friends, i'll be honest with you.  I am just not a road trip kind of a gal, but there are times you just have to put on your big girl panties, be a little uncomfortable and do things that you know will make your family happy because you are creating memories that will last a life time.

Our first stop was McMinville Oregon.  Doesn't that sound exciting? :-) 
My bestie Jenny suggested we stop at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.  I knew Jeff would enjoy it, but not certain if the girls would.  Fortunately we had a carrot to dangle in front of them.  If they could endure the museum, their reward would be the enormous indoor water park situated on the same location.  It was AMAZING!  Can't even count the endless number of war planes, but the most intriguing was the Spruce Goose, built by Howard Huges for World War II. 
The water park was a fabulous way to end the day.  It literally was a downscaled version of the Great Wolf Lodge.  We closed the place down at eight o-clock with three exhausted girlies.

Spruce Goose behind us.

 

Look at what we followed in Oregon!  The Oscar Mayer wiener mobile!

Headed over to Newport Oregon the next morning to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium. 

Hopped back in the van and headed toward Crescent City but not before stopping at Bandon Dunes.  It was between 5:30 and 6 pm and the best Dad in the world suggested they go for a swim in the ocean....the FREEZING COLD ocean.  Mommy tried her best to hold her tongue and those girls didn't bat a lash.  It was not a warm day friends.  The proof is by what i have on.  Yes....just another great memory being made.

 

Nope....not gonna do it!

She was squealing because it was still alive and she could feel it moving!

Jeff admitted after our trip that his feet were numb. 
So handsome and smart NOT to tell me while the girls were in the water. :-)

A well deserved rest after having to put up with four crazy women in the car.

I may have no shoes on, but i was COLD!
 

Made it to Crescent City to see the Redwoods!  All i can say is AMAZING!  I could not begin to capture God's creation in photos for us.  For me, this stop was the highlight of our trip.  Go my friends, the Redwoods will not disappoint!

Even the clover are ginormous!

 

Closest thing to the splits i'll ever be able to do. :-)

We had a long 5 hour stretch ahead of us to get to a small little sleepy town called Lakeport.  It reminded me of Lake Chelan and it was 91 degrees there!  Why did we not spend our entire trip there by the pool with foo-foo drinks that had silly little umbrellas in them?
We were only there for the night before we had to head out to get Jeff to school by 4:30.  Best Daddy in the world got up early to get in a little fishing for his girlies and made sure Mommy got at least two hours by the pool.  We made it to Berkeley in just the nick of time....4 pm. :-)  Part of the adventure of a road trip, right???....to make every single minute of it CRAZY!

This was in our room.
The phone was attached to the wall and had a cord and it still worked!
So no....our hotel did not offer foo-foo drinks with silly little umbrellas in them. :-)

75 degrees at 10 am!  My kind of place!

Jeff only had class for two days instead of the regular four to five.  This was one of the big reasons why we went down with him for school this time.  While in Berkeley, we toured the campus and Jeff had us ride the elevator up the clock tower and low and behold, look who steps off just as we are about to get on!  MISSY FRANKLIN!!!!

Blurry?  Who cares!
This is Olympian Missy Franklin!!!!

After Friday morning's class, we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf.

Mid afternoon snack!

Why does the biggest and strongest look like she's having a hard time, when hers is the easiest? :-)

Peeking at Alcatraz

Grace got called up during a magic show.

And i love it when grown-ups do this!

Wore ourselves out completely and hopped back in the van to try and get to some silly little town called Vacaville so we could rest our weary bones because we were going to take the girlies to Great America the next morning!

It was no Disneyland, but still pretty incredible.
Jeff and those crazy girlies went on just about anything that would go completely upside down!

Drop to your death....NO THANKS!

YES....this is totally upside down and more than once!

Do you see a trend here?
If you are an Allen, you only do rides with your hands up in the air.

Hmmmm......how do you top Great America?
How about surprise horse back riding lessons in Redding?  Jeff's great idea!

Thank you to Alicia Ryan, the owner of NorCal Trail Rides for such an amazing experience.
The girls were on their own after only one hour!

 

Not much more to share.  Stress had started to settle in.  It was Sunday and we had finally made it to Bend Oregon.  We were hoping to hang out there a bit, but we ran out of time and wanted to beat the Labor Day crazies that were also heading home. 
Arrived home around 5 pm on Monday night just to get the girls cleaned up and to bed before school the next morning!

A Summer to remember....that's for sure!

First Day of School ~ September 2012
A 6th, 1st and 3rd grader!