Hey, wow! Where did the time go? It feels like just yesterday Michael and I were saying “I do.”
It really is hard to believe it’s already been four years married. I swear, having a baby/toddler just sucks the brain cells out of your head. 😉 It must be from that first year of sleep deprivation! It feels like a blur right now and it’s probably a good thing we make an effort to get away for our anniversary!
Wedding Anniversary – 1, at Crater Lake
Wedding Anniversary – 2 , at Feast eating Franklin’s BBQ!
Wedding Anniversary – 3, at Edgefield
This year we wanted to go to Vegas for the weekend but the planning didn’t quite work out and so we looked for something different to do in Oregon. We found a loft to rent out past Hillsboro on the way to the beach. It was all we needed: a cute space in the country with a hot tub!
Life is pretty busy these days and there’s been a lot of stress and changes in our lives this year. When we talked about our plans for our weekend getaway, Michael said the sweetest thing: “If you want to just hole up in the loft and stay in bed watching netflix and eating Haagen Daz all weekend we can.” LOL! I have to admit, that did sound pretty good….
So Friday my parents drove down to babysit Logan for the weekend and we took off for our weekend getaway. The loft was cute, up on Bald Peak, with amazing views.
We were surrounded by farms, fields, vineyards and huge houses. We saw one house that was humongous and had an indoor pool and gym overlooking the above view. Amazing!
For dinner we went to Ridgewalker Brewing in Forest Grove. Neither of us have ever been to Forest Grove. It had a cute little downtown area. Ridgewalker seemed to be the place to be on a Friday night.
They had my Boneyard RPM on tap so we got one of those and shared the hushpuppies before dinner. They were fantastic! Perfectly crunchy and had good flavor. I ordered the BLT with a side of brussels sprouts instead of fries. The BLT was nothing amazing but the sprouts were great.
Michael got a corndog. 😉 He said it was great. The fries were really good (I might have had a few of Michael’s). After dinner we headed back to the loft. Lots of winding roads and cool old barns like this one:
We spent some time in the hot tub, which felt amazing and so relaxing. The owners had fairy lights nearby and there was a nice view from the hot tub. And we both had the most amazing night of sleep and SLEPT IN UNTIL 9AM!!!! Holy moly!
On Saturday we had a quickie breakfast and then drove out to the Tillamook Forest to go for a hike. The hike we did was at the Summit Trailhead.
We did the Gales Creek Trail because of all the hikes I found, it was the closest to where we were staying (and it was still about a 45 minute drive). It was a nice, quiet hike without a lot of people. It started with a fairly steep downhill hike.
There were parts of the trail that were a bit muddy and I slipped but then it leveled out a little bit and was kind of flat.
It was a really pretty trail and once you got further down, you couldn’t hear the highway at all, just the sound of the recent raindrops falling from the trees.
We saw a bunch of cute little lizards on the trail, too! No doubt they were heading back to the creek.
Because we got such a late start to the day and because the trail was so steep going down, we decided not to venture too far on the hike since it was going to be all uphill on the way back.
Stay tuned for part 2!
James Perkins
Happy Anniversary! That get away space sounds amazing. I am envious of the hot tub. The most time I have spent in Forest Grove is at the Grand Lodge where Katrina and I had a relaxing spa weekend some years back.
The brown soft wet skin four legged tailed critters on the trail, avoiding direct sun, look to me like adult salamanders – they are amphibians. When immature they are like frogs, have fluffy gills, and float around in large pools and ponds. They love our damp muddy cool forests. Lizards would be pretty sluggish in the cool, would hang out in dusty dry sunny spots, have dry slick scaly skin, and are reptiles.
Lisa Eirene
We had never been to Forest Grove or that area at all before this. Basically we’d drive past it on the way to the beach, or the one time we went to a wedding at the McMenamin’s out there. It was kinda cool exploring!
Cool! Thanks for the info. I have no idea about creepy crawly things. 😉
Vickie
Congrats.
Anniversary trips are really important. So glad to see you are continuing your tradition.
And I think it is so good that you have continued to be active in general, as a family, post baby.
You live in such a wonderful area. So much to see and do within a driveable distance.
Lisa Eirene
Thank you Vickie!
Logan is getting better with going for hikes (and actually walking most of it on his own) and I know he’ll just get better and better as he gets older. It was kinda nice, though, to go for a hike just us two! No dog wrangling, no slow walking and stopping to look at every rock with the toddler. LOL We could go at a nice pace.
It is a very nice area! Lots of different types of landscapes all over Oregon.
Vickie
I walk every day with two neighbor dogs. One 13 and one 6mos. Both golden retrievers. (We are very close to these dogs.)
And I feel the same about them. We do not have to stop to smell every single thing. Let’s walk!
Lisa Eirene
LOL! Bella LOVES ferns for some reason so she stops to smell every single one in the forest. Oy
Marianne
Happy Anniversary Lisa!!! What a great way to spend an anniversary!
Lisa Eirene
Thank you!