Day one, Kris's take...

After joking for months about taking pictures every five feet, we literally made it from the garage

to the driveway. 

Happily driveway photos were Nathan's idea, so I knew we'd be on the same page for the trip!

Before I go further, I must introduce Spanky. 

Spanky was a present from our dear friends, and is our travel buddy. If you'd like to hear about the trip from Spanky's perspective, check out adventuresofspanky.blogspot.com

Spanky currently likes to travel behind the windscreen of my bike.  

This keeps him warm and dry.

Back to our adventure, we accomisged our morning tasks and headed south to Albany. I learned it is not pronounced Al-bany, rather All-bany. Living in Portland someday is going to offer many opportunities for learning pronunciation. But again, I digress. Which is appropriate, because this was a long, and somewhat dull start to our adventure. Favorite unpictured moments: a flat bed semi carrying a toy dump truck, baby goats (squee!) the halfway point between the North Pole and the equator. 

After this, we headed west on highway 20, which was beautiful. At places, trees crossed the road, curves, and farms. But in my determination to get to the coast, that too is unphotographed. We even drove past Toledo! 

Newport was stunning. Our first glimpse of ocean, the smell of ocean water... Our first stop: lunch at Mo's!

Spanky was hungry, and dove into eating crackers, while we enjoyed sitting by the window.

After a short walk, we continued our journey down the coast to the Sea Lion Cave. 

Spanky was a little scared in the cave, so he hid in Nathan's coat. He liked the outside sea lions, though, just like his mommy. They were noisy and sounded like big frogs, and they waddled across the rocks. Spanky even decide to try to make friends!

After this, we took a drive to a dunes beach park, and walked down to the sand. 

Then dinner! There was a wonderful Italian and seafood resturaunt recommended by the gift shop employee. 

I had a lamb shank and Nathan had spaghetti and meatballs. Yummy!

Then it was time to find our lodging for the evening. We stayed in a lighthouse keepers inn, at the Heceta Head Lighthouse. 

I really couldn't have imagined how wonderful this all would be. I wish I could capture the feeling of the road, the smell of the ocean, and the warmth of the sun to share on here. I'm writing this listening to the waves pounding the shoreline and the sea birds chattering and bellowing. I can't believe everything we saw, did, and felt on day one, and I can't believe we have 11 more days of adventure.