the Oregon experience

When Rachelle came to visit I wanted to give her a thorough Oregon experience, even though my Oregon experience is still relatively new. We started off with a day in Portland, a day that included the Thai Peacock, Powell's, and Cupcake Jones.

One night we went to Deschutes Brewery for dinner, and another night we hit up Nicholas's.

One day when I had to work, Rachelle and Karen went to the outlets, and I was oh so jealous.

Then we went to the coast, and seriously, I couldn't have dreamed of better weather. First we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory (which was a first visit for me too).

We took the self-guided tour, posed in the cow heads, and ate the best grilled cheese sandwiches we'd ever had along with the best milkshakes we'd ever had.

Are you surprised that I had to document the punctuation errors on Tillamook signage?

Then we made our way to Rockaway Beach, and parked at this cute Catholic church. The beach was right there just waiting for us.

The skies were clear, the breeze cool but not cold, the air briny and crisp.

In attempting a far-off ocean picture, a sneaky wave caught me off guard.

The ocean wasn't so far off then. In fact, the ocean was in my pant legs.

After walking around for a bit, we settled down on our blanket and beach chairs. I read, Rachelle people-watched, and we both napped at some point. The wind started getting colder, and we were glad we brought warm clothes.

At one point the fire department, the police, the Coast Guard, and the sheriff all came to the beach in response to a lost surfer. We saw rescue boats out on the water, men scanning the horizon with binoculars, and guys in ATVs cruising down the beach. Thankfully they found the surfer, and I'm not entirely sure what the full story was, but it was exciting nonetheless.

We filled our non-adventure time with The Sing-Off, crepes, rockclimbing, and shopping. I'm so glad that Rachelle could come out to visit, and we had such a great time.

I love indulging in Oregon. And I love doing it with one of my best friends. I hope you had a full Oregon experience, Rachelle!

Anyone else up for the full Oregon experience? Though, please give me some recovery time before taking me up on that offer. I'm exhausted.