Andrew Gifford

Category: Family Vacation

  • Experiencing Oregon – Part 1

    Experiencing Oregon – Part 1

    –Sunset, Bandon, Oregon–

    Sunday, April 1st, 2018 – April Fools Day. With the van loaded, family, luggage, food and all, we pulled out of Springville, headed for the Oregon coast. The kids found a Box Elder Bug inside the van, crawling across the dash board. We joked that it wanted to hitch a ride to Oregon with us. They named it “George.”

    First to I-80 and across to Wendover, Utah and West Wendover, Nevada we went, stopping there for a restroom break, a few yards from the Nevada state line. I had never been there before, but I knew that the town straddled the state line between Utah and Nevada. It was just funny to see a casino with its parking lot in Utah but the building in Nevada.

    Our last stop before Oregon was in Carlin, Nevada. It felt good to stand up and stretch our legs. We filled up and made use of the facilities before heading out on our last stretch before the motel in Oregon. We also switched drivers. Hunter drove the rest of the way to Lakeview, Oregon.

    The last stretch of road for the day was the lonely area from northwest Nevada into southeast Oregon. From Winnemucca, Nevada up highway 95, and then northwest on highway 140 to Lakeview, Oregon, there were no towns, no cell service, and practically no gas, restrooms or civilization. The highway was narrow, with almost no shoulder, especially after crossing into Oregon. We encountered almost no other traffic. I only found out later that the southeastern part of Oregon seems to be made up of practically nothing but wilderness study areas and wildlife refugees. If course this pretty much means no civilization either, but it was sure pretty, kind of reminding me of southwest Utah with all the black lava rock and sage brush.

    At one point we came to the top of a ridge called Doherty Slide which looks to me like a faultline, where one side dropped and the other side went up, similar to the hill just above Hurricane, Utah where I grew up. The highway down Doherty Slide precariously winds down a steep slope into the valley below, with no guardrail and a speed limit of 25 miles per hour. This photo doesn’t do it justice. It is a thousand foot drop from the top to the valley floor. Hunter took this portion very slowly, but it still made us all a little nervous. We were glad to make it safely to the bottom.

    Shortly after this area, the drive seemed to slowly get greener and greener. Then we hit a valley of cultivated fields and greenery, with farmhouses scattered across the valley. I don’t know if you’d call it a town or a village, but it’s listed on the map as Adel. From there we began heading up the canyon where Deep Creek flowed, getting into more greenery and alpine conditions. We even got into a few snow flurries and some rain. There were also some beautiful waterfalls. The beauty of God’s creations was astounding.

    We arrived in Lakeview, Oregon and checked into the Best Western Skyline Motor Lodge. They had a room that had an extra extension room with another bed – three queen beds (we made due with this with some of the kids sleeping on the floor). We enjoyed pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. The room had a microwave oven in which we reheated the pulled pork we had roasted in the crock pot the night before. We had some chips we brought that the kids enjoyed too.

    Enjoying the chips

    Later the boys and Grace went down to the pool and enjoyed a swim.

    The pool 1 Pool 2

    The next morning we packed up and headed out for the beach house, excited that we were going to see the ocean that very day. We were also excited to go through parts of Oregon we knew would be green, mountainous and beautiful.

    Mountains after Klammath Falls

    We hit some spots of snow on the roads going over the mountain passes after Klammath Falls. The sun was out though, and it was already melting. It was amazingly gorgeous.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Oregon, Here We Come!

    Oregon, Here We Come!

    —On the beach in Bandon, Oregon—

    Back in February I finished and submitted our taxes and found out how much we would receive back with tax returns. I pondered all the things we would need to earmark the money for, but then had another thought cross my mind. I thought that since our daughter, Blythe, is back from her 1 1/2 years of service as a missionary for our church, we need to do a family trip while we still have all of our children back together – before our other boys are of on missions and/or off on their own. It was then I remembered the savings fund I had our bank account send money to automatically every month to save for a family trip. This would give us some money to work with for lodging.

    I approached my wife, Jill, with the idea, and told her about the amount of money saved, as well as what we’d get back with tax returns. She knew immediately after I said something that we needed to do this. I knew we needed to do it too. This would be something that would help us bond us all together again as a family, before the older ones go of into the world to make their own way. It just felt right, like God was saying, “you need to do this.”

    From that point Jill and Blythe took the reins of vacation planning and went to town! We had talked about wanting to see the Pacific coast in Oregon and the giant redwood trees. They found some rental homes near the coast that were within our price range for the week of the kids’ spring break. They narrowed the list down to seven options, and then we had a Family Home Evening where we basically listened to the descriptions of the places, along with their amenities and a list of nearby sites to visit. We also looked at the virtual tours of each house with pictures. Then we each voted for our top three places, and then for our number one choice. When votes were counted, Bandon, Oregon won, with the Bandon Cliff House as the winner. When funds were available we reserved the house for four nights.

    Everyone decided that we would leave for Oregon on Sunday, listening to the General Conference broadcast on the way. We would stay over night in Lakeview, Oregon and on Monday travel the rest of the way to Bandon, Oregon to occupy the house there for four nights. Then we would drive home on Friday afternoon and into the night, trading drivers so we could travel straight through back home (Springville, Utah).

    Jill and Blythe also planned out meals. I made a big batch of my homemade chicken enchiladas which we then froze in plastic freezer bags to take on our trip in the ice chest. We also packed boxes of food from our cupboards. On the day before, we cooked some pork roast in the crock pot so that we could just heat up the meat in the microwave at the motel in Lakeview, Oregon and have pulled pork sandwiches for dinner. This sort of meal planning saved us a lot in food expenses for the trip. It would not have happened without the hard work of Jill and Blythe and their meticulous efforts.

    Everyone was so anxiously waiting, but the day of the trip finally arrived – Sunday, April 1, 2018 – April Fools Day. But, it was no April Fool’s joke. We were off on the first true vacation that we had ever taken as a family. I felt like declaring, “Oregon, here we come!”