We decided that this blog is best written by me (Kristi!) since Oregon is one of my home states and this particular trip was a real walk down memory lane for me.  I moved to Oregon when I was 1 and lived there until I was 9 before moving to Washington state.  Leaving at 9 wasn’t “goodbye” to Oregon though as I continued to visit family regularly throughout childhood and started my career in Portland.  This trip wasn’t meant to be a walk down memory lane, it was meant to simply be me showing Ian & Lara the beautiful state, but it was neat to see how it blossomed into so much more.  Lara and I had lots of laughs over “when I was your age” statements…. For that reason, this may be our longest blog post on record – I want to document it all for our kids!!

We landed in Eugene late in the evening so it was straight to the hotel.  This is one of the few trips that will have included hotel stays – in our old corporate life we racked up so many hotel points and it was neat to finally get to trade them all in for single rooms with the kids.  Neat, probably isn’t the right word though… It was vindicating to get to do something fun with the family to “make up” for all of those lonely nights in hotel rooms around the world and it was also frustrating sharing one room with 3 kids for a week!  🙂  My best friend Rachael lives in Eugene so we enjoyed hikes, parks, eating out and swimming with her family.  We have been friends since we were 15 and she is the one person in the world that knows me inside out.  Usually though, we only see each other when I’m on a business trip or when she would fly down alone to meet me so it was awesome to get to organize a sleepover for our girls (11 & 12) who had never spent much time together.

Next stop was Roseburg, Oregon and visiting family.  I lived here for 4 years and my grandparents lived here my entire childhood.  This is where “when I was your age” began because I dragged my entire family to Pete’s Drive-in for a meal.  I don’t think anybody was particularly excited by the idea of drive-in food, but I used to always go there with my grandma so it was on my must-do list.  It actually didn’t disappoint!  It was as good as I remembered and my family ended up thoroughly enjoying it too.  We stayed with my aunt & uncle and crammed more things in then you would think is humanly possible with twin toddlers, but it was so fun!  We hiked in the Umpqua National Forest, picked sunflowers, went to the splash pad, the park, the pool and more importantly, got some time with my cousins who I hadn’t seen in almost 15 years.  My “baby” cousin is now a beautiful 24-year-old! 

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Next up (after the Redwoods) was the Oregon coast.  I had been planning for this part of the trip for quite a while.  I spent 5 years of my childhood in Reedsport & Winchester Bay, Oregon and look back so fondly on those times.  You have to understand that I had the perfect childhood – my parents were loving and supportive, my big brother was my hero, we always had a warm house, fun times and lovely memories.  I thank God every day for the childhood I was given because I see the impact bad childhoods have on others all of the time.  We only had one full day (13 hours) to see the southern coast so it was hard to decide what was going to make it on the to-do list.

The first stops were on the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor and Myers Creek Beach.  If you haven’t been to the Oregon coast before prepare yourself… Even in the peak of summer it can be cool and windy.  Our boys were not impressed with being sand-blasted by the blowing sand at Myers Creek but we all did enjoy our first taste of the beautiful Oregon dunes! From there we continued north and stopped at Face Rock State Scenic Viewpoint for a picnic lunch.  Thankfully the wind had died down by this time so we could actually enjoy exploring the beach, the caves and sand with the kids. We were so grateful for all of the Oregon state parks on the trip – the facilities are always well looked after and there are 255 state parks throughout Oregon so there seems to be one every other mile on Highway 101.

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And that brings us to a major pitstop on Memory Lane – Winchester Bay, Oregon.  I didn’t think I had a lot of specific memories of my young childhood here, but as soon as we turned into town I realized otherwise. We drove by the docks and I told Ian excitedly “Dock G, dock G – that’s our old dock!”  I couldn’t be sure though so I texted my brother & mom and my brother confirmed I was right.  What a weird thing to remember, but that just shows how much I loved going on the boat with my family.  We used to go salmon fishing and crabbing every chance that we got.  If it was too rough then we just went in the river or I fished off the dock for perch (which by the way give live birth, not eggs which made for lots of funny memories too as it freaked my mom out).  My dad would always drive up to a viewpoint in Winchester Bay where you could see the bar crossing, then he would determine whether he would cross, whether I could come or whether we would stick to the river. One of my childhood friend’s moms pitied me when I told her “my dad goes to the bar everyday”; thankfully my mom quickly explained what I meant!!  Haha!! Our boat wasn’t fancy, but it was certainly filled with lots of good memories. Check out my lovely childhood hair-do! Needless to say, it took me a few years to come into my own.  🙂  We wound our way through the small town, past Lake Marie where I grew up swimming and my brother sailed his first homemade sailboat.  Winchester Bay has an absolutely stunning (windy and cool) beach. It actually brought tears to my eyes coming up over the dunes and onto the beach with Lara.  We lost my dad in 2015 and this journey was much more emotional than I expected.  I so wished he could be here to ring and tell him “Dad, I just saw our dock.  Dad, we saw the bar.  Dad, the dunes are HUGE.  Dad, thank you for giving me the most amazing childhood ever.”

On our way out of town we drove by my childhood house in Reedsport.  It looks very different than when I grew up, but it still brought back fun memories of my brother teaching me to play t-ball, my mom dressing up as a clown for a birthday party, sledding down the “steep” hill next door and lots more. We were running out of time by this point and we knew we were chasing dinner time & daylight… We squeezed in a stop at Jessie M. Honeyman State Park.  I had intended to surprise Lara and rent sandboards, but unfortunately, they were closed for the day.  We had fun playing on the dunes anyway and Charlie got a little ride down the dunes on a Cheerio box.  We rolled into Florence just in time for a seafood feast before sunset.  For a girl who grew up eating fresh seafood, it can be a really hard choice what to eat when you are in paradise!  I couldn’t decide so opted for clam chowder, oysters & dungeness crab.  I think the waitress thought I was nuts, but I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.  Even Ashton insisted on being in on the action, although I can’t say he enjoyed the oysters with the same fervor (he did love the crab).

We wrapped up our time in Oregon with a 2-day stop in Portland.  We hung out in the city exploring,  visited Hood River on a beautiful day, enjoying the Columbia Gorge and outdoor seating at Full Sail Brewery.  We traveled north and explored Mt. St. Helens.  We caught up with my aunt and another cousin that I hadn’t seen in 10 years (seriously, note to self, get to Oregon more often!!). Finally, we visited old friends and colleagues at Daimler Trucks North America’s headquarters.  I started my career at Daimler in Portland before relocating with them to South Carolina so it was fun for me to see my old stomping grounds.  Ian also worked for Daimler, we met in his office in New Zealand when I was on a business trip before he relocated to South Carolina to be with me.  Lara took a picture of the Daimler sign to signify the importance the company played in bringing her parents together.  I thought that was super sweet and thoughtful of her to recognize.  She knows how much we loved our careers with Daimler and even recommended that after the world travel we should get jobs there again, but “low level jobs so you don’t have to travel”.  Daimler was an awesome company to work for and we will forever be grateful for the fun times, great memories, wonderful friends and matchmaking skills that Daimler gave us.

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With that, we had an obligatory stop at Voodoo donuts, a quick goodbye to Rachael in Eugene and a very late flight back to Arizona.

The whole trip was much more emotional than I expected.  It literally filled my soul being in my childhood home.  As a multi-national family, I consider us Global Citizens, we have many homes, but this also sometimes results in a feeling of homelessness. Is New Zealand home?  Is South Carolina home?  Is Arizona (where my mom & brother are now) home?? On this trip I remembered where my life started, where my memories began, where my character, personality and life journey were formed, where there were so many people that loved me and my family.  Ian said he suddenly realized why I love the South Island of New Zealand so much, it is very similar to Oregon.  I guess you innately are attracted to things that remind you of positive memories. Oregon – we won’t leave it so long next time!

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