Cannon Beach

This is our family's favorite week of the year! Here are a few highlights in picture.

Day 11

Well we are home now, but I'm going to go back and blog about the days we were gone. I think it will be easier if I break it into different days.

We started out Day 11 with the Hoosier bat factory, which we did not document with pictures for some reason. It was a small but interesting little factory and it was fun to see how they made bats.

Next Danny's Aunt Marvella took us blueberry picking. We thought we were going to miss out, but this place opened today in perfect timing for us to get to pick in the same area that Danny did when he was a kid! We got our first taste of Midwest humidity!

Next we went to a great tour of a huge dairy! Every hour there is a live calf born and a viewing room, so we got to see a calf being born. (I went back later and saw another one.) This mom needed a little assistance!

We also got a tour of the place, including the milking room.

We enjoyed a nice dinner with Aunt Marvella and Uncle Bill!!

Day9-10

Yesterday we spent most of the day in the Cleveland Science Center, which was one of the best science museums we have seen. We took a tour of a giant lake boat as a part of the museum. We also got to see some of the interesting buildings in Cleveland, like the Browns stadium and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

We made it to our 49th state!!!!!!!

We spent the night at our college friend's house. It was fun to see Gina after 18 years! (How can that be?!?!)

Today we went to an Amish craft mall and I saw the coolest fabric/quilting store I have ever seen in my life!! (We wondered why the Amish woman was working at Subway-but...whatever!) Then, we toured around University of Notre Dame for a bit.

We also hung out at Indiana Dunes National Lake Shore for an hour. I snuck a little nap to make up for staying up late talking.

Day 7-8

Hello from Niagara Falls. This morning we left Detroit and drove here. We stopped at a chocolate factory along the way (no golden tickets or Willy Wonka). It wasn't very big (think Tillamook Cheese Factory in the earlier years) but we got a sample of chocolate and they had $1 scoops of ice cream so the kids (and Danny) were happy. We also put our feet into Lake Ontario.

We decided to stay on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, which has the better view. It was a gorgeous day, so we decided to take the boat tour this evening rather than waiting for tomorrow. We started out with the Maid of the Mist boat tour which takes you to the bottom of the falls and into the horseshoe part so you are basically surrounded on three sides with falls. Although, the mist is so extensive it is hard to see it. They give everyone on the tour rain ponchos and you soon see why.

At night they shine lights onto the Falls and it was beautiful! We stayed for the 10:00 fireworks show over the falls.

Day 8-

It turned out it was a good thing we took the tour yesterday because it was POURING down rain this morning at Niagara. We were going to explore the falls from the American side a bit, but it was just too miserable. So, we set off for Cleavland. The two highlights of the day were the Kazoo factory (and factory is a bit of an overstatement) and putting out feet in Lake Erie. This completed the goal of putting our feet in all five of the Great Lakes. The Kazoo place was a cute little place that was fun to see. The kids got to build their own Kazoo.

We also made it to state number 48!

Day 6

Today we set off for Detroit. We started out by taking a tour of a Ford truck factory. It was very interesting.

Next we went to the Harry Ford Museum. There were quite a few interesting things at the museum including the bus where Rosa Parks sat in the front, the car where President Kennedy was assassinated and the chair where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

We got to work on an assembly line.

Here is a picture of me going all "Rosa Parks" at the front of the bus.

We are spending the night in Detroit.

Day 5

This morning we really slept in! (7:30 is REALLY sleeping in in the Danny Buller travel handbook. If I had a dollar for every time he said, "We didn't come on vacation to sleep!") Then we went to the lochs and saw a couple huge boats go through. The engineer in Danny LOVES lochs!! :-) It was actually pretty cool.

We touched our 3rd Great Lake. Here we are putting our toes into Lake Huron.

We climbed to the top of a lighthouse.

And, we did quite a bit of driving in the rain. But, we got to our hotel in Saginaw, MI early enough for a good swim! Not a ton to report today, but we seem to enjoy our days even when we are in the car for a good part of them. Annsley even said, "I like just driving."

Day 4-The U.P.

This morning we drove to Lambeau Field for a quick visit. We (well, really I) wanted to take the tour, but they didn't start until 10:00 and we really needed to get on our way. But, we did go inside the building and walk around a bit. Very cool!! It is right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. (Shhhhhh.....don't tell anyone, but Favre made a mistake leaving this place!!)

Next highlight of the day, was collecting the 48th state!

Today we touched two of the five Great Lakes

Lake Michigan....

and Lake Superior.....

We went to a spring called Big Springs, where you take a little boat and look down and you can see the water coming into the spring. It was pretty cool. Here is a picture of the boat and a picture taken from the boat into the very deep, clear water. The spots you see are where the water is coming into the spring.

We also saw the Tahquamenon Falls, which look polluted, but are just colored by the tannins from the trees in the water.