A Quick Trip to Oregon

I'm trying to catch up on blogging! A bit ago Andrew and I had so much fun in Oregon. This is something we'll remember forever that I just had to blog about. We (myself included) jumped on the Utah football bandwagon early this year since Utah was playing really good and we have season tickets to the games with Andrew's family. Utah was scheduled to play at Oregon, and one day at work Andrew bought us tickets to the game on a whim. That night when I got home he told me he had bought them. Naturally I was stoked because I live for spontaneity (yes, that was me that lived in the tent for 6 months at one point in my life thanks to a whim!) We threw the tent in the car and left the next morning. We had so much fun. 

Andrew served his mission in the Eugene area. So we drove (and drove and drove) and headed out to Florence and camped at the dreamiest little spot on the coast. We packed our long weekend full with drives around to the areas he served, meeting up with some of his old friends, visiting a few key beautiful areas, and then of course the game on Saturday. 

Like I said, it was a LOT of driving (over 30 hours) because we did most of our sight seeing from the car. Coming into Oregon we accidentally took a wrong turn and did the "scenic" route which ended up being the best thing ever because it took us on the most beautiful loop of brilliant fall colors. The contrast with all the green pines was so rad and it was BEAUTIFUL. 

Because we took a wrong turn, we were shocked when we came around a corner and found ourselves surrounded by miles and miles of lava as far as we could see. We snapped a few pics and stopped by this cool little lookout area make of lava pieces.

When we got to Eugene we had a lot of fun stopping at some of Andrew's mission spots. He showed me where he lived, people he taught, and told me stories about his time in Oregon. It was a lot of fun to have a glimpse into this place that means so much to him! 

After we drove around a little bit we headed onto Florence, which is the dreamiest little coastal town. I felt like I was living in an episode of Dawson's Creek. It was so quaint and adorable and made me want to move there!

^^Our campsight was pretty teeny but we spent almost no time there so we didn't mind! My Subaru was just in her element in Oregon. :)

Like I said, Florence was dreamy. We went to dinner at Mo's and then walked along the boardwalk. Just a mile or two away was the beach and it was so pretty!

^^Really, does it get any more Dawson's Creek than this?^^

The next day we spent the morning with some of Andrew's great friends Carlos and his wife Virginia. They were so lovely and were amazing tour guides. We went with them and drove up the coast to see Heceta Head lighthouse, collected heart shaped rocks, and stopped at a cute little candy shop to eat "chocolate sea foam". It was all-around dreamy and I didn't want to leave! 

After that we drove all the way up the coast and headed over to Corvallis, to see Andrew's mission area before coming back down to Eugene for the game. We stopped and ate at his favorite "Local Boys" restaurant (which wasn't as good as he remembered!) and drove through the amazing Oregon State campus. It was so pretty.

The game was INSANE. Utah beat Oregon 62-20, I had never seen anything like it! It was so much fun to be the visiting team, and the fact that we dominated made it so much more fun! The Oregon campus and atmosphere (at least before the game started) was so much fun. We had a blast and will never forget it.

The next day we went to church in Eugene and visited with some of the members before taking off. It was amazing to see how many people not only remembered Andrew but LOVED him and still considered him family. 

This trip was one for the books. Traveling with Andrew and making new memories with him is one of my favorite things. Go Utes!

xoxox
steph