The Events of July 3, 2010

Still at Grandma’s house, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast of oatmeal (Grandma’s way – the best way!), homemade sweet rolls (HEAVENLY!), scrambled eggs (DEE-licious), fresh strawberries, orange juice, and such much more food that I forgot what else there was.

After breakfast, Grandma took us to Blueberry Meadows to pick blueberries. We learned about a new fruit pest that harms any soft-skinned fruits. Oregon got the bug from California, who got it from Southeast Asia. To prevent the bug from visiting the blueberry farm, we disposed of the berries we picked but didn’t want in smaller buckets separate from our good berry buckets. I like picking blueberries because it isn’t tedious. We don’t have to bend all the way to the ground or pull really hard. Mom was in blueberry heaven because she loves blueberries. She claims that they are the only reason that we came to Oregon, but in my opinion, blueberries aren’t as good as other berries.

After picking 14.25 pounds of blueberries, we visited Fred Meyer and Winco. My sisters and I all love Fred Meyer stores. We don’t have any in Elk Grove, so it was a new experience for us. That place has EVERYTHING! There was a deli, a shoe store, a clothing store (with fashionable clothes!), the regular items of a typical grocery store, couches, and even a Chase bank and a jewelry store! We Taylor girls (Caitlin, Lindsey, and Abby) even formed the Fred Meyer Club, in which the objective is to dawdle and try to see absolutely everything cool in the store. We actually didn’t form the club on purpose, but it was always us three girls who were dawdling and sauntering way behind everyone else, so we decided to make a club of it in honor of Fred Meyer stores everywhere.

After the visit to Winco and Fred Meyer, we went home and packed sandwiches and lunches. We took off in Grandpa’s really awesome car that fits eight people and headed west for Newport. Along the way we stopped for lunch at a beautiful rest stop with a backdrop of heavy green forestry practically dripping with dark, soft moss. We ate our delicious lunches at a picnic table in the shade in the middle of a field of daisies. It was beautiful. Then Lindsey picked daisies and, once we were on the road again, she made a daisy chain in Grandpa’s car. Sorry, Grandpa, about that mess in the very back of your amazing car. The Fred Meyer club, who just happened to be sitting all together in the back, stuck the extra daisies in the hair and shirt collars of the family members sitting in front of us, who quickly became quite annoyed. The car ride to Newport was very entertaining for some, and very long for others.

The Oregon State University Marine Center was our first destination in Newport. We met up with our friends, the Hellestos, there and had a very fun time exploring all the types of ecosystems and different species and invasive species of the Pacific Ocean. We got to touch and explore many different ocean animals. One stuck to whatever touched it, while another retracted its tentacle thingies (?). A colorful, spiky sea creature closed its spikes on our fingers, as if to ensnare its dinner. And there were also a few fish and eels that would hold still long enough to be touched, some scaly, others slimy. We also watched an educational film about dolphins. I learned that the part of a dolphin’s head behind its eyes is called the melon, and I also discovered how to tell a male dolphin from a female dolphin.

After the Oregon State University Marine Center closed, we decided to go to Beverly Beach. We spent about an hour enjoying the cool ocean breeze. Ben joined Karl and Clark Hellesto in building a fort of sand and seaweed, while the Fred Meyer club entertained the two youngest Hellestos, Ingrid and Jannie.

When it was time to end our visit to the beach, we said goodbye to the Hellestos, and our wonderful grandparents took us to Mo's, which serves THE BEST clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl (called a Cannonball Bowl). Before we were served our meal, we devoured at least fifty soup crackers as a family. The ride back to Corvallis was less eventful than the first because we were all tired and cranky and sandy from the beach. However, it was a lovely ending to a beautiful day in Oregon.