CHARGE!!!

The hotel we woke up in on Friday has a “Breakfast on the Run.”  My hotel-speak decoder ring translates that to, “one step below continental breakfast.”  The girls grabbed a muffin and some fruit and Sherri made us our morning coffee. As we got ready for our exciting day, Sherri’s phone rang. It was a number in Oregon. Odd. She picked it up and her face went from furrowed-brow to full-on-excitement. The hotel had found Haley’s horse! It turns out our 45 minute stop was well worth the investment. They told us that they would ship the horse to our house. Haley was very, very happy. As beat up and old as that stuffed animal is, there is simply no replacing something as special as that horse is to her.

With a little more gas in our engines, we headed to our next stop, Sandland Adventures. We had made reservations for their thirty minute Sandrail adventure, which is basically a huge dune buggy going really fast over sand dunes. 

Three words describe this…. Oh Em Gee!! Matt, our driver, started off with, “Welcome to my office!”  It is hard to describe just how thrilling and amazing this ride was, so I’ll give you a little taste via a video I took.

The girls *loved* the ride, and Emily and Ashley kept yelling, “CHARGE!!!” when they wanted Matt to speed up.  There were several times where I thought the entire buggy was going to tip over. I’m guessing we reached speeds of around 50 mph, and the ride was completely unpredictable. We went down dunes that seemed unimaginable to go down and we took paths that seemed impossible.  I honestly cannot remember when I have had that much fun. This place has 5 well-deserved stars on Trip Advisor. If you are anywhere within a 200 mile radius of Florence, Oregon, you *must* stop in here.

We went back to our hotel room and took showers to wash off about a pound of sand. We packed up the car and headed north on 101. We arrived at the Heceta Lighthouse about twenty minutes later. This lighthouse was started in 1892 and finished in 1894. It was closed from 2011 to June of 2013 for a major restoration. It was a really cool tour, and we learned all about Fresnel lenses and how the light from this lighthouse is the brightest on the Oregon coast. It can be seen from 21 miles away, and the curvature of the earth is the only thing that stops it from being seen from farther away. Awesome.

On the trail up to the lighthouse 

After the lighthouse tour, we were ready for lunch. We went to The Bridgewater Fish House Restaurant & Zebra Bar. That’s a mouthful. And it was a mouthwatering mouthful. From the insane amount of onion rings to the wonderful clam chowder to the yummy fresh fish, this place hit the top of our list of restaurant meals during the sabbatical. 

We rolled out of the restaurant and stuffed ourselves into the family truckster. Our next stop was Crescent Lake, Oregon. Our plan was to stay the night there and then head to Crater Lake the next morning. On our way, we passed through Eugene, Oregon, where we got a second shot at getting some Voodoo Donuts. The Hummels will not be denied! 

We weren't sure what to order, so we picked the Voodoo Dozen, which they randomly put together for you. Here's what we got

Yes, that is cereal on the donuts. It's like breakfast on top of breakfast!

Hmmm...how can we make a donut more fattening? I know, let's add Oreos!

We forged ahead to our hotel, driving through beautiful Oregon forest along the way. Our hotel was great; we had a large room with plenty of sleeping spots. The hotel also had a huge selection of VHS tapes that we could watch. The girls chose Titanic and (ok....so maybe I influenced them a little bit) National Lampoon's Vacation. We had initially planned on this being an early night, but with these two movies, we pushed past midnight. **SPOILER ALERT** - The Titanic sinks.