Final Vacation Pictures. Last day, Florence, Oregon 6/18

It's hard to believe that this trip ended almost two weeks ago. (:sniff: :sniff:) Flying out of Eugene wasn't going to happen until 6pm on 6/18, so we headed south from Waldport down the coast passing Devils Churn, Haceta Head and the Sea Lion Caves again with the ultimate goal of heading to Eugene via the coastal and Siuslaw riverfront town of Florence.

(left) Couldn't help but pull over on the side of the road for this picture. Christian's Papa and Grandma Georgia gave him this T-shirt almost 2 years ago, and it is just as appropriate today as it was then!

FLORENCE, OR
Lovely construction work, but here are the signs pointing the distances to all the other Florences in the world. This particular one has the United States Florence, and here in Queen Creek, we're not too far from the Arizona Florence (drove through the western edge of it today, as a matter of fact), so this picture is a accurate representation of how far away from home we were.
Check out the difference in weather from December 2007 with this picture of Mikelle and I from then (Christian is playing on the anchor behind us). You can't tell, but that day it rained non-stop, and Chris wasn't thrilled standing in the rain taking all these pictures. Now HE is someone who is a true Arizona desert rat. Not me. I enjoyed every bit of rainy Oregon weather in frigid December as well as more sunny June:

Christian and I didn't take anymore pictures with the signs, but since we're on the subject, here's one a couple of blocks away (taken December 2007) of the distance to Florence, Italy in both directions:














Anyway, back to this recent trip, here is Christian with the Siuslaw river behind him. The historic area of Florence is along the riverfront. And Mo's seafood restaurant is right there too. We ate at this one in December 2007, but this particular trip, the Mo's in Newport had our patronage.

And this one below makes me crave fried shrimp and clam chowder. Good thing Red Lobster is a little pricey to go on a whim, and Joe's Crab Shack is too far away (over in AZ Mills)!

And so many times when taking pictures on this trip: "Christian, put your shirt down!"

More pictures with the river in the background (and my thick beefy arms and fat face):


And then we headed east to Eugene (sounds like the name of a book or movie!). There was some road construction along the way and we had to sit on the highway for a few minutes. Look at this view (below) of the river that hugged the highway into Eugene? It's so neat that in Oregon, when you go over BRIDGES, there is WATER under them. When the sign says "river" the river actually contains water. Yesterday I drove over the Gila River bridge, but the only way you know it's a river, is well, I just know it's a river "sometimes" and more often NOT a river. There isn't a sign on that particular bridge to indicate the "river". Otherwise, it's a brown dry riverbed that happens to have a bridge over it. And Tempe Town Lake? It has water in it, because they put water in it for about a mile and call this river area a "lake" and the actual water that used to flow in the salt river is all dammed up. How lame is the logic in that? Oh well. At least when driving by ASU on the 202 there is an "illusion" of water that used to flow in the "river".

Anyway, back to this view of the Siuslaw. So nice to know that places like this with the actual color green and the water under the bridge, actually exist!

Bye bye Oregon. Someday, I'll call you my home.