Mount Saint Helens & Tillamook

The morning after we left Mount Rainier, we headed to Mount Saint Helens! We were shocked how quiet it was there after the crowds we experienced at Mount Rainier. Brady loved pointed things out to me at Mount Saint Helens and telling me all about the history. {In preparation of our visit to this park, Derek & Brady watched a few documentaries about the volcano's eruption in 1980, so he was full of knowledge!} He told me it was one of the best days of his life to get to go there!

And to top it all off, we got to eat dinner at Chick-fil-a--our first time upon re-entering the lower 48!

{The kids have been following our route with a National Geographic road trip atlas gifted to us before our PCS to Las Vegas in 2016 by the Goins. All these years & moves later, it's still coming in handy!}

We stayed at a hotel near Portland, Oregon that night & then headed to Tillamook the next morning--this was a highly anticipated stop for all of us, and it absolutely lived up to the hype! We ate lunch there {pizza, grilled cheese, and mac & cheese} and of course had Tillamook ice cream for dessert. I had a brownie batter milkshake, and it was everything!!

And as luck would have it, we had another gift shop run-in at Tillamook! This time it was with two people that Derek graduated from med school with. So, so crazy!

After Tillamook, we took a drive down the Oregon coastline, which was gorgeous! We even had a whale sighting at Depoe Bay.

{Devil's Churn}

Aside from Tillamook and the Oregon coast, the other highlight of our day was that our hotel in Eugene, Oregon had washers & dryers for hotel guests to use free of charge! What an unexpected delight!

We have also been fortunate to have the most amazing weather & sunshine-filled days!