Over The Hill To...

NEWPORT

We have lived in Corvallis now for seven months. Knowing that we are an hour closer to the beach then when we live in Portland area. We have wanted to go-but we never had the funds to go. One of Kyle's co-workers at the hospital gave him a pass for all of us to go to all three Undersea Gardens/Ripley's Believe or Not/The Wax Works attractions. It is the Saturday into Spring Break, we decided to go. (Kyle and I went to this same thing a little over 12 years ago on our honeymoon. I can say that it has gotten better with time.)

We told the kids that we were going on a adventure today, where they have never been. We loaded ourselves and all the snack food I could find in the house, (it was a last minute idea the night before.) Our warm coats, just in case we found a beach to go walk on. And headed on our way. Within an hour and over a very small summit (700 feet) we made it to Newport.

The kids burst out of the car once it was put in park, but complained of sea legs. I thought that was funny since we were headed over to the Undersea Gardens and they didn't know that they would need their sea legs. We showed our passes and were allowed to go ten feet below the sea. It was dark down there, the only light was from a black light that made you light up and the glow from the light streaming down the stairwell from upstairs. We were able to look out the windows showing the different sea creatures native to the Newport Coast. Giant fish that were the length of Kelsie, 2 Octopuses, and many more. There was a scuba driver name Zach that showed us all the the underwater creatures. The kids all enjoyed it.

We then went back up, and out onto the dock and look down to see the sea lions. I would say they were sun bathing but there really wasn't much sun out. It looked as though one was even shivering, don't blame him I wouldn't want to be in that cold water either. There was three big one and looked like a baby sea lion hanging out on the dock. The kids were amazed that they were seeing them that close and got a kick out of the sea lions talking to each other.

As the rain started to come, we crossed the street and headed to The Wax Works. The lights were dim so that you would think they were the real people. Kallie was not sure of this place at all, half the time she had her hand covering her eyes- the other half buried into my coat. She is not one for the unknown, Kelsie on the other hand is. She loved this place and could not get enough of it. Jaron and Karlee were on the fence about it. We saw the bad/good guys, MASH, D.W. Cooper (or did we?), pirates, Johnny Depp, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and many more. There was an American Idol stage set up where you could sing for Randy, Jen, and Steven with Ryan MC the show. Jaron and Kelsie broke into song for that with Karlee playing on the piano. You had to walk through a tunnel that was spinning like Indian Jones- Kelsie had a hard time with this one. once she walked she grab the pole and just couldn't move. I had to pick her up and carry her through it was kind of trippy. We made it through and exited into a gift shop where Karlee found a dinosaur to growl at me.

After we let the kids catch there breath we headed into Ripley's Believe It or Not. Kallie was not wanting to go in this one. I finally talked her into it saying that it was just a museum of things might or might not done. She was okay with that and came in with her eyes open this time. I kind of wish that they would of had the lights up a little brighter so you see a little better ( I think they are saving a ton on their electric bill.) They had a lot of cool displays. A harp where they were invisible, Egyptian maze, lighted dance room, and many more. Kyle really liked this one where it was a two way mirror but one side didn't know it and you could freak the people out on the other side (because you got freak out when you were on the other side :0) ). There was one room where it looked like it was full of stars and that you were out in space. All the kid loved it except Karlee who just kind of froze in the middle of the room like she was stuck in "space". I picked her up and carried her out. But afterwards I was thinking about, and it must of freaked her out because she doesn't even like stepping over the gap between the elevator and the floor and here she is in a room full of that gap. Crazy. We made our way through and came out into the same gift shop as the wax works. Funny huh- took us a minute to figure that out.

We then made our way back to the car dashing in and out of the rain drops. Drove around town and showed the kids where we stayed on our honeymoon. Tried to see a Light house didn't make it there. We continue to drive hoping to find a beach. But we didn't get down to one, the tide was really in. This is the closest we got to the Ocean.

We had a FUN family day trip.

Spring Break 2011