Hello Oregon!!

Well, I just blogged about my perfect wedding.  Now it's time for me to brag about my perfect honeymoon!  Christopher planned a lovely week-long vacation to the Oregon coast.  It was seriously perfect - a week of 70 degree weather, a beach house, the ocean, and a handsome husband.  Who could ask for more???  We did so much and had so much fun that I don't know if I can capture it all.  But pictures are worth a thousand words, so hopefully these pictures will help me tell the story.

We drove from Utah to Yachats, Oregon which turns out to be about a 16 hour drive.  We had an awesome time.  We forgot to bring a book on tape or much of anything to do, but we had the best time just talking and getting to know each other.  We ate our road trip food (graciously provided by Chris's sisters) and listened to music for hours.  Good times.

Once we reached Yachats, we began our search for the beach house.  Because of a few bad directions from me, we came to a tiny, rundown house that looked like some creeper just moved in.  I was seriously beginning to be afraid that we were going to spend our honeymoon in a two-foot shack with Jack the Ripper.  Luckily, Chris took the directions from me and instantly saw my mistake.  In a few short minutes we arrived at the right place.  Our beach house had a large kitchen surrounded with huge glass windows that looked out toward the ocean.  It was beautiful (and a big relief from what I thought we were going to experience! :)  

The first day we simply explored the city, drove up to Newport, explored a Lighthouse and ate Tillamook cheese.  The next day, Chris planned a surprise day outing for me.  I had no idea where we were going as we headed out on a three-hour drive down Route 101.  The surprise?  A "game park," also known as the largest petting zoo I've ever seen.  It was hilariously fun.  I played with the strangest animals, including the ugliest donkey I've ever seen and a scary-looking sphinx llama.  I was too afraid to go near the llama (they spit) but I dared Chris to go touch it.  He's truly a brave fellow. 

But the best part was playing with the cats. That's right...the big ones.  The game park had a baby leopard and a baby tiger.  Because the leopard was so young we were only able to pet him as he walked past us on a leash.  Those are his hind quarters you see in the picture.  That was about all I could catch as he ran by.   

 However, we were actually allowed to go inside the pen with the baby tiger.  She was a little older and was drinking a bottle half the time, so she was content.  We could pet her and play with her a little.  It was pretty exciting to be near such a normally dangerous animal.  I just prayed that we wouldn't experience another Siegfried and Roy episode...

Unfortunately, it is 10:40 and I am falling asleep at my computer.  Time for bed...  But this is only Day Two!!  Stay tuned for all of the other exciting things we did on Days Three - Seven!