More pics from the Oregon coast.

And now some more pictures of our biking along the coast trip. 

We really fell in love with the Oregon coast.  Especially biking it. 

I think you can see why we like it. 

This was the Devil's Punch bowl.  It was a fun distraction from biking. 

We took a billion pictures.

We had a great view of the tide coming in. 

But luckily it was low when we went.  So we got to see all the great tide pools. 

We also really liked the Sea Lion Caves. 

We watched the Sea Lions playing and lying around. 

And we dragged our "kids" to the Tillamook cheese factory.  They wanted to stay in the car and read their books instead.

But everyone got happy once they handed out free samples.

And we all were really happy when Spencer bought us all ice cream. 

Cannon Beach and Beaverly Beach

I was excited to see Cannon Beach.  I had hear so much about it.  

Staying on our trip budget we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the beach and we all tried to get potential face book profile pics with these famous monoliths. 

Taking a great picture didn't work out so well and after only 10 pictures Spencer was bored.

 

Kate sporting her new Nike shirt.  

Spencer preferred playing with the seagulls to having his picture taken.  

I think he missed his little bird.  

Daniel took the most successful picture with the famous Cannon Beach landmark.  

Apparently women on online dating sites respond most favorably to pictures of Men that are looking away from the camera.  

So if 16 year old Daniel wants to start meeting chicks on line -this is the picture he should use.  

Our next beach stop was Beverly Beach. 

It was LOVELY. 

We all had a great time.

Until we realized that the car keys had mysteriously fallen out of Daniels pocket. 

The keys were LOST somewhere in the sand.  

I made him go look on the whole beach for them.  

Amazingly they were found!

Hurray!

I still felt it was a perfect opportunity to give:

"Older Sibling Lecture on Responsibility #1"

But who could stay mad at this cute kid?

Biking the Oregon coast

In July 2010 Spencer and I did a biking tour of the Oregon coast.  Well it was SUPPOSED to be an all biking tour, but with so many fun things to do along the coast we got a bit distracted.  Here are some of our distractions....

Day One:  The Drive featuring the Columbia River George

We stopped at the beautiful Multnoma falls in the Columbia River Gorge to break up
the 12 hour drive from Salt Lake City to Portland. 

Day 2: Portland and Nike

In Portland we got an awesome insiders tour of Nike Campus
from my cousin John (Nike's best computer programmer.)

Don't let Spenser's face fool you he LOVED Nike. 

Nike looks like a fun place to work.  The employees had all kinds of fun work distractions like: 

1. A Rock Wall
2. Golf Course
3. Soccer field
4.  Track
5. Pools
6. Volleyball nets
7. Tennis courts
8. Basketball courts
9. Weight rooms
10. Cafeteria where you frequently see famous athletes
11. etc.  etc.  etc.

Enjoy the Nike Museum documenting how it all started with a waffle iron and a desire to make better running shoes that has turned into one of the biggest companies in the world. 

Cool Athlete stuff (Mostly cool for Spencer)

And of course if working out or visiting athletes shrines isn't what you have in mind for your lunch break, then stroll around the beautifully manicured lawns.  Enjoy lake Nike and pretty statues. 

Then came the best part.  John got us passes to the exclusive Employee store.  

I've always protested to be not a huge Nike fan, but the receipt proves otherwise.  

Joan's purchases:

• Running Capri's (M)
• Running Pants (M)
• Running Capri's (S)
• Running Pants (S)
• Hey with all that running I"m sure I'll get down to a size (S)
• Built in Sports Bra running Tank
• Running shirt (short sleeve)
• Running shirt (long sleeve)
• Socks X4

Spencer's Nike Purchases:

• World Cup Soccer shirt
• Basketball Shirt
• Socks X1

I should have restrained myself but everything was top of the line bran new and 50% cheaper than any store (even the Nike outlet in Park City which we frequent.) I sure now I won't have to buy work out clothes for years! 

From Portland we headed to the coast.  Stay tuned for more. 

Not as cool as I said we would be.

Remember how I told you all that we were going to do an EPIC bike trip all along the Oregon coast? Remember how you all thought that was SO cool and pledged your life to reading this blog thereby letting some of this blog coolness spill over into your lives.

My most faithful readers opened Google reader or the life of the riddle url hoping to see pictures like this:

I am so sorry to disappoint all of you.

This is very difficult to say but....

We are not as cool as I said we would be.

I have to tell everyone that we are not that cool. Proof:

• No pictures of us riding in the morning sunlight through a canopy of green trees.
• No tour the cheese factory in Tillamook.
• No lunch breaks at quaint little coastal light houses.
• Not once did we ride off into the Oregon sunset.
• No bulging calf muscles from all the roiling hills.
  

Sigh.

We canceled our trip to Oregon.

Why? Why would we avoid such a trip that would make us cool for at least 2 years to come?

This is why:
My entire family including my adorable nieces and nephew were all going to the family cabin in Montana the same week Oregon 2009 was planed. They kept talking about how much fun they were going to have. They kept sending pictures of my cute nieces. I started to doubt how much fun biking all day would be. Every time I got on Creamsicle I realized how much sitting on a bike seat is NOT as fun as it sounds. But then again Google Earth makes Oregon look beautiful. Also I was going to meet up with my high school friend Rachel whom I hadn't seen for 1o years! Still...I kept wavering until I finally said to Spencer. "I really think we should go to Montana instead of Oregon." I tempted him and he did partake.

So before you vow never again to read this blog let me tell you that we are planning on doing the Epic Oregon 2010 next summer. AND the trip to Montana did prove very blog worthy. I'll send some pictures along soon.

Sorry again to disappoint. No comments necessary. I know how you all feel.

A new member of the family: Creamsicle.

We are so happy to welcome Creamsicle to our family. She is beautiful and seems to be adapting well. She weighs 19 lbs and is 54 cm.



We didn't win the bike contest. Thanks to all of you who voted and who enjoyed our video! We plan to enter again next year. It is a yearly contest. But I did find a great bike at our favorite down town bike store. I love her! She is Cream and Orange hense the name Creamsicle. I've taken her out a few times and she is smooth. We are so happy to add her to the fam.


And this is why we call her Creamcicle.

Oregon...only a bike away.

Thanks for all your comments about our trip to Oregon this summer. WE. ARE. EXCITED. Does anyone know of any cheep places to stay along the Oregon Coast? Anyone have a great aunt who will let us stay in her basement? We have a rough itinerary.

The only thing is I don't have a bike. No Bike. in German: Kein Fahrrad. So what are we going to do?

We have it all worked out. Spencer read about a competition to win a $5,000 in biker magazine. All we had to do was make a 60 second video about why we need a bike.

Here is the video.

We think it is pretty good. If you like it please log in to bicycling.com and vote for our video. It is based on voting so please support!

Biking Oregon summer of 2009

Summer Vacation.

Spencer and I wanted to do something to enjoy the summer. Last summer I left him for 6 weeks and went to play in Greece. This summer no Mediterranean vacations for me! I want to really spend some quality time together.

Quality time for means VACATION!!!

For our epic 2009 summer vacation the Stein-mann family (party of 2) has decided to bike along the Oregon coast.

Yes that is right! CYCLING all along the coast. I'm so excited! The only thing is I'm not a biker. I. am. not. a. biker! I ran a few marathons in what feels like was another life but now I'm mostly sedentary and can't fit into my skinny clothes. I've got roughly 2 months to get some miles into my legs and hopefully that will put me back into most of my wardrobe too.

It seems very ambitious but I am always up for an adventure and it will give me some motivation to train.

The training started to day and included biking 1 mile up city creek canyon (my tush hurts like h#%1!) and buying a book from Barnes & Nobel called biking Oregon.

Wish me luck and if you are from Oregon please pass along some advice!

Oregon here I come.