On June 6th, I graduated from college. Ben and I were in the same graduation class. He had been doing the executive program over the past couple years. We celebrated that night with the parents at Maddox in Brigham City. Marty was able to eat a whole two pound stake, you better believe he was loving it. Mike and I were officially leaving the formal world of education. We were ready to be true business folks. To celebrate we took a week vacation down the Oregon Coast with Ryan and Kenzie. As soon as I was done with my last test, we were packed up and hit the road. We were in 6 states in 6 days with over 2,200 miles of driving. Talk about an adventure and a perfect getaway. Mike and I were able to party all day again without school and work getting in the way. The first night was designated to driving as far as we could before a reasonable hour. After midnight, we decided it was probably time to think about settling down for the night. So, we pulled off the freeway, and camped out with the sagebrush in Oregon.
The next day we continued on our journey into Washington. We were on our way to stay with Brother and Sister Beus, one of Mike’s and Ryan’s Mission Presidents in Russia, in Othello Washington. But before arriving we stopped at a huge dam where they assist the Salmon on their swim upstream. They have a conservatory room where you can look at the fish and they are just sucking the corner of the wall trying not to be pulled away by the current. Bet you are pretty jealous, eh? The Beus’s were a great family; we enjoyed games, good conversation, a fun family barbeque, and our first and only shower of the week. At the barbeque we got to meet some of their grandkids. They were so funny. One of the little boys peed in the middle of the field and the other one had us all cracking up on multiple occasions. Ohhh yea!! After church the next day, we decided it was time to hit the road again. We had a lot of ground to cover.
Our Oregon Coast adventure officially began in Astoria with a look at the “Columbia” lighthouse. Oregon is beautiful with tons of greenery and pine trees everywhere. We felt like it was a mix between Hawaii and Washington. Each night we camped in a fun and interesting spot. Our first night was on a cliff’s edge. It was stunning. The next morning we awoke and checked out the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory and Air Museum, which is the largest wooden Hanger ever built. After getting a taste for the city life, we ventured off into nature again. We went on a cliff side hike right alongside the ocean. One of the nice benefits of this trip, is we did not have any real agenda so we were highly flexible. Anytime we saw something of interest, we pulled over and checked it out. We saw blowholes, played around on the rocks, learned about sea anemones, and saw very active barking seals.
Later that day, we drove to Florence and searched for a place to camp for the night. It was quite the most difficult place because it is a bigger city. Nevertheless, we conquered. We stopped at Fred Meyers for some groceries. Turns out there were some really big sand dunes located right behind the store. It was going to be our next camp out. We got ready for bed in the parking lot, yes it was still light outside, and ran up into the dunes. Ryan had to park the car in a local neighborhood to avoid any suspicion. Only to run across the dunes like an escaped convict. It was hilarious.
The next day consisted of various beach stops. It was fun to walk up and down the beach, play on the rocks, and just have good conversation. Mike found a sweet cave to play in when the tide died down. It was a lot of fun. We continued to stop in random places, until we arrived in the redwoods in California. We decided to go the cheap route and camp in a “primitive” area. Well, if you consider running water and flushing toilets primitive. The camp host was a friendly guy. It was probably because he was living out his dream of 20 years. Yes, he seriously had waited that long to get the job. Don’t worry, he celebrated with his tailor made cameo shirt which said “Camp Host”. Here we did the most traditional camping. We made a fire and roasted some marshmallow, set up a hammock, and hung out.
The next morning was off to a slower start but then went on my favorite hike of the trip. The trees were huge! You could walk through several of them. During one part of the hike we had to cross a stream. The water was too much for Mike, he could not resist it no matter how hard he tried. He succumbed and got into the freezing water. Somehow he was also able to convince Ryan to come in with him. Kenzie and I were smarter and we just chilled on the rocks soaking in the sun. Although, Ryan and Mike tried to claim they got a bath in before the long ride home. I’m not too sure. That night was the worst camping spot of all. It was really pretty, but it was infested with mosquitoes. They were everywhere. We had to take cover in our tents after we ate a whole pound of beef stick. Not a good idea, we smelled it all night long. We were playing crap head in Ryan and Kenzie’s tent and I let one slip. I was not going to take the fall, at least not yet. They thought it was Mike and he didn’t know any different so he took it. That is until I confessed in secrecy to him in our tent that it was me. He was laughing so hard they asked what it was. Mike said it was too good to keep in so he told them our secret! It was pretty funny. The next day we would spend the rest of the day driving back to our home sweet home and then helping Ryan and Kenzie move into their new house. It was a great trip, good company, good weather, really pretty, and lots of good memories. Happy Graduation!
The next morning we were able to sleep in and then get ready for Ragnar. Mike had sufficiently grown out his rag stash. We were ready for this crazy event. Some people are really desperate for attention, girls in underwear, men in diapers, you get the idea. But the race was much more entertaining than it sounds. I was in Van 2 with Mike, Danny, Marty, Curt, Chris, and John. The other van was Haley, Julie, Steph, Joe, Tyson (cousin), and Tyler (friend to Tyson). I took Uncle Curt’s 3rd leg as the alternate. He didn’t really need an alternate, but he was kind enough to let me take one. I ran 5.9 miles in just over 47 min with a slight incline. I passed at least 20 people and wasn’t passed once. Although, I did have fresh legs and everybody else was on their third run. Needless, to say I had a slight advantage. Danny ran all the way up this huge hill. He counted to 10 over and over again. That is what you call dedication. Marty pulled his best time of the year on his first run. Mike was a stud as always pulling good times on hard runs with little training. Yes, I may be the one to blame for his lack of training. With hardly any sleep, our team ran for 31.5 hours, fueling ourselves of mostly junk food. That is the definition of crazy.
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