All The Way Home From Portland

After our fun filled week in Portland, we had a long drive home ahead of us.  Of course, we still had some surprises up our sleeves.  On our way out of Portland we stopped at some GORGEOUS tulip fields.  The pictures don't do them justice.  Rows and rows and rows of tulips as far as you could see.  It was super muddy (and we were the only people in flip flops instead of boots) but we managed to keep our footing and soak in all the beauty.

 After the tulip fields we drove about halfway through Oregon.  Our final surprise for the kids was a wild animal safari park!  We weren't sure if we would actually see animals, since it's so cold and dreary there, but I had purchased a groupon for it, so we gave it a try.  It turned out to be awesome.  There was a tiny little zoo part where we walked around and saw cheetahs, tiny monkeys, flamingos and more.  The kids pet the little horse and donkey at the petting zoo.  Then they even got to ride on a camel!  After that, we went for the 4 mile drive through the acres and acres of park, spotting all sorts of animals like rhinos, bears, elephants, hippos and more.  They were just wandering around.  A couple times we had to just sit and wait for animals to get out of the road!

We were just saying hello to the camels (because it was $10 each to ride them) when the camel guy told us he'd give us a deal and let them all ride for $10.  Ummm...yes please!

They laughed and giggled the whole time they rode "Frank"!

I quickly rolled up my window any time these guys approached!

The kids loved that they could be unbuckled!

Some of the animals were enclosed by an electric fence.

This giant, creepy bird came right up to my window.  I rolled it up as fast as I could and thought it was going to try and peck through!

 After the wild animals, we were on our way to stay in a cabin at the KOA in Mt. Shasta.  I think that part of the drive was the roughest.  Kids were throwing fits, I was irritable, and it was later than we expected.  By the time we got to the cabin it was almost 10:00!

After a night's sleep in our cozy cabin we were ready for our final stretch!  The last day we didn't really have plans.  We thought we might stop at the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield (which we didn't), and maybe some parks (which we did).  We mostly just let the kids watch movies while we drove and drove!  We did stop at a really "old fashioned" park near the Sacramento river (Seth was dying to stop near a river or creek, as we crossed over so many leaving Oregon).  We got home in the evening and were thrilled to be home and see our sweet Banjo!

Best we could get out of them!

Traveling is really tiring!  Haley is under that pink blanket in the back!