Manda and Mike: oregon wedding

Better late than never, right?
Here's the recap from our trip to Oregon at the end of August.
We drove for two days to get out to Portland. We spent a night there and had a nice dinner downtown at South Park restaurant. We shared a flight of Oregon Pinots and then feasted on some great food. I had some prosciutto wrapped figs and a salad. I was craving some greens after 2 days of eating on the road. Mikey had a sampler platter of oysters & mussels. He was is heaven! We haven't been out for a nice meal in quite a while and this was the best meal of our trip. As we drove in to Portland, I was so happy to be married to someone who isn't afraid of big cities. As you know, I am directionally challenged and it was so awesome to be with someone who has the confidence and drive to conquer a new city. I felt really lucky to have someone who balances me and adds adventure to my life.
After our glorious night in Portland, we headed for the coast.
This was my first time in Oregon and I nearly cried as we drove past all the wonderful wineries that I've seen or heard about. We took a beautiful route via 99W through Newburg and McMinnville. I managed to convince Mikey to stop for just one wine tasting. It turns out he hadn't tasted at an actual winery before. Lots of firsts for us on this trip! We stopped at Domaine Serene and shared a tasting. For $15 we got to taste 4 different wines. It was a neat experience. We got to taste wine from a $75 bottle. Oregon Pinots are exquisite!

We eventually made it to the coast- Newport to be exact! My goodness, the Oregon coast is beautiful:

There are state parks all along the coast and they have these amazing forests right on the coast:

and buildings with adorable character (Cape Foulweather):

Breathtaking- this was just an overlook on a little wayside rest on the PCH:

The best little coastal town:

I couldn't help myself:

The town of Newport is filled with quaint shops like this:

We really wanted to get some fresh Fish n Chips and found al fresco dining at the Chowder Bowl:

We had a great waiter who reminded us of our deckhand we had while fishing in Alaska- a little rough on the edges, full of quirky phrases (everything was "right on") but overall great service!
We shared a cup of Clam Chowder:

I had Fish (Pacific cod... was hoping for halibut) and Chips:

Mikey had Oysters & Chips:

This was our view while dining:

We were probably 2 blocks from the water. The ocean air was fantastic- reminded us of home.

We wanted to spend the night in Newport but we had a wedding to get to! So, we spent the rest of the afternoon driving down the coast beaming with smiles:

Once we got to Florence, we said farewell to the ocean and headed towards Eugene. This drive was beautiful as well:

Our final destination was the Loloma Lodge by McKenzie Bridge, OR.
Kelsey & Sean hosted us in the main lodge. Our room was super adorable and cozy:

We spent the night by the campfire catching up with the bride and groom and their friends.
This day goes down as one of my all time favorite days! Beautiful scenery, the ocean, humongous forests, wine, fish & chips, clam chowder, more wine with friends & lots of R&R with my favorite person in the world!!

The next day (Saturday) was wedding day. We spent most of the day nursing our hangovers. Gosh, we have become such light weights!
We did sneak away to see some waterfalls just down the road from the lodge:

It was like Northern MN on steroids! I loved all the moss! I have a weird affection for moss:)
We got back in time to pretty ourselves for the wedding: