The 20th Day of the PapiBlogger Family Road Trip can best be described as The Great Day of Snow and Sand in Oregon.
SNOW MOUNTAIN MORNING
It began with the Ruiz clan boarding the ski lifts of the Timerberline Lodge, which took us to the belly of Mt. Hood at an altitude of 7,000 feet. The Timberline Lodge Ski Area has the only year-round ski season in North America but we couldn’t take advantage of the skiing because at this time of the year it’s only available for intermediate and expert skiers.
We were overdressed compared to other shorts and t-shirt dressed families that also went up the ski lifts of Mt. Hood.
The curious thing was that all around us were couples and families dressed in shorts, T-shirts and even sandals.
Jonathan encouraged Elena to blast their FUJIFILM FinePix XP10 camera with snow and she obliged. She hit the bottom right area of the lens but this camera is made for that.
Jonathan and Elena took advantage of their time in the mountain to make snow angels, have a snow fight and even test the performance of their all-weather FUJIFILM FinePix XP10 camera. The camera endured the snow fight with flying colors.
OREGON IS BREATHTAKING
Following a snow-filled morning at Mt. Hood we headed west to the family-friendly city of Seaside, on the northwest tip of Oregon.
Our drive across this great state only reinforced how utterly beautiful Oregon is with miles of winding roads packed with tall pine trees, idyllic hills and scores of farming communities selling every known freshly grown fruit that exists. Hands down, this is the prettiest state we’ve explored thus far.
While at Seaside, we stayed at the Best Western Oceanview, which is conveniently located in front of the city’s scenic, two-mile long boardwalk. Seaside features three miles of powder-soft beaches that are more beautiful than Florida’s and actually rival Hawaii’s. Initially, we took the kids to dip their toes in the cold Pacific Ocean but that plan went out the window quickly. Moments after Briani “accidentally” got more wet than she was supposed to, Jonathan and Elena followed suit. In no time, the kids were all soaked, dancing and jumping in the icy waters of the Pacific without a care in the world.
OREGON CURIOSITIES
– Due to its location, at this time of the year it does not go dark in Oregon until sometime around 9:30 p.m.
Oregon has tons of these cute small coffee stands.
– Like their northern neighbors in Washington, Oregonians are obsessed with coffee. All throughout the state you will find trailer-size drive-thrus that serve up some terrific brews and other goodies.
– Like New Jersey, all gas stations in Oregon require that the gas attendants pump fuel for you.
SPRINT NEXTEL ROAD TRIP TIP OF THE DAY
If you are taking photos in the snow or of mountains that in the distance have snow don’t forget to adjust your camera’s setting so that it underexposes your photos a little bit. Snow-related photos are notorious for appearing bleached in most cameras and that can ruin a terrific shot.
Noticias Newswire 
