Sarah's Make-A-Wish Trip

In September of 2021, the North Carolina chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation contacted me to let me know that they would like to grant Sarah a wish. I was beside myself and instantly burst into tears because I knew that this opportunity was once in a lifetime for Sarah, and I also knew that she would soon age out of the opportunity to have a wish granted to her. (The maximum age a recipient can be is 18.)

When I got off of the phone with the foundation, I let Sarah know who had just called. She was speechless. I don't think that she ever even considered herself eligible for something like this, let alone being picked for a wish out of all of the eligible kiddos.

Step one in getting a wish granted is for the child to decide what he would like to wish for. In order to keep parents from pressuring kids to pick something of the parents' choosing, the foundation interviews the child alone to get an idea of what she is interested in/might like to do. Sarah could pick anything. A scholarship for college, a bedroom makeover, a trip with the family anywhere in the continental US, a golden retriever puppy, a shopping spree, meet a celebrity, etc...She was able to ask for just about anything she could think of with no parameters around cost.

For someone like Sarah, this was an overwhelming and stressful challenge. She initially decided that she would like to go back to Oregon and visit Sky View Horse Ranch, and have the organization teach the family how to ride a horse, since it had been such a pivotal experience for her, but after multiple attempts by Make-A-Wish to reach someone from Sky View, and receiving no response, Sarah had to choose another wish. She was pretty heartbroken about this as it had always been a dream of hers to have us learn how to ride by the same organization that taught her how to do so independently. It appears that after COVID the organization just vanished.

After weeks and weeks of thinking of different options, Sarah made the choice to go to Oregon anyway and spend 6 days/5 nights (the amount of time allotted for every Make-A-Wish trip) on the coast a little bit down the road from Cannon Beach. (Much to Josh's dismay as he was rooting for a trip to Key West, or someplace like that.) We ended up making our trip in June of 2023. (COVID had backed up the wish recipients' trips, so we had to wait quite a while before we were actually able to go.)

What a time! Everything was paid for. Spending money for Sarah, food, gas, flights, rental car, rental house, excursions (should Sarah choose to do one/some), the pet sitter fees, and on and on. We were able eat out at all of our favorite restaurants and visit all of our favorite places.

Elizabeth, Josh, and I spent almost all of our days at the beach. (We spent our last day near our old stomping ground and downtown Portland.) Sarah spent a day with her friend Hannah while Bobby and Andy went to Mount Hood to hike. The weather was pretty chilly even though it was June. Most of our days were sunny with the exception of one day, but that was okay. We stayed in a house on the ocean and were able to hear the waves from our bedroom window and see the ocean from our (almost) floor to ceiling living room windows.

It was so amazing to be able to go to all of our favorite beaches. It was weirdly quiet on the beach. There was often no one else on the beach except for our family. None of us minded this though.

The Oregon cost is one of the, if not the, most beautiful places I have ever been to. It was as if nothing had changed in the five years since we had last been there except for us.

Sarah had a really nice time. She loves the beach as much as I do, so it was great for her to be able to walk on her favorite beaches and not have a worry in the world.

Josh laying on the dirty airport floor with a sweatshirt over his eyes trying to block out the light so he can sleep since our flight was delayed.

Our very early flight (like 5 or 6 am) was delayed by an hour +. Josh is trying to catch a nap before we board

At the airport - you knitting and Elizabeth leaning over on her hair listening to her music,

Killing time waiting for our delayed flight to take off.

Andy and Dad sitting in their chairs at the airport waiting to board our flight. Andy is looking at the camera with a smile on his face. He is wearing his irish hat. Dad is bent over watching a video on his phone. He is wearing blue jeans and a bluesweatshirt.

Still waiting for our flight to board...

You and I on the plane. You are resting your head on my shoulder with your eyes closed. You are wearing your yellow fleece hoodie. I am looking at the camera wearing a beige cardigan.

Finally on board! Portland, Oregon bound.

A view from the plane sitting on the Dallas tarmac waiting for permission to take off.

I have never been on a flight before with so many waiting planes on the runway waiting for permission to take off. I want to say we sat on the runway for about 45 minutes waiting to leave Dallas - where we had a layover. (There were planes waiting as far as the eye could see. It was crazy!)

A picture while on the plane up in the air. We are above the clouds.

A view from the plane of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The lake is tinted a reddish orange - I believe because of all of the salt.

A part of the Great Salt Lake in Utah taken from about 30,000 feet in the air.

Another view of the great salt lake. It is still orange reddish with a while outline (almost like the salt is accumulating on the sides of the lake.

Another view of the Great Salt Lake - if you've never seen it (and I hadn't before this plane ride) it is huge! This photo is one tiny piece of it. This is the end of it, but prior to this it just kept going and going.

Mount Hood

A shot further away from Mount Hood. This one shows the entire mountain plus all of the lush farm land around the base of the mountain

The final pic of Mount Hood.This one is taken the farthest away from the mountain. You can still see the whole thing, but it is not up close like the other shots are.

Lost Lake - a medium sized lake just pops out of the scenery surrounded by acres and acres of evergreen trees.

I believe this is Lost Lake. We visited this spot a couple of times while we lived in Oregon. It is not easy to get to with a lot of windy roads and just seems to pop up out of nowhere. Looking at its location from the plane I can see why it is called Lost Lake.

A beautiful view of both lost lake, evergreen trees as far as the eye can see in all directions, and Mt. Hood in the distant background.

A view of Mount Hood and Lost Lake together. The patches of land that do not have trees are areas of land where the trees have been logged. From this distance, it doesn't look so bad, but up close these logged sections of mountains are quite hideous.

A pic of you and Elizabeth outside of Pelican Brewery.

You, Andy, Elizabeth, Josh standing together in front of the Pelican Brewery sign.

The Pelican Brewery was probably our favorite place to eat in Cannon Beach, Oregon when we lived in Portland. It used to have good food, good beer, and at a good price. Now...not so much. It was $20+ for a mediocre hamburger and fries!

First look at the view of the ocean from our backyard.

A look to the left of the ocean from our backyard. There is a large rock in view out in the ocean.

Another backyard view.

A final view of the ocean on the left hand side from the backyard. I went all the way to the left hand side of the yard to take the pic, so a larger rock closer to shore can be seen in the photo almost out of sight.

I could learn to live with these views every day.

Another view of the ocean from the backyard. this time the focus of the photo is on the vegetation that sits on the edge of the lawn before it goes downhill towards the sandy beach.

A view of the main room in the house from the front door. The wall of windows faces out onto the ocean.

The main room in house we stayed in.

A picture from the front door of the galley kitchen.

A picture of the ceiling in the hallway. One wall of the hallway, towards the ceiling is made entirely up of small square windows.

I loved the windows in the hallway. They let in a good amount of light which was super nice as the dark wood paneling on all of the walls would have made the house very dark without the abundance of windows.

You and the kids playing cards at the dining room/kitchen table.

A picture taken from the hallway again. The kids room door is in front of the picture taker, the kitchen entrance is to the right, and dad's and my bedroom is to the left.

To the left is our bedroom, in front of you is the kids' bedroom, and to the right is the opening into the kitchen.

This is taken from the same spot at the previous picture, only facing to the right. There is a door to the right of the picture going out into the backyard. The little cubby you see on the right has hooks for coats and some storage. In front is the main living area.

Another view of the main living area.

The kids' bedroom. It was quaint and had its own bath - which was very nice.

A picture of Dad (on the left) and Andy (on the right) standing in front of an almost snowless Mt. Hood.

The boys took a hike on their own on the Monday of our trip.

Andy wading through a river on the boys hike. There are pine trees on the left and right of the river and there are trees down all in the river. The sky is blue and there are puffy clouds in the distance.

Mt. Hood

A waterfall cascading down a tall embankment of rock. Evergreen trees surround the waterfall.

A picture of Andy and Dad standing in front of the waterfall from the previous picture.

The backside of Timberline Lodge. The pic was taken from above the lodge on the way towards the top of Mt. Hood.

This is the backside of Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. Timberline Lodge was featured in the movie The Shining. The front of the hotel is what is featured in all of the outside shots of The Shining hotel.

A view of Mt. Hood from above the treeline. The ground is almost entirely barren and the snow has almost all melted leaving just a brown, rocky dirt surface. There are a few evergreen trees scattered about.

This is Mt Hood in June. We have visited the mountain when it is entirely covered with feet and feet of snow. The fact that there is still snow on it in June is amazing, but what amazes me more is how much snow blankets the mountain in the winter months.

A view of the beach to the right of our backyard. Blue sky, tide going out. Empty beach.

Another view from our backyard.

A family selfie taken by Dad in the backyard overlooking the ocean. Dad is in front and behind him (from left to right) are Josh, Andy, Me, You, Margie.

My whole world.

Haystack Rock pic - from left to right are you, Andy, Elizabeth, and Josh

We took a pic of the kids in front of Haystack Rock on our very first time we came to the Pacific Ocean when we moved here in 2016, so we wanted to duplicate it before we left to go back home to North Carolina.

The original Cannon Beach picture from 2016. From left to right is Josh, Elizabeth, and you with Andy standing behind all of you.

This is the original pic.

From left to right: Andy, You, Dad all with hats on walking on the beach the second day we were there.

Exploring the Pacific beach for the first time in years.

A pic of me and dad huddled together looking at something on the ground on the beach. There is a pool of water behind us reflecting our images into the water. There are tall rocks all around us. This part of the beach was to the left of our house and is the day we took the long hike down the beach.

Andy took this pic of Bobby and me. This was taken, I believe, on the third day of our trip. It was a rainy/cloudy day most of the day and the beach was deserted. We walked for miles on the beach mostly as a family, until Josh had it with the sand and went back to the house. (If you know, you know.)

Josh, You, and Andy stopping your walk on the beach to take a pic. The skies are gray and the tide is low.

You and Andy standing on the beach, arms around each other. You are standing right on the edge of the tide, the sand is wet, and the sky is overcast. There is a fog building up behind you.

The fog was so cool. It eventually got to the point where Andy and I could barely see 10 feet in front of us. (Everyone else had turned around and gone back to the house by the time the fog got really bad. Andy and I were the only ones willing to keep walking.)

A gray overcast sky; The beach sand is wet and there are two very large rocks on the beach/shore. The rocks are on the left and right of the picture and the left hand rock looks like it has a cave in it.

The Pacific coast is so beautiful. In my mind, it beats the Atlantic coast hands down.

The same two rocks as the pic above are in this pic, but this time the pic also shows josh exploring a tide pool with a lot of rocks.

The beach, empty of people, sky gray, looking desolate and lonely.

Josh is standing in a huge stone archway with his arms spread out. He looks so small next to the enormous wind carved mountain.

Joshua looks so tiny standing in this archway.

You and Margie walking down the beach together. You are far away. The coast behind you both is made of tall rocks and evergreen trees.

You four kids sitting on the ledge of the backyard overlooking the ocean.

The six. You are sitting on the ground drinking a cup of hot chocolate. The rest of us are sitting in chairs behind you. We are in the backyard overlooking the ocean.

You and your sister walking on the beach at Hug Point.

The two caves at Hug Point to the left of the waterfall.

Hug Point Beach

A view from the top of the water fall of the rock formations that make up the caves to the left of the waterfall.

Me and Margie walking towards the big cave around the rock bend at Hug Point. The tide is going out, but it still pretty high making the ground all around the rocks pretty wet.

Hug Point Beach

You, Me, and Margie sitting on a log in the carved out space to the right of the waterfall. We are waiting for Dad and Andy to finish exploring. I am not sure where Josh is at this point.

Waiting for Andy and Bobby to finish exploring the rock formations around Hug Point.

Elizabeth giving you a piggy back ride on the beach. Both of you are smiling.

My girls.

Indian Beach

So many muscles!

The right side of Indian Beach. The water is out of view as the tide is down. There is just sand upon sand and rocky cliffs covered with evergreen trees.

Fun fact about Indian Beach - one of the beach scenes from the movie Twilight was filmed here.

A view of the ocean straight ahead of the backyard. The water is about half way out and the sky is sunny and clear. The are gentle waves rolling in.

Another view of the ocean from our backyard.

Another view of the ocean from the backyard, but this time it is the view to the right of the house. In the pic are other houses on our street, the embankment, the sand, and the ocean. Waves are still gentle. The beach is empty of people and the sky is sunny and nearly cloudless.

And another view...

Arcadia Beach - you, me, and the kids are walking away from the camera towards the rocky section that connects arcadia beach to hug point. There are clouds in the sky that are twinged a pinkish color from the setting sun. The tide is out and there is ample walking room on the sand.

An evening stroll on Arcadia Beach (Sarah's favorite beach.)

A view of Josh and Andy on the rock that you can sit on that overlooks the ocean and connects arcadia to hug point.

There is actually a pathway on these rocks that connects Arcadia Beach to Hug Point. This is only accessible at certain points of the tide.

A selfie of the six of us all standing in the bend where the two beaches connect.

Us on the road/path that connects the two beaches. Arcadia is on the left and around the bend (and out of the picture) is Hug Point.

A beautiful view of the ocean again from the backyard. The sun is descending in the sky and is behind an extremely long, narrow white cloud. The reflection of the sun is hitting the ocean causing it to sparkle. There is vegetation showing from the cliff contrasting with the sand, sky, and water.

Some of us could have stayed here indefinitely. Others (Josh/Elizabeth) were ready to go.

Bright pink flowers clumped together with a white center are nestled among the greenery on the cliff in the backyard. The flowers are a little bit bigger than a dime.

Pretty flowers in bloom on the rocky ledge that separated our backyard from the ocean floor.

A sign showing 185th street exit which is right near our portland townhome.

185th Street was our old exit. Our townhome was about 1.5 miles down the road.

Downtown Portland.

I am pretty sure this is the Willamette River, but it could be the Columbia River. Either way, this is still downtown Portland.

Mt Hood in the distance overlooking Portland.

The city of Portland with graffiti all over the barriers lining the side of the road.

Of all of the cities I have ever been to (and I would consider myself to have been to quite a few) Portland is my least favorite by a wide margin. The city is gritty (in a different, less appealing way that Cleveland and Pittsburgh are) and dirty and full of homeless encampments all around the area. I don't feel entirely safe anywhere in that city.

A view of Andy looking out the living room windows of the house. The sun is brillant orange getting ready to set. Andy is wearing his Irish hat and a sweatshirt looking out over the ocean.

Last night....

The campfire on the beach. I am standing across from everyone. You and Josh are sitting on a log with your heads turned backward towards dad who is taking the picture. Andy is on your right along with Elizabeth.

My loves.

Me, You, & Josh sitting on a log, Andy (standing), Dad and Elizabeth sitting on the log to the right of our log. On the beach enjoying the campfire.

My whole world.

You, then Elizabeth, then me taking a selfie at the airport.

At the airport heading home.

Elizabeth, Josh, and Andy sitting side by side on the plane taking us home.

All ready to take off on our overnight flight from Portland, OR to Charlotte, NC

Growing Greggs - A Love Story

Sunday, January 7, 2024

Sarah's Make-A-Wish Trip

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