A big thank you to Karen for writing this about our sisters trip.....
OUR SISTER’S OREGON VACATION TRIP 4/13-4/17 2026
We nine Phelps Sisters have planned a Sister’s Trip for all the past Spring times since 2009, and we haven’t missed a single year of taking a trip together. One year not many could go on the trip—but nevertheless—a few of us got together and had a nice time keeping the tradition. This year—I think—was our 18th Sister’s Trip.
I, Karen, am the oldest of the whole family of 5 sisters and 4 brothers—and our next oldest sister, Robin, passed away in November of 2023 after a long illness. She was able to go on a couple of our Sister’s Trips, though, and really enjoyed being with us all… We have traveled to the Oregon Coast for most of our Trips, but we’ve also had some of our trips around the Phoenix Arizona area and in a few places in California—Plus we went to St. George a couple times and to the cabin in Island Park a couple times.
I took notes while we were on this Lincoln City, Oregon trip last week, but I haven’t “doctored them up” very good, so this write-up is one of those that just kinda “tells the Facts—only” and won’t be too interesting to you, maybe---but at least here is a concise report of Most of the things we did while on this trip. (Please excuse how “choppy” it may sound at times…) ☹
(I started writing notes on Tuesday, April 14th)…
On Sunday, April 12th , Dennis and I went to our church meetings and after we got home, we had a quick lunch and got in the car and picked up Janis out in Groveland and Dennis drove to Salt Lake where we got together with Larry and Darla and had a nice supper. We sat and talked for a while and played a game, then went to bed and slept there.. I had a dreadful time trying to sleep, and woke up at about 3:20 AM and stayed awake until it was time to get up at 4:45 AM, then got up and got completely ready and Darla, Janis, and I took off with Larry and went to the airport and got all checked in and met up with our other three sisters from Grantsville – – DeeAnn, Kathy and Janell. We had a nice time at the airport without incident and took off and flew to Portland.
Darla and I sat together, but the other four sisters all had to sit in a center seat with men on both sides of them, for the most part. We were happy to get to our destination, though, and when we arrived, it was raining.
We got our rental car, but it took a long time with one little thing after another. We had gone through Enterprise to rent two vehicles, but it was more of a hassle than it ever has been! We got out to the Freeway and drove over to a place that Darla had lined up for us to go see a bunch of fields of daffodils no – – Tulips. It’s called The Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm. We stayed there at the tulip place for a long time, and Kathy bought a big fried Elephant Ear goodie for us to eat. It was fun sharing it, and we were getting Hungry!!
We then drove off in our two cars and arrived at an Olive Garden in the big town of Salem, where we ate a delicious dinner and sat and talked for a nice long time. Then we drove on for a long ways and got to Lincoln City and checked into our house and sat around talking for a while before going out to eat at Mo’s Seafood and Chowder Restaurant.
We had Texas toast and clam chowder and stuff and it was a very nice evening. When we got back to the house, – – whoops we went over to Walmart where we bought a bunch of food and brought it back to the house and sat and talked for a while before going to bed.
Tuesday we all slept pretty late – except Janis who got up at 7:30 – – the rest of us got up around 10 – –( which was actually 11 o’clock back at home because of the time difference.) We all sat and talked and did our own thing for a lot of the morning, then Kathy got in the hot tub and DeeAnn Darla and Janell followed and got in the hot tub too, and they sat there for a good hour while the rest of us – – Janis, Janell and I – – whoops Janell got in the hot tub – – anyway we sat and talked and visited, and Janell read some things out of her journal from past years of us being on the Oregon coast. That was really fun.
Darla and Janis went on a walk all around the area that morning, too. Then we got out goodies and ate and played a couple games of Skyjo and at about 5 o’clock, we took off and went over to Kylo’s for dinner. We had a delicious dinner – – I had fish and chips and so did Janis. Others had fun stuff and we stayed there for a nice long time and checked out the water in the ocean through the windows, and had a nice evening dining.
Then we drove over to Walgreens and Safeway’s. Then we came back to the house and I showered and washed my hair while everyone else watched TV. I got in on the end of the movie they were watching – – “Persuasion” and we had a nice time visiting--then had an evening prayer and went to bed.
Wednesday— Darla, DeeAnn, and Janis got up and took off to the Goodwill store so that they could get some gloves, then they went on a morning walk – – but they walked so far that Janis kind of got her legs to hurting and they bothered her the rest of the day and some the next day even. They had a good time while walking, though. They walked for 50 minutes and then realized there was a 10-minute shortcut they could’ve taken to get to the same place! DeeAnn even got her a cute coat and came home and washed it up and wore it from then on.
It turned out to be a nice sunny day in spite of the weather forecast saying it was going to continue to be rainy. It was beautifully sunny, but still quite cold. We had lots of food here, so we all picked up food and little things around here to the point that we didn’t really need to go for lunch anywhere.
As the day went along, we all piled into the white car and took off for Newport Beach. We didn’t stop many places along the way – – except we did stop in Depot Bay and watched the waves crash against the side walls, plus walked around and went into some of the stores. We read a bunch of signs on little trinkets and checked out things to get for souvenirs. (I wish I could remember some of those cute little Signs we read!!)
We went down to the waterfront after crossing the bridge first – – going over to the area where the aquarium is. We drove around down there for quite a while, then came back across the bridge and went down to the waterfront and parked quite a long ways from the walkway where the sea lions are, but we walked down to that area to see the sea lions and stayed there for a few minutes and watched them and took pictures. Darla stayed in the car and rested, but the rest of us walked along the street and went into the stores and checked out souvenir items and candy shop items .
After a while. I went back to the car and got in with Darla and took a little rest but the rest of them continued to walk down the streets and go into the shops. I did go into a candy shop and got me three pieces of candy for $10 – – two chocolate covered caramels and one pecan nut patty. They were extremely high priced! The rest of the girls had a great time, checking out different items in the stores.
We had made an appointment for 5 PM to go to Georgie‘s for dinner, and we got there right on time and they gave us a booth that was not very close to the water, but the food was good and we enjoyed our stay there. It wasn’t as fun and exciting as sometimes have been, though.
After we left George’s, we headed back home and it was still light out. I can’t remember at this point what we did for sure, but we stopped at the Dollar tree and also went into Walgreens where I was able to get some blush for me. We stayed up late and watched a movie on TV after getting home.
On Thursday morning, we got up a bit later than usual – – anyway I did – – and we each made our own breakfast and set and ate and talked. We enjoyed talking every chance we got. Janis didn’t feel like going walking today because her sciatic nerve hurt too bad.
While Darla and DeeAnn went out walking, Janis and Janell just stayed here at home, but Kathy and I went to the Dollar Tree and got a few things. I bought some little plaques to put around the house at the Fourth of July time, and Kathy bought some things for her grandkids, I think. I think we stopped somewhere else but I can’t remember where.
When we got back to the house, everyone was getting ready to head out, and we ate a little bit of stuff around the kitchen, then took off in two cars, and went to see some sites around here – – especially looking for whales out in the water at various places. We took tons of pictures of the waves and really enjoyed the scenery everywhere we went.
We ended up eating lunch at Tidal Raves in Depot Bay, and it was pretty good, but I think I was hungrier than everybody else. They all accommodated me very well, though by letting me go eat there.
We went and parked in Depot Bay, and everybody went shopping – – except me – – I think I just lounged around in the car. Then we drove to some other points of interest as we headed back home, and all my sisters went out watching for whales at a certain point across the big grassy area. They didn’t see any whales, but we had a nice time on our ride.
When we got back, Darla, Janis, and Kathy went for a fun walk along the beach down below our house, and Darla picked up an arm full of twigs with which she made a fire a bit later with all the driftwood that was around us. We watched a program on TV – – anyway some of us did – – and Darla and Kathy went out and started a fire in the fire pit behind the house out by the scenic Ocean. DeeAnn and I went out and joined them after a while, and it was really a beautiful evening. The fire was really pretty in the fire pit.
We came back in about 8:30 and four of us decided to takeoff and go to the only restaurant we could find open – – so we went back to Mo‘s and had a fun little dinner. I’m not sure what others ordered, but I got a bowl of clam chowder and some onion rings. Kathy got some fun food then ordered a Marionberry cobbler with ice cream which we all shared. I think Janell didn’t have any of it though. We sat and enjoyed our fun food, then came back home and sat and talked a bunch more.
Kathy went and sat out in the hot tub, but the rest of us showered and got ready for bed. Kathy had already packed her suitcase, then I took my shower and hair-wash and then packed my suitcase too. It’s after midnight and we are going to go tomorrow to the airport and leave this beautiful area we’ve been in right by the ocean. It sure has been a fun trip!
We woke up Friday morning – – a bit earlier than I intended. I had the alarm set for 8 o’clock and woke up at 7:45 and got up and started getting me ready for the day. DeeAnn had been packing things up that she was going to take home, so she put together two big sacks of stuff from out of the fridge and out of the cupboards. We had bought tons of items for us to use for the week, so she ended up getting to take home LOTS of fun stuff!
The day was gorgeous—beautifully bright, and sunshiny, and no rain at all! The temperature was warm enough to not wear jackets, even—but some of us DID have on jackets or sweaters. Some of us fixed little meals and ate that morning before leaving the house. I kinda hated to leave because that view was gorgeous out the back windows where we could see the Siletz Bay, and the whole ocean out our windows.
Speaking of windows – – Janis said she had an excellent view out her bedroom window and could just lay and look at the ocean waves roll in and could see those Seals all the time— swimming in the water and basking in the sun!
And speaking of bedrooms – – there was only one bedroom on the main floor, and it was quite small – – just off the front door as you come inside. Kathy Rae was kind enough to sleep with me in that room, so we didn’t get nervous or worried or anything through the night because we were both Together!! 😁(…I, Karen, really, Really, REALLY Appreciated her staying with me!!!)😊
We Pretty much took all the time packing and cleaning up and getting ready to leave because we had to be out of there by 10 AM. We took a picture out on the back deck, and it took us a little bit longer than expected, so we were all out of there for real by 10:10 AM.
As we left town, we ran to Walgreens and DeeAnn went inside and bought a neck pillow for Darla (for only $12,) and then we got gas – – which was $5.07 a gallon. (!!)
We took off in our two cars with DeeAnn and Karen riding with Darla in the white van , and Janis and Janell riding with Kathy in the smaller car. We drove along, looking out the windows at the gorgeous green scenery, all along the way – – with Fields and orchards and hillsides and extreme beauty all the way to Portland, where we made it to the temple in just the right timing and got changed and into our whites and made the temple session just in the nick of time!
The temple session was really good, and we very much appreciated getting to be there and enjoyed the good feelings we were able to have. As we left the main room and came into the celestial room, we were able to go up some stairs and look down on the celestial room, and it was very gorgeous and moving. As we exited, we were able to go out into the atrium and enjoy the greenery that was there and the scenery all around us. It was really beautiful, and one of the workers came and talked with us and made us feel special, and fortunate to be there.
We were all pretty hungry, so we remembered there was a cute little restaurant right near the temple— a little place called Oswego Grill, (… or maybe Asiago Grill ??) so we stopped there and had a delicious lunch. We kind of had to hurry in order to get to the airport in good timing, but we really enjoyed that nice lunch we had. DeeAnn and I ordered a fried chicken dinner and my goodness! The pieces of chicken were huge and absolutely delicious, but we couldn’t begin to eat all of it! Everyone seemed to really enjoy their lunch and it’s too bad we couldn’t have stayed and relaxed a little longer, but we needed to get over to the airport.
Some of the group was taking a long time getting their things out of the car, so Janis and I took off a bit early from the car-return-place and started walking with me pulling my suitcase—and I had a little blessing with a fellow who gave me one of those luggage carts to push. He said, “Here— would you like to use this?” And I was delighted to get to do so, because I put my suitcase on that and pushed it along for a nice long time beside Janis and got to our ticket counter really well. After getting our tickets set up, a guy brought me a wheelchair and pushed me out to the gate where we were getting on the plane. Everything worked out really well, but we did it all in THE NICK OF TIME!!! When we got sat down on the plane, Kathy gave out a big sigh of relief to think we actually MADE IT!!
Our flight seemed to go without incident, and each of us got to sit by another Sister as we flew home. That was sure nice! Darla and I watched a movie on our little TVs in front of us – – and we watched the very same movie – – just a minute or so apart (… Darla didn’t get to see the very very ending, but she saw enough to know how it ended….)
A nice little guy took me, Karen, in the wheelchair and stayed with us all the way out to the car and even helped lift our suitcases into the back of the car. Dennis and Larry came to get us – – Darla Janis and me, and took us back to Larry and Darla’s where we stayed the night. Rick picked up Janell, DeeAnn, and Kathy and took them out to Grantsville to their homes. (DeeAnn was going to end up watching Derek and Nikki’s four kids for a few days while Derek and Nikki celebrated their anniversary.)
We headed to bed pretty quickly after getting to our various destinations and felt very thankful and appreciative of the fact we were able to take this fun Sister‘s trip. I think it was our 18th trip – – considering we started taking these sisters trips in 2009. It was just the five of us 5 sisters that first time, Karen, Robin, Darla, DeeAnn and Kathy…and Robbie just came one more time, I think—but more and more kept coming on future trips. And we’ve had LOTS OF FUN on All these succeeding trips!!!
This Sister‘s trip was really enjoyable, and we’re all really, REALLY glad we went on it and it turned out so nice!!!😊😍
