The Oregon Coast

The last time I had traveled to the Oregon Coast was before we moved to Missouri the summer before I started my 5th grade year in Elementary School. We went with Karen Wells and her boys, Tyler and Nathan. My mom, April, Bubby, and Leah and I went with them in a camper on the back of a truck and a couple of cars to follow. We camped and saw lighthouses, jellyfish and starfish, caves, StoneHedge Tribute, and of course the amazing and vast ocean. I also got my first taste to the forest... a real forest that I played and camped in. It was fun and definitely memorable. I wish I had more photos to remind me of the sites and adventures, but I find myself at a loss.

So this last month I had an invitation from Tiffany to go with her and her daughter to the Oregon Coast for a weekend. I was immediately ready to say yes! To take a trip anywhere with Tiffany would be fun and memorable, but to return to a place that I hadn't seen or experienced in over a decade was priceless. So we made plans, reservations, arrangements, packed, and Friday finally came!

I have to give you a little background when it comes to Tiffany and I. We met while I first started working here at Mueller's Funeral Homes and we have slowly become more like sisters than anything else... best friends at heart some would call it. We have so much fun together. We are constantly meeting up to have play dates for the kids at the water park just less than a mile from Tiff's place (which is where I used to live before I moved in with Leah and Thomas) and Nicole and Landon have a BLAST when they are together while Tiffany and I enjoy one another's company, conversation and many laughs. She is an amazing Daughter of God and gives me the "Scripture of the Day" at work every morning. :) So as you can plainly see she is a lifesaver, belly-holding, blast of a friend. And we've known each other for a little over a year now.

We headed out and I took the wrong turn onto highway 82 right at the start of our trip. I quickly made an illegal U-turn known (at a cop's sitting spot) and we were back on the road... and in the right direction, might I add. :) That was about the most lost we were on that trip... and it wasn't really lost... just turned around. hahaha But that started our trip off!

We passed barges, cliffs, windmills, and trains along with many a semi and other vehicles. We made a few pit stops to go potty and that's to be expected traveling with a 5 year old and a almost 3 year old. :)

We finally made it to Kate and Mike's at around 10 at night. James was there and was able to enjoy seeing Landon for a bit before he had to go to his motel to report to drill in the morning. Kate and I stayed up getting her ready for the Young Woman's trip she was going on the following morning at the crack of dawn. Mike went to bed and you could tell he was beat. I stayed up helping Kate till about 12 or 12:30 and Kate was still up when I passed out on the couch with Landon falling asleep with me at the late hour. Kate was up at like 5:30 too! So I am not sure if she pulled an all-nighter or not... but she was a trooper and looked gorgeous as always in the morning ready for the long day activities planned for the young woman at Lincoln City, Oregon. Which happened to be the same place Tiff and I went to. After everything was packed into coolers in the morning and put into her vehicle she was off. Korben was playing the computer and Landon woke up soon afterwards and refused to go to sleep. So I started the day with a very sleep deprived son who was going to be overloading his senses later that day at the ocean beach.

We all got up and got ready. Mike made us some slamming sweet waffles that were homemade and homemade syrup too! I haven't been so spoiled in so long. It tasted great! Then we headed out after making a last potty stop in their bathroom before we hit the road. The traffic in Portland/Vancouver area was crazy and the highway down to Lincoln City felt like Seattle traffic! It was busy and crowded and clogged at points on the way down there. Tiff found later that we totally went out of our way with the directions we had and could have driven by the ocean the entire way down instead of fighting traffic on the freeway. But we got there in one piece and after checking into the hotel, getting the kids changed into cold weather clothes (the wind was really bad and it was foggy = humid and cold), we finally headed to the beach.

I was walking from parking the car after dropping the kids and Tiffany off and got a couple of balloon hats for the kids on my way to meet up with them. They loved them, but it was too windy to keep them on. So we anchored them to the basket of beach toys we had and were off.

The kids loved playing in the sand and learned that if they got to the sand right after the water went out that their castles and things stood better... so it was a race with the tides as they built and played. They watched the sea lions across the way and enjoyed running, sitting, building, and flicking sand. I vacuumed my car out and swear I pulled at least a full bucket of sand out of the carpet and seats with the shop vac! :) But it was worth it!

We wanted to get a picture first off (after getting the kids settled with their buckets and toys) of our feet in the Oregon Coast sandy beach... so we started to take them... but I wanted to have some of the ocean water in the picture too! So we went a little closer and got a good shot of the waves just going out.

Then before we knew it, a HUGE wave came our way while we were looking at our feet and about knocked us down by how hard it hit us! Then the rest of the night our pants were wet and sandy... I'll just say by the end of the day on the beach I was happy to change into some other clothes and my legs were about rubbed raw by the combo or sand and wet jeans. :)

Did I mention the water was cold??? This picture is priceless!

It's of Tiff touching the water with her feet for the first time. :)

We stayed in Lincoln City overnight and then the next morning, bright and early, we headed up the coast to Cape Town which had a ginormous rock a mile or so from the beach which was so captivating and mesmerizing at the same time. I don't know why being in the presence of this rock and ocean combination that was so pleasurable, but it was. I could have sat there on the beach doing absolutely nothing but watching the waves and surfers and of course the rock. The Ocean kind of has a tendency to put me into a trance-like state at times. Maybe this happens to more than just me, but I can just tell you from experience that it happens every time I go to the Ocean. Maybe it's the sand under my feet, the cool misty breeze that smells like salt water, and the constant crash and fall of the waves around you that seems to occupy all your senses at moments and just takes them over... who knows. But I am now addicted to the ocean's beach. I am addicted to the relaxing environment of people and kids playing in the sand with kites, buckets, balls, frisbees, and whatnot, the sound of seagulls sqwaking back and forth, the view of driftwood up and down the shore, the unmatched feeling of sand under your feet (and sometimes in your eyes when the wind blows just right), and the sea lions that you can see across the way. I am addicted to it all. I have found my favorite vacation spot now. I will be visiting it often. :)



Now back from my personal thoughts to our weekend. We went to Cape Town which is where they were holding a Surfing Competition. There were surfers all over the beach which was lined with vehicles that held occupants, boards, dogs, changes of clothes, and supplies for the participants of the competition. It was so cool to see the surfers out on and in the water.

I never knew that surfers could paddle around while atop their board like you see in those guys do in the Venice boats with the striped shirts and red ribboned hat. But they did! And it was so cool to watch. There were kids trying to surf really close to the shore with their parents out with them in the water of course...

and the most unusual sight was a HUGE mountain of sand that had a bunch of ants on it... that's what I thought at first, but then at a closer look it was a lot of people climbing up to be able to surf down! Surfing on sand! Who would have thought!?!?! But someone did and it looked like loads of fun. hahaha



After Cape Town, we traveled up the coast to Cape Mearse where the lighthouse was located. The kids were asleep and so I dropped Tiffany off with a camera in hand to see if you could see the lighthouse through the fog that was there on the coast the entire weekend we were there. Yes I was very upset at the fog! I wanted to see the miles and miles of water in front of me, but that was impossible the weekend we were there. So another time maybe. Anyways... she was gone a long time and I was in the car with the 2 napping kids reading the Oregon Coast map because I didn't have a book handy... when she came up, all out of breath, and said that you could see the lighthouse just fine! At that point the kids were already awake and so we all traveled down to the lighthouse. When we turned the corner to go to the lighthouse, I was expecting to see those tall lighthouses which are always in paintings... I was so wrong. This lighthouse was only 3 stories high (only looked like 2 though) and I was kinda of disappointed. But soon got over my expectations and decided to take in what I could while I could. I was able to see a lighthouse after all and that is special in itself. We went inside and waited for our turn to go up to the top of the lighthouse. Why wait? Because only 10-12 people could go up at a time because it was so small a space. I found that the lighthouse was built in the 1880-1900s and ran about 60 or 80 years (can you tell I was trying to keep a little boy from touching the panes in front of us as the gentleman was trying to fill us with the history of the lighthouse?) and when it was shut down the people just locked the doors to it and left for about 2 years. That's when the Parks and Forest Services found it and fixed it up. There were panes that were taken and never returned during those 2 years and since then they've been showing it to the public. It was fun to hear about the history of the lighthouse in which we stood at the top of.

We walked on back up the long walkway to another look out point and Nicole and Landon had a fun time running around and getting their energy out. They picked flowers, raced to see who was the fastest, and climbed trees. Of course we got pictures of it all and my favorites are the ones of Landon giving me a flower and looking for more to pick for me. :)

Then we began from that point the long drive home. We passed through Tillamook, but didn't stop because we were both so tired... we didn't get home till 9:45 or 10pm as it was. So I'm glad we didn't stop.

I almost forgot that we stopped at the Multnomah Falls. We didn't climb up to the bridge or even to the top, but we took some pictures and had a fun run around time with the kids to stretch our legs. It was so hot. The entire weekend was hot once you you left the coastal winds. The tempurature was 110 as a high one day in Pasco! So I'm glad we traded that for the coastal wind on one of the hottest days of the summer.The kids did really well on the trip other than some of the tantrums that Landon chose to have in the restaurant and lighthouse.

This week after the trip, whenever we get into the car Landon asks me, "We go to Nicole's house Mama!?" To which I inform him we aren't but mention we are going so he can play with Mathias or Maria. That isn't the end of it though... he always finishes his musings with "Me Love Nicole." I guess they are going to continue to be best friends, just like Tiffany and I are. :)