A trip to the beach

Most of you know, but in case you don't...Frank and I spent 12 years living at the Oregon coast prior to living in Arlington these past four years. There was a lot to love about living there and even a few things that were not that great (Oregon politics, the remoteness). My mom still lives there so we took a long weekend after school got out to go visit her and enjoy some time on the beach we so loved.


This is the approach to our favorite stretch of beach in Seal Rock, Oregon. We have spent many hours here gathering mussels, razor clamming and just plain soaking up the wonders of the ocean on long walks. There is also a good agate bed about 1/2 a mile down that I spent many hours looking for little treasures.


While these beaches have plenty of sand, there are also big rock formations just off shore. These rocks are so beautiful, especially when the big waves crash over them. Unfortunately, that is hard to catch with a digital camera, but even with this little bit of water flowing over, you can get an idea of how beautiful that is.


Vacationing children (young and old alike!) at the beach often build forts and other kinds of structures out of the log debris that has washed up past the high tide line. I thought this shelter was particularly well thought out with its thatched roof. Bon fires can also be seen in the evening scattered along the beach. What a good memory to have...sitting around the fire, listening to the crashing waves, the clear, starry sky, and good times with friends and family.


Here is another picture of the rocks just off shore. Vistas like this can be seen all up and down along the Oregon and northern California coast.


Here Frank and Sandy take one last walk on the beach the very morning we head back home to our little farm. Frank walked the dogs on the beach almost every day we lived here. I am sure that is mostly responsible for Sandy being a very healthy 13 and a half. Carly was not quite as athletic as Sandy, and, knowing where it was the right spot, sometimes she would plunk her chubby butt down and wait for Sandy and Frank to walk ahead for a while then turn back toward her. We're not sure when we're going to be back at the beach again, so we are glad we got this picture to remember all the good times on the beach they had together.

Now that we are back home, there are lots of things going on. Hay is IN for the winter, with 300 bales of good local hay jammed in every space possible. It is so good to have that taken care of and know that I have enough hay to keep them happy all winter regardless of how rough (and last winter was ROUGH) it is. I still need two tons of Teff hay for Maddie, as well as two tons of pelleted bedding. I'll have that delivered in late July, although I have no idea where I'm going to put it!

Frank and I went to a U-pick strawberry place yesterday and had a lot of fun, but of course forgot to bring the camera! We had such a good time finding those little red jewels hidden in the greenery. We kind of went nuts and picked more than we needed for fresh eating, so we've already given some away and will freeze what's not eaten in the next day or so.

We're off today to Vancouver, Brittish Columbia for a bike ride around Stanley Park, and to eat some sushi at a new place we discovered. We love being so close to this cosmopolitan city and visit it quite often. The camera is kind of big to bring on the ride, so no pictures today. Talk to you again soon!