Whale Week

I was looking up the different state parks in Oregon since we now have a pass and discovered that there is a wonderful thing called Whale Week which takes place twice a year in honor of the migration of the Grey Whales to and from Alaska all along the Oregon Coast.  We had so much fun watching a mom and baby whale swim around and trying to see all the whales that the 'expert' volunteers were seeing.  When we got to Ecola the count was at 14 and when we left it was 37.  Not bad for two hours.  After the whales we drove down to Nehalem Bay State Park.  It is kind of fun how much the Oregon Coast changes so quickly.  Ecola/Cannon is very fine sand and flat, Nehalem has a lot of sand dunes that are crested with grass before going to the beach and ocean.  It was a really fun day on the coast, I feel spoiled getting to go twice in a month.  

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Ecola Beach Day

 
 
 
JD passed his test yesterday which means we get to have a play weekend.  The past few have been wet, and spent getting caught up with chores and studying for quizzes, so it was very exciting when we had a 60 degree sunny forecast.  We ended up going to Ecola, Cannon, and Tolovana beaches.  We also got to buy and use our Oregon State Park Annual Pass.  We received half the cost of the pass as a Christmas present from JD's cousin Jovi/Aunt and Uncle, but we have been holding off on getting it until we could start going a little more often.  Most parks in Oregon are completely free, but there are some close fun ones that do have a $5.00 day use fee.  JD fell asleep by haystack rock, we ate chowder at Mo's, and had fun walking around and relaxing a bit.  We are looking forward to many more sun-shiny days.

Cannon Beach

While I love the snow. I can't help but think the ocean wins.

Birthday on the Beach

Another block done means another weekend adventure for us!  This was a fantastic birthday weekend.  Today we went to Munson Creek Falls State Park followed by Cape Overlook State Park.  Cape Overlook was fun.  There were beached jelly fish so we had fun scooping them up with sand dollars and putting them back into the ocean.  It was so nice to enjoy a sun shiny day and be together after another long couple of weeks.  Before heading home we stopped by the Tillamook cheese factory.  Hopefully we have a few more weekends of sunshine before the rain comes.

Astoria

For this weekend's adventure we drove up to the Evergreen State and hit Astoria & Seaside in Oregon.  The coast has been socked in with a nasty marine layer all week so I was shocked when we got to Seaside to blue skies and pretty warm temperatures.  We first went to the Astoria Column.  It was dedicated in 1926 and is basically a really tall column that you can climb 196 stairs to the top and have a neat view of Astoria, Columbia River, Oregon, Washington, Astoria-Megler Bridge, and the ocean.  The side of the column has different frames of Astorian history and is pretty cool.  You can buy little wooden planes in the gift shop and people will through them from the top of the column and watch them circle down (with kids anxiously waiting to catch them), they had a burial canoe, and that is about it.  It is kind of a random landmark, but it is worth going to, especially on a sunny day.  We then drove up to Washington and explored Cape Disappointment which has two lighthouses and a Lewis and Clark exhibit.  On our way home we stopped in Seaside to eat our fancy peanut butter sandwiches.  Before leaving we stopped in the candy shop, The Seaside Candyman, mainly because it was playing the Candyman song from Willy Wonka and how can you resist that?  It was FULL of salt water taffy.  When we have more time I definitely want to see what some of the 170 taffy flavors are someday.  It was a really fun day, I just wish we could spend time together like that more than once every 2 weeks.  The next activities should be interesting, we are going into territory where I have never been: Mt Hood & Sauvie Island.

Seaside in September

I love September 1st, it means the coming of Fall.  It is the day that I can officially pull out fall decorations and get excited about changing leaves, apples, peaches and all that wonderfulness that comes with autumn.  We went to Seaside and spent some time feeding harbor seals, looking at creatures in the aquarium, watching kites, and relaxing on the beach.  JD wasn't sure why everyone thinks seals are so cute, he refers to them as "Fat Floppers".  Personally I think they are adorable.  I love being so close to the ocean, and having fun places to spend time with JD before he gets back to studying each Saturday. 

Oregon Coast

We settled on a place to live this morning!  We are happy and excited about our decision and hope that things will work out well.  After finishing our application and getting that whole process started, we headed for the coast.  We had a late lunch at the Tillamook Cheese Factory and then drove up Highway 101 to Cannon Beach.  I don't think of all 7 times I have been to Oregon I have ever been to this beach when it was sunny.  It was nice to be at the ocean, we saw a lot of hikes and beaches that we will want to explore again sometime too.  We head home tomorrow and have a couple of weeks to get ready for the move to our new home.