By the Sea

Last Friday was my dear Mom's 6o-something birthday, and when asked how she wanted to celebrate, she said, "I need to go to the beach, and walk on the sand."

Unfortunately, the forecast for the Oregon coast wasn't very promising (low 60s, with intermittent rain showers)~~not very nice strolling on the beach weather. However, we were determined to go west, so like the hardy Oregonians we are, we loaded up the back of the car with rain gear, sand toys, and lots and lots of towels.

What my mom didn't know was that earlier that morning, I had sent up a little prayer to our Father, asking that He smile on our little trip, and bless us by at least holding off the rain. I also reminded Him :-) that He controls all the weather patterns, and can choose to change them if He pleases. Besides, He tells us to pray specifically, and that He wants to bless us with the desires of our heart, right??

Driving out to the coast, it appeared the clouds were breaking up a little bit, and no need for windshield wipers, but we weren't there yet.

If you've ever driven Hwy 26/Sunset Highway west towards the coast, and then south towards Cannon Beach after the Junction, you'll know the spot I'm talking about. We'd just rounded the bend, by the highway marker for some historical event (something to do with Ecola), and there we saw it before us: the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and what was that???? The SUN was sparkling off the waves, and I about ran off the road!

We continued on to our destination of Manzanita, one of our favorites spots on the coast, and the weather just kept getting better and better. Being that it was Friday, we had no trouble finding a parking spot along the beach access road, and started to unload all our stuff.

We had a great morning, with no rain, although it was a little windy (see the pictures below), and Kyra had a blast playing in the sand. All was well, until she was playing with Grandma near the surf's edge, and a bigger wave than they expected, came in. As you can see in the pictures, getting that wet was not on the agenda--a little foot-soaking, yes. Soaked up to the waist, no.

catch me if you can!

special time: Grandma with one of her girls

cruisin' cousins

Mommy, look!

the water was surprisingly warm in this little eddy

the wave incident
(you've got to click on this to enlarge it
--classic unhappy face)

cousins hanging out in the warm sand

Then it was time for lunch, so we packed up all our gear, put dry clothes on the girl, and went into town in search of something to eat. The consensus was seafood, since we were at the beach--duh!, so naturally we gravitated to a restaurant that claimed to have great chowder, the Manzanita Seafood and Chowder House, which was right on the main drag.

We sat outside, as by that time, the sun had come out, and it was absolutely beautiful. The wind had also died down, so I was glad I had layered that morning as it was definitely T-shirt weather. In fact, I was regretting not throwing in a pair of shorts, but who knew?

Lunch was really good, and hit the spot. Unfortunately, I ate way too much chowder & the yummy sourdough bread bowl it came in, so a walk was in order. We decided to take a walk down the street, as Mom wanted to inquire about vacation rentals for next year, and there was also a vote for more beach time as it was now sunny & warm (thermometer in the car said outside temp was 72 degrees!).

We put Kyra in the stroller, for a little downtime, checked out a few rental agencies, and Dad & my niece headed on down to the beach. Mom & I walked back up to the car to get now-sunny beach gear, and then she walked back down to the ocean, pushing a now-sound asleep Kyra, in the stroller. Meanwhile I moved the car down closer to the ocean (we had moved it from our original spot when searching for lunch), so we wouldn't have to hike the hill again, when we were ready to leave.

We hung out on the warm sand for another couple hours (Kyra took a short nap in her stroller), and then we headed to Cannon Beach for a light dinner at Ecola Seafood Market & Restaurant and Bruce's Candy Kitchen for that all-important Taffy!

All in all, it was a great day, and the beautiful sunshine that we were blessed with, was just icing on the cake (pun intended!)

Blessings friends~
K~