Cannon Beach

It's been five years since our last trek to Oregon and it was calling to us again. We flew into Portland and drove to Cannon Beach to relax and de-stress for a few days. Last time we stayed at the Hallmark which was south of town and was a hike to walk back and forth from town so this time I found lodging on the beach in town. First two days were just walking the beach, shopping, eating and sleeping (the best kind of vacation in my opinion). 

Flying into Portland and saw Mount Hood out of the window.

We drove up to Ecola State Park which is only a mile or two north of Cannon Beach. It's got two beaches, Indian and Crescent. Both beautiful beaches. Indian Beach had more people and some surfers which was fun to watch. Not sure how they handled that freezing water! Crescent Beach can be accessed after a mile and a half of hiking (it is marked as Moderate but it was tough in places). I only packed Birkenstocks so not the perfect hiking shoes but I did it and only fell once. In my defense, the trail was washed out and Sean had to go find the trail which led to some off road experiences. Crescent Beach is my favorite though, nobody is there!

 

"Dude! Don't climb that! If you fall we are hours from a hospital!"

 

Max found some sea glass here along with tiny little sand dollars.

 

The town of Cannon Beach has some quaint little houses and buildings, all landscaped beautifully. The manager at the hotel said that the elk come into town each October and stay awhile while the hunters are in the mountains. The elk wander around town and on the beach and eat all the flowers and landscaping. He said he's always on the hunt for elk proof plants.....haven't found any yet. 

I love this combo.

Evening ice cream cones and stops at the candy shop are a favorite.

Low tide at Haystack Rock brings the educational outreach people to teach.

With all of the hearts and initials drawn everywhere, I liked this one I found.

The kid at the balcony next to us in our hotel fed a seagull a donut one day and then checked out leaving this seagull to come daily looking for more donuts. He wandered over to our balcony and just watched us from the open glass door. I know it's frowned upon to feed the seagulls but he looked so sad so we fed him popcorn and Cheetos. He became our friend and the kids named him Jamal. 

After Cannon Beach we headed down the 101 to see the coast. I'll add that as another post. Goodbye Cannon Beach, until we meet again!

May Gardening

I sure love Spring. I love all of the rain we've been getting too! It might just bring us out of drought conditions if it continues. I've been busy planting more plants and adding more perennials to the gardens. I feel gardening is my zen time. Here is a look at the mid May gardens.

Billy Idol

One evening, several months ago, my youngest ran into the room declaring "Billy Idol is having a concert, can we go?!" Sure, lets go see Billy Idol, he is 67 years old after all, how many more concerts will he do before he retires. So I bought two rather expensive tickets and Max and I made the drive to see him. That kid was so excited. I've never actually seen the kid that excited. We would count down the days until I pulled him out of school (which was also an added perk). Now I must say this whole thing is widely out of my comfort zone. Driving by myself (without a navigator), driving in rush hour traffic, finding our hotel and getting to the venue are all things I like to do with my hubby but I put on my big girl pants and we did it. It was truly epic. It was a small venue with 1700 people and we had a blast. Max can always say his first concert was Billy Idol.

Easter Weekend

 The chicks will be three weeks old tomorrow and are getting big. They will stay in the house until they are at least four weeks old and it will depend a lot on the weather if they stay longer. I just remember the dust becoming a problem after four weeks. The kids seem to enjoy them, always talking to them. I even found Sean talking to them the other evening. They were all lined up at the window intently listening. He's the chick whisperer. 

 We had new Hardie Board siding put on the house last spring and we decided to paint it ourselves (after nearly falling over from the $10K house painting quote). Well the spring rains arrived, then the crazy heat rolled in and then we were off to Tuscon for Sean's kidney donation and now here we are a year later and still an unpainted house. So our goal this spring before the rain and heat is to get the house painted.....one giant side at a time. We got the front painted last weekend and we put up the scaffolding on the west side yesterday so it's ready next weekend. Whew, we are already tired.

 We got the fire pit going over this beautiful Easter weekend. We found this nifty pre-drilled log for sale and thought we'd give it a try as our fire building skills seem to last for about 15 minutes before the fire goes out. The log has one large hole drilled down the length and then three smaller holes drilled in one side. The fire comes out the three smaller holes. It worked great and we think we'll get a few more burns out of it, not bad for $8.

 I've been trying to find ways to relax and de stress and I find painting helps. No not house painting or painting sculptures but rather painting on a canvas. I found a giant painting for sale on marketplace last fall for not much money and I knew the canvas alone would be worth it so I bought it and planned to paint over it. It's like three foot square so I needed a huge easel. Sean was nice enough to build me a seven foot tall easel that works great! This is my work in progress of the Oregon coast.