People are so funny. As we counted down to our “Sail Away” day, Hubby and I kicked things into high gear. Watched what we ate, excersized more and went clothes shopping. A Cruise Vacation meant putting our best foot forward for a bunch of strangers we’d never see again.
Continue reading “Now That’s Funny!”Category: Our Travels and Adventures
Let’s Photograph Nature!
Did you know that at the beginning of June, it was Black Bear Day? Yep, June 3rd was National Black Bear Day. And today is National Photograph Nature Day. So I thought why not tie the two together?
Continue reading “Let’s Photograph Nature!”Discovering the Magic of a Staycation
This year instead of a traditional vacation (leaving home for an extended period of time), we decided to enjoy a Staycation. A Staycation let us explore things nearby while sleeping in our own beds most nights. We had no real plans. And that added to the adventure.
Continue reading “Discovering the Magic of a Staycation”What to do with Ocean Trash
Along the Oregon coast is the little town of Bandon. It’s a sleepy little coastal town with a lighthouse, a famous rock, nearby tide pools and sand dunes. Summer tourism is its life blood. And tourists leave behind mounds and mounds of trash.
Continue reading “What to do with Ocean Trash”Off the Beaten Trail
If you were to search for popular places to explore along the Oregon Coast, on nearly every list are places like Haystack Rock (Cannon Beach) or Yaquina Head (Newport). These are considered some of the best tide pool areas in the state. Yaquina Head’s full name is Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, and with good reason.
Continue reading “Off the Beaten Trail”A Walk on the Beach
Have you ever looked at your vacation photos and impressed yourself? Every now and then, things just seem to fall into place for that “wow” shot. I’m not going to bother you with a lot of facts, backgrounds and such. The photos need to speak for themselves. All of the pictures were taken in a single day as Hubby, Kiddo and I took a stroll together on the beach at our hotel. Nothing is staged, what you see is how the beach appeared that day. You can call it God, Nature or whatever you like as the hand that placed things “just so”. All I know is that everywhere there was simplistic beauty. Hopefully, I’ve saved the best for last.
A Farewell to Oregon
As all things must come to an end, so it was with our Pacific Northwest Vacation Holiday. The weekend in Florence was all that remained. Oh but what a great weekend! There was just enough time to do a little shopping in the historic section of town, to enjoy leisurely suppers surrounded by family, to raise a glass of good cheer and experience the warmth of loving hugs.
On the Road Again
Our wonderful holiday vacation is coming to an end. We’ll spend a few days in Florence with my beautiful sister and her husband. Maybe a day of shopping, and then it will be time to head home once more. We do have the breathtaking drive south along Highway 101 between Depoe Bay and Florence. I’m sure by now you are tired of hearing me lecture and ramble on. It’s said that a picture is worth a thousand words, so I have a few thousand to share. See you in Florence!
There She Blows!
In 2016, we took Kiddo on his first Oregon Vacation. Our time was split between Southern Oregon and Northern California. It was so beautiful that we returned again the following year, this time concentrating on the Central and Southern Oregon Coast. We took a year off from Oregon to return to our favorite Wild West State, Wyoming. It was time to return to Oregon’s coast. The haunting sounds of fog horns, the lonely cry of a seagull and the music of gray whales singing together call to our souls.
Next Stop, Depoe Bay!
Depoe Bay is one of those places that we stumbled upon without realizing what it had to offer. Two years ago, we were in Florence, some 60-odd miles south of Depoe Bay. We were relaxing on the veranda of our hotel room when suddenly a whale’s spout came into view. Needless to say, we were on our feet with excitement. As it turns out, our Gray friend was heading north, to Depoe Bay. A pod of Grays call Depoe Bay home 10 months out of the year. Your chances of a whale encounter, however brief, is fairly good. Oh, but I’m getting ahead of myself once more . . . we still have the beautiful drive.
One Afternoon in Tillamook
Long before visiting the Oregon town of Tillamook, Hubby and I were familiar with the town’s prize-winning claim to fame, and that was their cheese. Sure, quality matters and when it comes to quality cheeses, Tillamook ranks high in my book. But it’s more than just their cheese that has won my loyalty, it’s their grounded approach to business. Come see what I mean.
Rolling Down the Highway
Rise and shine with the morning sun, or at least the promise of sun. The upside to a road trip is that you get to see so much more of a country than you might otherwise have seen from a train or a plane. The down side is that every few days, it’s time to pack it up, load it up and hit the road once more.
Rain, Rain Go Away!
When we made the decision to return to the Pacific Northwest for our Holiday Vacation, it was as a means to escape the heat of home. Mid July has historically seen temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. While Hubby insists we prefer a warm climate to call home, it seems to me we always pick a cool place to vacation. Kiddo and I adore fog, and mist and cold. But then again, we are tea drinkers. Misty mornings and a good cup of tea do wonders to quiet the human soul.
The Forgotten History of Fort Stevens
As many of you know, I grew up in California. Growing up in California when I did, the paranoia of the Japanese wasn’t such a distant past that it had been forgotten. The attack on Pearl Harbor was before my time, but not by much. Fourteen years in the conciseness of people isn’t very long. It’s been 18 years since the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center, and we still remember – some bitterly, some fearfully, most with sorrow. Growing up as I did where I did, there were remnants of the country’s fears dotted the coastal landscape. I had assumed these abandoned reminders were exclusive to the California Coast. Devils Slide and Muir Beach are the bunkers I am most familiar with, not far from San Francisco.
The Wreck of the Peter Iredale
Astoria offers two very different points of interest to the “modern” history buff. One is Fort Stevens, build during the American Civil War and attacked during World War II. The other, far more famous from a photographic perspective, is the Wreck of the Peter Iredale.
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