la vie en rose

After the cemetery we kept driving down the coast towards Oregon. I had wanted to camp at Fort Stevens on the northwestern most corner of Oregon, but everything was all booked up, due to a Civil War Festival. Having already taken J to one of those before, it wasn't happening to go again this soon (it was 3 years ago). The man can only put up with so much (and if the roles were reversed, I would do the same. I can be pretty crazy when it comes to history stuff. He said he would go to one every 5 years). But I had to stop at the park anyway, because of this:

And this:

What are those? Ah, those are bunkers, the 1st one dating from WWI and the 2nd from WWII. Fort Stevens has several of them, some going back to the Civil War era (hence the festival being held around those ones). The most awesome-est part? You can walk around them!

I think that says, "Guard Striping Room."

Check out my guns.

This is where the massive guns were, sights set on the Pacific.

Fort Stevens also has a shipwreck! My only question is, "Why have I not gone to this place before?" Every summer we drove right past it on the way to my grandparents' house in Seaside. No one in my family has ever been here, not even my Aunt Selma (the only one who still lives in the area and is still cognizant - my great-aunt Barb lives in a nursing home and wouldn't recognize me if I paid her). I don't want to make my parents feel bad by not taking me there sooner and not even knowing about it, but this is the national park of my dreams!


Next stop was a hike in Ecola National Park, just outside Cannon Beach. Again, never been to Cannon Beach (we didn't come to the Oregon coast to sightsee when I was a kid - it was all about the grandparents. And now that Seaside is so different and it's just heartbreaking for me to be there, I can do all the sightseeing I never did!) This place is absolutely gorgeous. But I don't need to say that - just see for yourself.

Treehugger.

We're imitating the gnarled roots of the upturned tree. It was J's idea.

This was the view that greeted us at the turning point of the hike:

That little rock out there in the ocean that I'm looking at actually has a lighthouse on it. We read that it has been flooded up to the light many times because of the massive waves.

Little known fact: I am pretty afraid of falling to my death. I don't think this is technically a fear of heights, since I also afraid of jumping from rock to rock at lower heights or running down steep hills. I have never sprained an ankle or broken a bone and I'm proud of that. This is looking over the edge of the place that we were sitting. J was very pleased that I wasn't totally freaking out. Maybe I was a little light-headed from the uphill hike still.

When we turned away from the viewpoint and started headed down the trail to go back, lo and behold, there was another bunker!

Last year at school J took an environmental science class and really loved it. So now he loves hanging out with trees.

Here is Cannon Beach itself. What a beautiful place!

Yep, those are surfers out there! Looked like some pretty nice waves, albeit frigid.

Some of what we found on the beach:

We went into the town of Cannon Beach to get something to eat and it was then that I realized why we didn't ever go there. It was basically California (no offense meant to those who like California, but I'll go to Cali when that's what I want. When I go to Oregon I don't want ritz). One look at menu offering a $28 salad and we were out. We stopped instead at Manzanita Beach and had some of the best clam chowder we'd ever had, while watching the sunset. Doesn't get much better than that.

We stayed that night in Garibaldi, at the same hotel we always stay in if we're not camping at the jetty (clean, basic, super cheap, on the marina). The greatest thing about Garibaldi is that it never changes. The only thing that is different from when I was a child is that the play boat that was on the marina is gone. You go to Seaside and the Agate Shop is gone and the boardwalk is all touristy now and it is so flipping crowded and it's sad. It's more than sad. I think of my grandparents and what Seaside looked like when they were around and it's just an emotional thing for me. I'd rather drive right through and keep my memories of Seaside intact. But Garibaldi, on the other hand, well, as long as my Aunt Selma is around, then we'll always keep coming back.


There she is, one of my favorite people. This is a woman who has never ridden in a plane or a train, shoots down the crows who eat her blackberries, hitch-hiked across the country as a kid, and brags about snagging a much younger man (my Uncle Steve). She never lets us leave without feeding us (this time she bought us a special ham for sandwiches, chips, salads, beans, and made snickerdoodles. It was 11am). For those who know her - she is doing very well, much better than the last time we saw her. Last time she about brought us to tears, talking about Steve. She is going out and about, doing more watercoloring, and she told us how she recently cussed out the grocery store clerk for not having 2 cup pumpkin pie mix. Her meds are making her bruise incredibly easy, but she's not in pain because of it. She's pretty much awesome.

We left Garibaldi and headed south to Newport to meet up with some friends. Jason and Netta Jane live in Portland and wanted to see the aquarium and the beaches in Newport. Jason was one of the J's employees in Missoula, he chauffeured us at our wedding (in his super crappy Oldsmobile), and he has been one of J's best friends for many years.

I love seals.

We thought that this one might have been dead. It's head was underwater for quite awhile and it was completely motionless, even when we came back 20 minutes later. Doesn't look good.

The fish were very cool, but the undulated glass aquariums made me sick - my eyes couldn't focus properly. The aquarium was having a special exhibit with all kinds of neat glass sculptures in the tank with the fisheys.

"Hey guys."

"Hey."

"Hey."

We saw these bad boys in Hawaii.

Looking at spider crabs makes me hungry.

We went to the beach afterwards. There is a 150 year old period lighthouse all set up. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

This is a picture made out of hair. Just think of the beautiful things you could make by cleaning out your drains!

We drove back to Portland that night, and then home to Seattle on Monday.

Completely tangential thing: when I dream, it is always in the same places. I have had dreams in the same town since I can remember - same houses, same forests, same beach. The town gets bigger and more developed, but it's always the same place. I have weird dreams about the ocean, with houses clinging to the edge of the sand on stilts, right next the road. As we were driving to Newport I realized that it is that area that I have dreaming about for the last 18 years (that's the last time I went that far south on the Oregon coast). Extreme deja vu. Recently I saw a flower shop in Tacoma that I have been dreaming about for that long, as well. (I haven't been on those streets in Tacoma since I was 11. My mom said that I went to that flower shop when I was very very young. She's surprised I remembered it.) In my dream the flower shop is next to a movie theater - I'll have to find that theater now and see all the pieces of my patchwork of a dream town!