On Sunday we made plans to go to the beach. Obviously you can't move from one ocean to the other without giving it a good look-see. But our plans were dashed when we realized it would probably be pouring and uncomfortable the whole time we were there.
We had breakfast and pondered more options, and mom made herself friendly with the neighbors, asking for fun things to do around the area. What did they tell us? Go to the beach. So go to the beach we did.
It was an easy hour drive to Cannon Beach, and we spent a lovely afternoon exploring the west coast's mystical, foggy shores. East coasters would hate it, because we're used to white, sandy beaches, hot scorching sun and hundreds of scantily clad people sunbathing and swimming. Having never been a fan of those things myself (I'd rather be out to sea than standing in the hot sand and wistfully staring at it) the allure of the Pacific was rather fascinating to me. I loved the fifty degree temperature, the towering cliffs and the magical feel of it all. It was refreshing and even though the clouds obscured the sun for most of the day, it was still beautiful.
We explored the coastline by foot and then got back in the car and ventured into Washington, looking for more beaches. While venturing we ended up driving back and forth from Oregon to Washington numerous times, making me say to Tanner later that we visited "five states today!"
After crossing another bridge (I forget which state we were in by this point) we stumbled across a lighthouse, by accident, and climbed its 163 steps to the top to take in an expansive view of the Columbia River. It started raining by then, so it was much more overcast, but the view was worth the climb. At the bottom again we read the plaques detailing Lewis and Clark's expedition and imagined ourselves explorers, too, traveling from one coast to the other and drinking in this wild, new wilderness.
We drove home again when the sun set and spent the evening watching movies. Monday morning starts my first day of work, and, as usual, the anticipation is causing me to have first-day-of-school nightmares and mini panic attacks, not withstanding that my family leaves Tuesday and I will officially be on my own.
But for now, we were together and enjoying time spent in the area and with each other.
Here's Sunday's photo recap!
