Thursday: The Coast and beach house

On Thursday morning we left Ocean Shores and started our true "Oregon Coast drive" part of the trip.  Our first stop was Cannon Beach.  This place was our one true regret.  It was our first stop and we thought "the best was yet to come", so we didn't plan a lot here and we weren't here very long - just long enough to get a feel for it.  Turns out it was the best.  The sand, weather, and ocean were at it's best.  For the trip I had bought and brought fun things to do on the beach like sand toys, kites, and other games, but decided not to "waste" it on our first excusion on the beach.  But the opportunity never came up again and so we never did any of those things.  I was so sad.  And secondly he town of Cannon Beach was ADORABLE.  Many of my kids are suckers for a good small town/main street vibe and this one definitely had it.  But we had come for the beach and not the town and we thought we would see plenty of quaint, coastal, small towns.  But this one was the best and we didn't explore it.  But that is ok. What we DID do was great AND the point of the trip was just to get a sampling and find places we wanted to come back to later and explore more.  So I guess we did exactly what we were supposed to do! 

When we got to the beach everyone kind of split up.  Jason and Brock hate the beach, so they volunteered to leave and go find us lunch.  Deal!  Madison HAD to get as close to the ocean as she could, so she ran off before I could even talk and make a plan with her.  It was WINDY and the ocean was loud, if you weren't within 5 feet of someone you couldn't hear them even if you were yelling.   And Megan and Noah headed off by themselves, but stayed pretty close by to me and the babies and played/interacted with them a bit.  We just started heading down the beach, playing in the sand, finding sea shells and bird feathers.  

The sand was very soft, but the top was a bit crunchy and made a breaking sound I hadn't expected.

The wind was so bad you can't see her face.

The beach allows for good contemplation

Jason bought us delicious (and expensive pizza) that we ate in the car on our way down the coast.

Then we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory for a little tour and some taste testing.

Then we got to our beach house in Lincoln City.  The most perfect beach house ever.  It check all my boxes!  I can't believe how lucky we got!  I could have stayed there for days.

This was the view out of the living room/kitchen window.  How perfect!  Kids could be in the hot tub, on the lawn, at the fire pit, on the beach, on the rocks, or in the water, and I could see them. 

But before we could "play" we had to go get dinner.  Lincoln City was kind of a bust.  We went to like 3 different places before we found one that was open and it wasn't very good.  The beach house and the beach was perfect but the town was, meh. 

Back at the house most of us got in the hot tub to watch the sun set.  The beach/coast was windy and the water cold, so we didn't have much of a desire to be on the beach or go in the ocean - but a hot tub ON the beach?  yes, please!  One of Megan's main goal was to see the sunset over the ocean and this was her chance!

But the ocean was calling us and the thrill of coming from a freezing ocean into a hot tub was a temptation too good to pass up.  So Me, Megan, and Madison ran down into the ocean and back into the hot tub.  Brock took pictures and video.

It was soul numbing cold.  But so fun.  After a while it felt warm and delightful - but really we were just slowly dying!  worth it!

Because we couldn't feel our bodies running back up the beach to the hot tub wasn't as cold as we thought....

So we stopped for some pictures.

 Then it was time for the sunset

It was beautiful

So beautiful Mads and I decided to head  back to the beach and spend way to much time and have way to much fun taking beach sunset pictures.  Please excuse the excess of pictures.  For a minute I forgot that I was almost 40 and I felt like a teenager again.  It was one of those times where I was so glad to have daughters.

We went back up to the house and got others in on the action.  I was so sad the rest of the family didn't want to join us and I didn't get a sweet sunset picture with Jason.  But we wanted everyone to "do what ever they wanted to do" that night. 

We actually ran down and got into the ocean again and Eve came with us this time (but we didn't take pictures).  She got in to about her knees and decided it was to cold.  truth!

Jason went to the store and got everyone their own ice cream and later that night we all watch Boys in the Boat.  

The next morning was more of the same.  And then we headed out - back down the coast!

 

Wednesday: Hoe Rainforest and Ocean Shores

We were all a little sad on Wednesday morning to leave the Myers house.  We could have stayed for several more days.

They had a sports court that the kids loved playing in.

And a "big" piano that Dane and Eve loved playing on.

Before we left I got a picture of Corinne and Jason.  Corinne was on her way to go work out and Jason was leaving for a hike, I was lame for not getting a picture earlier in the week when they were both looking a bit more put together.  But I was glad to get one before we left.  I am so grateful for their friendship.  Jason and I had a fun time dissecting their relationship and the influence it had on his life as we drove around western Washington.

 and one with the three of us.

After left Seattle we drove about an hour and a half to the Hoe Rainforest.  It is the only certified Rainforest (or something like that) in North America.  When we got there it started raining pretty hard.   I have to admit I couldn't decide if I was mad or excited about the rain.  This was my moment!  I had taken a lot of time and preparation to prepare for wet and muddy hiking and we hadn't experienced any yet, so this is where I would find out if I was as prepared as I thought.

The forest was so cool.  It was something we had never seen before. 

Madison was our explorer. She wanted to climb onto everything and walk out over the water.  This also led to Eve and Dane wanting to do it.  Jason didn't appreciate any of this.  After a few close calls he called it off and we all stayed on the path, as was the rule of the park.  

It rained almost the whole time we were there, it didn't "ruin" it but I think we would have enjoyed it a lot more had it just been a normal sunny day.  But it was absolutely breathtaking and so still, quiet and peaceful.  

After the rainforest we drove for a few hours to Ocean Shores.  This was the first time we really saw the ocean and Dane and Eve REALLY wanted to go see it.  Our Airbnb wasn't on the beach in this town, but it would be for the next 2 nights, but Dane and Eve didn't really care about that.  So Jason took them to the beach and then for some quick pizza and I took the teenagers out to get some "real" dinner.  We found a great sea food restaurant.    

Back at our condo after putting Dane and Eve to bed we played some family games.

It was a great night - for all of us.