The stop at Lincoln City was the last good photo op of the day.

And it was a doozy!

 

Quin wasn't thrilled with getting wet but he tried, and did pretty good. Mostly.

Kendrah got to experience the tug of the water pulling her back to the ocean, which gave her a better appreciation of having constantly being told to be careful.

  

   

I like how these pictures turned out!

   

Here she is waiting for the courage to ride a wave into shore.

 

While Quin was content to goof off in the shallow stuff.

 Which was deep enough! 

 

There were a lot of people on the beach, but no one was playing in the water till my kids started, then suddenly there was a gang of kids all splashing and frolicking. Kendrah made friends with the girl and soon after that I gave up with taking pictures of my kids cause they were surrounded by others. I just stood there and waited till they were finally done playing. I waited a long time.

 

The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful. We went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, Subway and shoe shopping, filled my tank and drove, drove, drove.

Got home pretty late. The next day, a friend of mine came over to work on this:

 My dryer had died a few weeks ago.

I worked on it, my friend worked on it, and then we gave up before I left, but upon our return (with all our laundry!!) he'd said he'd figured out what might be the problem and came over to test out one more part, and that was it!

 He replaced that part and it was done!  

We unpacked, and I did laundry and then some more laundry, so very nice to have soft dry clothes instead of 3-day-old line-dried stuff and scratchy. Then we packed. Cause, you know, everyone needs a vacation after their vacation, right? The kids packed for a week with their dad. They headed to Idaho, where they camped and went to the amusement park, Silverwood, every day.

I packed for a week long road trip while they were gone. I took my camera so you can pretend like you came along, and you don't have to get up at 2:am like I had to in order to catch my shuttle to the airport. Sound good?

 

 

A few more pictures of us at the tide pool beach, where we found some cobbles.....

 

....a flock of gulls to chase.....

....big rocks to conquer....

....and a fort to explore.

One last shot of a foggy rock and we said our good byes to my SIL and nephew.

And we began our journey home. I'd picked out some caches to get all along the coast, no matter what my kids said about just wanting to get home. One of the first stops was the Devil's Punchbowl. I remember having had seen it before but I couldn't remember exactly where it was. Plus it was so foggy I couldn't really tell. So I found a sign for the beach and decided to head down. Down. Down.

 At the bottom? 

No punchbowl, no ocean, no nothing but fog. And my GPS was pointing a long distance away.

Wrong trail. But interesting.

We walked back up the trail and up the road and found a parking lot next to a fence that overlooked the punchbowl. I blame the fog. I'm not sure the Devil's Punchbowl is all that impressive looking in a picture with nothing but fog for perspective. But, it's huge.

And dangerous!

We walked back to the car and moved on, with the hope of escaping the fog, but our next stop was Cape Foulweather so what can I expect there?

Fog. Of course.

 I'm told there is a big ocean out there. 

And not an ocean of fog, but of real water!

Time to move on, again. How about Depot Bay? Ahh! Ocean!!!!

 

We made shadows on the rocks and drank in the sight of the endless ocean.

We had peek-a-boo views from one cache site, and could admire waves crashing on the rocks from another.

 

 

There's still fog out there but it was so much further out that what we'd been used to it didn't even bother us a bit.

 I love the blues/green of an ocean. 

And the way waves crash on the shore was lovely to watch. For me, anyway, the kids got bored. The ocean was so calm that I had to wait a long time for a wave to crash with enough force to splash. Finally I was rewarded for my patience and got this shot.

Then it was time to move on again. In Lincoln City we stopped to play on the beach. I told the kids to go ahead and get wet if they want to, they had dry clothes to change into after.

They didn't really want to (but you can guess how long that lasted). The ocean, as I mentioned, was very calm so I had the kids pose at the edge of the waterline. I had them stand there and got a picture, then told them to wait, cause I wanted one more. Really, it was because I saw a good sized wave coming in and wanted to get their picture as it hit the backs of their legs. They heard/felt it coming, though, and started running before my ideal picture could be taken, but everything backfired; they got wet, I got wet, the wave came so high up on shore it washed away Quin's and my shoes and we were only just able to save them. Leaving me with wet shoes for the rest of the trip home.

After that it was hard to get them to turn their backs to the water!

Guess what, I have more pictures to show you later.

 

Thursday morning we got up really early to go to the tide pools, and it was early because that was when the tide was out. We hit the best tide pools (having a marine biologist in the family is helpful with this kind of thing) but could barely see due to the thick fog. That didn't stop the kids from running as far ahead as they could get away with.

 The fog and hulking rocks made interesting photos.

Funny creatures were all over and my SIL knew what they all were. She told us what they were. It was interesting. I don't remember what they were.

 Starfish. I knew the starfish. 

And I think the name of this thing was "creepy pinchy crawly", but I could be mistaken. And, I assure you, that is NOT my hand holding it. Nosirree. I don't hold things like that.

I will leave that to my SIL, she doesn't mind!

 K had to touch things, too. Ick. 

  Some of the grass was hiding deep pools of icy cold water, we had to watch out step.

Here is an interesting shelf of starfish and...um...you know, other creatures. Wet things. Slimy, pinchy, stinky, prickily, sticky and sucky wet things.

 See the starfish hanging below the shelf here? 

The blue heron could barely be seen in the fog.  The fog was really, really thick.

 The clearing in this rock covered in mussles had a rout of snails inside it. I believe my nephew referred to it as a "convention" going on in the snail world. We all stood around to hear the topic they were discussing but it was a closed meeting (yes, they clammed up, har har) and we moved on.

The kids climbed some rocks while the adults stayed on firm sand.

 Quin, of course had to go further.

And jump off. Really, did you expect anything different??

I didn't think so.

More pictures from the tide pool beach next time!

 

 

 

 

The kids so enjoyed jumping down this sand dune hill and I enjoyed taking pictures of them as they flew (sometimes) gracefully through the air.

The other day I decided to play and layer the burst-shots together. Here's some of the results.

 

  Can you feel the fun they were having?  

Here's Kendrah doing tricks. 

And simply leaping without tricks.

And a One! And a TWO!!!

 A wonderful crash landing by Quin, in 4 photos:

 They both enjoyed the hill, but Quin was the show-off and the one that did the most jumps and tricks.

Obviously they did not want to leave.

 But, leave we must. It had been a fun filled few days!! We planned on getting up early the next morning to visit the tide pools, then make a caching day out of our trip home.

You get to see that, too!

 

 

It was warmer on the beach than at the lighthouse and after our long beachwalk, we parked ourselves on that lovely sandy hill and played till dinner time. We were surprised to see the jetty. We'd heard of it, learned about it, did an earthcache about it but it was always too foggy to actually see it.

Till this day! Well, sorta. I mean, if you look really close and pretend I was holding wax paper over the lens instead of there being fog in the air (although I'm not really sure how that would help), you can almost tell that behind the wave there is a long line of rocks.

 Time to look at things closer up.

I sat with my camera in the middle of the hill and watched the kids jump/leap/roll/fall down.

 And then go back up for more.

 There was no question they were having fun. 

My ladybug got a bit sandy and went to visit Q for a bit.

  While K got really sandy and visited me.

Ok, I might have gotten a little bit sandy, myself.

 This is some sand art, made by the blades of grass and the wind. 

As if the grass itself wasn't art all by itself.

   

And even a flower or two

  

 

 I'd told the kids it was time to go, but they had to jump 

one

last

time.

 Then it was time to say good bye to the beach and head home.

But at the top of the hill, I stopped to get a picture of the bridge.

Which the kids took as license to find more sand and play, of course.

 Each in their own way. 

Next time I post I have some great sequence photos of when they were playing on the hill.

 

 

The next day, my SIL needed to go to work (imagine that!) so after a false start (having locked my camera in the house and the spare key she gave me not working), we made our way to the Yaquina head lighthouse. It costs $7 to drive in there so we opted to walk in. That's cause we didn't know just how far it was, or how cold it would be in the fog.  Yaquina, outstanding Natural Area....or Quin, outstanding boy?

  

The fog obscured the ocean and the view, although we caught a glimpse of it from another vantage point.

 

There was a funny roundhouse on the hillside that intrigued me, I liked how the roofline matched the slope of the hill. We also could just barely see these Cormorants on the rocky outcropping near shore.

     

And then we finally, after walking about a mile in the cold fog, saw the lighthouse. Maybe you can see it, too.

   Once we got closer, it was easier to see. Kinda.  

Of course, we arrived on Wednesday. The lighthouse is closed on Wednesdays. So we walked to the visitor's center and warmed up then headed back to the car. We saw some surfers in the water so I took a picture of them. Not that you can tell they are there, you'll have to trust me. Surfers. Way, way down there.

Enough with the cold, closed and socked in lighthouse. Bah, glad we didn't spend the $7.

Instead, we went back to the beach with the sandy hill, but before I let them play I reminded them they had wanted a beach walk and we were gonna have a beach walk. Besides, there was a cache about a mile (ok, more) away that I wanted to get. We arrived at this lovely waterfall between two cliffs that drained directly onto the beach and into the ocean.

On the south side cliff, there was a rope.

Which they needed to climb. Needed to. Absolutely.

Because that's where the cache was! Quin said this was The BEST CACHE EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, he used all caps and all those exclamation marks to say it.

He's pretty pleased with his accomplishments!

 Duh.

When we got down from the cliff, we discovered Kendrah had rerouted the stream. Wonder what she'll be when she grows up?

I believe I mentioned the ladybugs loved me, right? This one rode on me the entire mile (plus) walk back to the hill and while we played there. I forgot all about it but when we were driving home, the kids busted up laughing because it crawled out of the hood of my sweatshirt and started walking on my shoulder again. Probably wanted another kiss!

 

As soon as the kids saw this hill at the end of the boardwalk, they were lost to me. I could do nothing but sit in the soft dry sand and take pictures of their antics because there were NOT leaving. Worked well for me, leaving was a promise I was glad to break!

 

Rolling was a good start. Running was fun, too.

 

The kids played, crawling up and then running or rolling down, over and over. Some other kids came over and we dug holes in the hill and took turns burying each other.

They got a bit sandy. 

 My old sandals and I became magnets for ladybugs.

Our hill was clear and beautiful because it was not right on the foggy ocean. Fog did not stop some kiteboarders from playing.

 

I got to take some other pictures while I was sitting around waiting for the kids to be ready to go.

  

And, finally, with the call for dinner in our ears (and tummies) we headed back to home base.

Obviously staged, but a great photo nonetheless, huh?

 

 

 

The next day we went back to the beach. It was even foggier but not as windy as the day before. The kite was the first thing established but it could hardly be seen at the end of the line due to the fog. I had to be pretty close to whatever I was photographing but managed to get this picture in a small break in the fog. Otherwise, I had to get close enough to Kendrah to keep an eye on her while she played in the waves.

   

Which meant I had to get close enough to get wet, myself. She didn't get to play in the water as much as she wanted because Quin had a bout of wanderlust and within moments of him walking down the beach I couldn't see him, either. I wasn't worried about anything other than him walking away and then coming back and totally missing us in the fog and I would have no idea where he went.

The fog made the waves look so dark and foreboding and mysterious! The sun did a lousy job of burning off the fog, but I give it points for trying.

       

No kind of weather would cause us to stop loving the beach!

The boy-cousins played in the sand close to where we were hanging out. K is far, far in the background building her own structure closer to the water. Naturally it wasn't long before we had to check out her masterpiece. See how far a piece of debris can go? Yesterday, a wind block and headstone. Today, a roof of a sand castle.

   

Eventually the Q had to feign a nap.

The K saw that I was digging in the sand with my feet as I sat in my chair and she had to "help" by creating a pile over my feet, which eventually became a tunnel. All this sand work made her feel very pirate-y and she had to show off that she'd traded 5 fingers for a hook. To paraphrase Cap'n Bogg and his crew, Salty, who sing wonderful pirate songs for kids.

   

I'd put off caching for long enough and I told the kids we'd go get 2 caches that are pretty close by. They were not amused but went along with it if I promised it was just the two and that we could go home immediately after they were found. I promised. Quin saw a rock and (as you've probably already figured out) wanted his picture taken while he posed on it. This time, K joined him. 

  

We followed a boardwalk, the kids done, done, done with the whole geocaching thing, the whole "We aren't sitting in the house with our cousin, watching movies and eating popcorn" thing bugging them madly while I struggled with finding one of the caches. They jumped off the boardwalk and started playing in the dunes and grass.

   

I finally had success with that hide and followed the boardwalk to the end for the other cache, where the kids found this hill.

You know that promise I made? I broke it. I broke that promise to go home immediately because I couldn't get the kids to leave this hill no matter what. You'll have to see why on the next post.

 

After the walk downtown, after the park, after the Marine Science Center, we went and packed a lunch and headed to the beach. There is a really nice, little known pullout about .3 mile from their house that led directly to a path to the beach that was deserted. It was our first view of the ocean for this trip and K couldn't wait. Can you see her?

We had the beach to ourselves for miles in either direction. Might be because it was a weekday. Or because it was cold, windy and foggy. Didn't matter to us, we played. My SIL and nephew left before we did. They can hit the beach anytime they want so hanging out when it was so windy wasn't as much fun. Easier for us to enjoy it despite the wind since we don't have much time.

This metal bowl kept rolling down the beach with the wind, it was fun for Q to chase after it and kick it to get it to roll some more.

K just wanted to play in the water. But you know what happens when you play in the water?

You get wet. And it's kinda shocking how cold that wet is when it sneaks up and hits you in the back.

I liked this rock.

It was pretty darn easy to fly a kite on the beach this time, the wind picked it up and carried it off with little to no effort on our part. Q liked being in charge of flying it.

 

  

It was pretty windy and the sand was whipping at us so Q found a piece of debris to use as a wind block.

While K is my water baby, Q loves to explore and climb and discover things on land.

Oh, the things you see on a beach!

K got hit in the back a few more times but refused to let that stop her. She even tried a bit of body surfing.

 

We explored down the beach and found some mudstone caves. The tough-guy voices came out and they both bragged how they can crush rock in their bare hands!

They each had a turn with being buried (with the wind block Q built as their "headstone") and then they attempted to build something but it wasn't working too well. Besides, after a couple hours of being sandblasted they were content to call it a day and head back to home base.

It was a good day.

 

After playing at the park, we went to the Hatfield Marine Sceince Center, where my SIL works as a Marine Biologist. The kids enjoyed the touch pool.

K was especially fond of the sea cucumber with it's spiky-softness.

The sea anemone was great fun since it would grab at your fingers till you pulled away.

This ended up being one of my favorie pics, I love frogs and I love how the mist with the frog's little head poking out looked.

Another pretty anemone.

When we'd explored all the areas open to visitors we headed to the back rooms. My SIL showed us a room where they'd been cleaning and sorting the bones of a .... of a ...a dead thing (seal? sea lion? something) and where they will eventaully wire and glue all the bones to form a skeleton to display. Good thing I'm not in charge of that, cause (maybe especially cause they are in muffin tins) they look like dog treats to me.

Since K was enjoying the sea anemone's grip so much, we went to the koi tank and let her put her hand in with them. They immediately rushed over and sucked on her fingers. It's a very strange sensation and I got several pics of her surprised face, always obscured by her flinging her hand out of the water before doing it again. Here is she carefully petting them.

Unfortunately the octopus handler wasn't onsite so we didn't get to hold this guy. I have some pictures of it sticking to my nephew's arm from an earlier trip without us, but we only got to look at it through the tank wall.

We had an excellent tour of the facility, but then it was time to hit the beach!