It was really hot in Portland and our family was grouchy - too much unstructured summer vacation - too much together time - too much anticipation and nervousness about Italy and about the new school year.... who knows. But we were struggling. So I packed up the car and the kids and after work on Monday we fled to the coast. We got a campsite at Nehalem Bay State Park, in Manzanita, where it was cool and occasionally foggy, where we could run and bike and dig on the beach, and recover ourselves before our grand adventure. We stayed two nights and rolled back into town for dinner on Wednesday - sandy, dirty, tired, but happy. Now to the last-minute errands and packing!!
We arrived around 5:30, set up camp, ate a quick dinner, and enjoyed a somewhat gusty sunset on the beach before heading to bed. We are getting much more efficient at the process of packing and unpacking the camping equipment and setting up our space.
Tuesday morning dawned early, and after eating breakfast (instant oatmeal cups, the kids' new favorite camping food) we hauled the bikes up and over the soft sand dunes and onto the beach. Sebastian thought it would be fun to bike to Manzanita. So off we went, two kids on bikes, Jasper and me running alongside. It was less than 2 miles to get to the town, and then we strolled the main strip, got coffee and saltwater taffy, and started back.
We ate a second breakfast back at the campsite and then gathered our toys for another foray. This time around we played beach baseball, tossed the aerobie, and buried each other in mounds of sand. And then walked along the beach in the other direction, splashing in the shallow tidepools and laughing at Jasper's puppy antics.
I'm under all that sand, just my hat and hood peeking out! And that's Seb underneath the mound above.
Some other people had dug this giant hole - so fun!
Back again at the campsite, for a second lunch and some chilling out time. I napped in the tent while the children read books. And then we biked around the campground, checking out the horse camp, the Nehalem River boat launch, the horse camp, and the amphitheatre.
The amazing and incredible show: rocks, bikes, and dogs. Yep, it was thrilling.
Dinner and roasted marshmallows.
We kept spotting a mama deer and her faun in the woods behind our tent. Jasper was VERY interested, staring at the deer and occasionally growling in warning. We couldn't figure out what he was thinking - was the deer threatening? Was he just reacting to any wild creature?
In the picture below, he's staring at the faun, who is too afraid of Jasper to walk by him and rejoin the mama deer. She eventually went back and the duo went off in another direction.
Our second sunset on the beach, even more clear and beautiful than the first.
So much joy - happiness - sibling togetherness - excitement - all
because they had discovered the joys of slicing jellyfish with their
shovel blades while chanting a murderous little ditty. Ah, the Lord of the
Flies liveth.
Wednesday morning we all ran along the beach, with Sebastian setting up start and finish lines to pace us. He made Liesl the overall grand prize winner of the golden boot, which was sweet and lovely. She was thrilled.
And then we had to pack up our tent and campsite to check out - the kids were once again sorry to not be staying longer, especially since the beach is one of our favorite places and it could be awhile before we return. So we drove to Manzanita and had one last beach adventure and one last candy store trip before making the drive home to Portland. It was misty and foggy all along the coast, a far cry from the 99 degrees in PDX.
We splashed a little and threw the aerobie, and then we made a sand castle town, with a tall castle in the center, various houses, guard towers and a ring road, and a wall around the outside. I told them we should label it Lucca, because we're going there next week and Lucca has an ancient city wall. I can't wait to see it in person and for us to see the ancient hilltowns of Tuscany.
Time to head home.
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