We woke up to the unmistakable sounds of rain falling on our tent, and the unexpected/new experience of some dampness seeping into the sides of the tent and our clothes bags. We have heretofore been entirely fairweather campers, so the kids were surprised and a little unhappy. However, we had breakfast, did some family reading, and then decided to walk to Manzanita along the beach. We ran up and down the dunes as we went, and played keep-away with the waves, and made sand trails for each other to follow. Seb made up a goofy courtroom game after he dropped Liesl in a river inlet, and sentenced himself to 10 years solitary confinement.
In Manzanita, things were a little depressing -- the candy shop wasn't opening until 11; the coffee shop had a long line because only six people were allowed in at once; it started to drizzle and our feet were cold and sandy and wet. It was a low moment as we started trudging back towards our campground.
But then we pretended to be trackers, following trails through the grasses, and the rain did not arrive as feared, and we warmed up again, and ended up having a good time making it back.
We had lunch, some story time, some spinning-and-making-people-walk time, and the sun came out. We decided to go and explore the bay/river side of Nehalem Bay State Park.
On the way, we passed the amphitheatre, and I was treated to a truly outstanding circus/animal training/fashion/acrobatics/sporting show. Jasper was the star, more or less. :)
The river turned out to be bigger than we expected, with sandy/quicksandy shores. Liesl waded out and plopped herself down into the water, and Seb threw sticks for a joyous Jasper.
We walked along the beach a little ways, until we saw an enormously high and steep sand dune, which we proceeded to crawl up and fly down over and over. It was exhilarating and exhausting.
From there, we completed the loop trail through a lovely forest, and returned to our campsite. Everyone was a little tired, so we sat around and read our book, and I cooked dinner.
Our new camp stove! Thanks dad/Bompy!!! It's about a million times better!
A fire, and roasted apples - no one felt like marshmallows - and then an early night for two tired kiddos (and Jasper, who literally walked over to the tent at 9:30 pm and stared at the zipper until I let him in to curl up at the foot of the sleeping bags).
I said goodnight to them and walked up to watch the sun set and moon rise over the Pacific. So gorgeous.
We walked along the beach a little ways, until we saw an enormously high and steep sand dune, which we proceeded to crawl up and fly down over and over. It was exhilarating and exhausting.
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