Beach week-end

We (Farm Boss, our kids, kids by marriage, and grandkids) had one of those week-ends at the Oregon Coast where the weather was all of what is possible over a three day span. It was a new moon which meant low tides. The weather forecast had predicted a rainy week-end; but when you have a reservation for a beach house, large enough for everybody, you go with it. Rather like the thing Rumsfeld said about you go to war with the army you have not the army you wish you had-- except in the case of going to the Coast, the army you take, when you have children ranging from 3 to 12, are things like DVDs, art supplies, books, and games. And frankly you could head down for a week-end predicted to be wonderful and have it suddenly turn stormy. It's just the ocean.



We arrived on Friday to what felt like gale force winds. The gulls were sitting it out except for a few hearty souls. At times the winds seemed to rock the beach house which sat out at the end of a spit, only the river and ocean were beyond. Dunes made for blowing sand that definitely discouraged time outside.

Still there is nothing quite like an ocean storm. They make the sea into a wondrous, turbulent, awesome place as the waves pound against the rocks. After an hour, the large windows were so covered in sand that it was as though someone frosted them . Getting up the driveway, because of all the layered sand, required four-wheel drive although we were expecting that part as the dunes had been destabilized during an earlier storm.


We woke Saturday expecting to have more rain as the forecast had been for 80% chance. Evidently all the wind, which they had not predicted, pushed through the rain because there was nary a breeze, and the grand kids were outside almost all day as they dug holes in the sand, built sand castles, climbed up and down dunes and generally did everything kids could possibly want to do at the beach.

Now it's not like I want to go racing up or down dunes, but it's rather satisfying to watch children pitting their strength against the elements. For the relief of adults, those dunes challenging the children were high enough to be a challenge but not that high.


The weather changed again Sunday for even more sunshine and about as warm as it often is during the summer. Somebody in our family had very good weather karma is all we could say about it. When you book a beach week-end, in advance, on the Central Oregon Coast, you really never know what you'll get. We got as good as it gets.
The seals were in the waves and on the banks. This little region, on the spit out of Waldport, where the Alsea River runs into the ocean, has a rich ecosystem. I looked on the beach for shells. Unfortunately most of the sand dollars were in pieces and likewise the razor clam shells. I am not sure who had been eating them as it doesn't seem seals could dig them out of the sand. A few starfish had been knocked off their rocks also.


For me it was a very good time with the family. Even better, all the cooking was done by somebody else which is fun mostly as a chance to taste different recipes. It's always good when it's our kids who are more into healthy, gourmet cooking than I am.


This was our second chance to all be together since the New Year and I hope we get many more in the coming year as it was a very enjoyable, low key time and fun to be with my grandchildren again for hearing what they are doing. There were good conversations with the kids, and enough time for everybody to have some alone time if they wanted it. There was time to just BE and that is my favorite kind of vacation.

I took soooo many photos that the only hard part is winnowing them down to something reasonable to store.

If I was wanting spring, and I was, I got it on the week-end. I brought home good memories, photos and one old shell that had been knocked off the rocks. Going to the beach after a storm is always a time to find treasures.