{oregon part I} the beach.

Way back when, when I was a kid, we used to go to the Oregon Coast on vacation. There was a beach house there that is rented only on referral. My grandparents go every year, and they referred us. We went a few times when I was young and it has always been my most favorite vacation spot. There are memories of finding sand dollars, rolling down the sand hill until my cousin laughed so hard he peed his pants, spotting whales spout, and finding fish and crabs in tide pools. It wasn't a hot, sunny beach. It was the kind of beach where you rolled your sweatpants up and wore a jacket, and the water was so cold that you could barely go past your ankles. But we loved it. And that house that we rented was right there. The Pacific and the beautiful Haystack Rock could be seen right out of the four giant windows in the living room.

Then we all became teenagers, and with sports and friends and camps and schedules, we stopped going. We did many fun family vacations over the years, like Nauvoo, Island Park, and Sun Valley. But this year everything fell into place, my dad was able to reserve a week at the beach house, and every member of my family was able to come . . . everyone, that is, except Brady, who is serving a mission. Its a twist of irony that we finally managed to go when he was gone. Isn't that the way it always goes? He can come next summer though :).

Returning to Pacific City was a serious blast from the past for me. I was thrown back to my childhood, but this time I got to share that joy and make new memories with the man I love most and the girl I love mostest. It was a sweet experience for me to walk on that beach with my husband and run down that sand hill with my daughter. I finally got the chance to share something that has always been so special to me.

The Oregon Coast is beautiful. Its chilly, yes, so if you're planning on wearing your bikini and getting a tan and splashing in the waves, you're out of luck. But we took multiple walks on the beach a day. Honestly I could take two walks on the beach every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of it.

The beach we go to is called Cape Kiwanda. Haystack Rock is the landmark there. Pictures really don't do it justice. It is just an anomaly. When I look at it I can't help but wonder how it got there. And of course, I think for the millionth time that God sure knows how to make beauty in unexpected ways. Carly would point to it regularly and declare "big rock!". She's right; its a very big rock.

Those of you who are regular readers may recall that Carly has a fear of sand and new textures against her skin in general. This problem was remedied by Gramma bringing ocean shoes for her. They are water proof, but kept the sand out, and Carly was just about invincible in them. Aunt Kasee got her to take her magic shoes off once during the whole week. Other than the sand, Carly seemed to like the beach well enough. By the last day, she even managed to end up with soaking wet clothes from splashing near the tidepools.



All in all, I think Oregon's greatest virtue is that it is not crowded. I've been to a California beach, where you can hardly find a spot to lay down a towel. In Oregon, especially because the bulk of our stay there was during the work week, you could walk down the beach and look as far as the eye could see and not see another person. One morning I went for a jog and stopped for a second. I looked all the way down the beach; my footprints were the only ones there.



So now you know why its such a magical place.

We loved every minute.

{up next: vacation activities}