Adventure: The Trail of 101 Steps & Agates at Oceanside

Saturday afternoon we headed off to the beach to hunt for agates. We had endured several years days of rain and on Saturday the sky was a brilliant blue and the sun was bright and warm. And the day was just made for exploring!     We headed first to a new beach to explore-Short Beach.  This beach is only reached by descending the more than 100 steps down over the steep hillside to the beach below. There are built in  benches to rest and a odd little wooden building.  (If one was blessed with an over-active imagination, then one could cook up all sorts of strange, odd, and eerie happenings in the little wooden building.)

Beginning the descent.

 

 Here's the odd little building that you pass through.... we didn't linger long.

Short Beach.   I love the trees growing right out of the top of the rock.

 

 





Bracing himself for the wave to come....

Love this picture! 

Cape Meares Lighthouse 

Of course no trip to the beach is complete without a good log "rescue". 

"Rescue" complete!

On our return, I stopped for a moment in the odd little building and took a couple pictures of a some of the graffiti that caught my attention.

The trail of 101 steps was sure a good cardiac work out!  And it was fun to explore  a new beach.  We plan to return when the tide is low, and we can do a bit more exploring.

 

On to Oceanside in search of agates.  This is the first one we found.

I find it very relaxing to wander slowly up and down the beach looking for these "treasures".

 

 Here is part of the collection:  I found 11, Andy found 3, and Carson found 3. Such a fun afternoon!

 

Then we headed towards home, but since it was nearing sunset we had to stop and watch the big orange ball dip slowly into the deep blue sea.  But, I will save that for another post.

 

 



Snowmageddon and Getting Aunt Di to the Airport

So the day came when Aunt Di had to return to the East; as in Ohio.   After hearing the weatherman mutter and sputter about the great white death that was to come we decided to leave early; that and we wanted to check out a little restaurant that served Bubble Tea.  We loaded up the Yukon and headed over the coastal mountains to the "weird" city of Portland.  Once we got into the city, it started to snow and traffic really began to slow down.   We found our Bubble Tea place and stopped to try it.   Interesting stuff!!

Then it was a mad rush, at a snail's pace to get Aunt Di to the airport. The snow kept falling and the traffic kept getting slower.  She did catch her Portland flight, only to miss her connecting flight...eventually she did make it back into Cincinnati.   We on the other hand spent a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes in the car.  Yes,  almost 11 hours in the car for a round-trip that usually takes about 4 hours.  We did stop at a doughnut shop and buy a dozen; everything goes better with a little sugar in your system!  Meanwhile, the snow kept falling.  Just before leaving the last of civilization we stopped at Little Caesars and bought supper;  munching and crunching and slipping and sliding toward home.


Here's a couple pictures of our adventurous travels. 

Meanwhile, the snow just kept falling.  We were all super glad to arrive home safe and sound! 

Experiencing the Pacific

Of course multiple trips to the beach are in order.  This was Aunt Di's first time to the great Pacific.

Here she is doing a little writing in the sand.... all in another language.

 

 Oceanside Beach headed toward the tunnel.

 

 

Tunnel Beach

Another log rescue.  Attempting to put it back to sea. 

 Back through the tunnel to Oceanside Beach.

We've heard that Oceanside is a good beach to find agates, so we were on the lookout.  This one was found by Carson.  We gave it to Aunt Di.

 I found this one... it's a baby agate.

Then it was off to the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

 

Enjoying a sunset from Cape Meares.

 

 

We also took her to explore Bayocean.  I blogged about that here.

 

This is from the top of the dunes at Bayocean looking back toward Tillamook.

As we approached the beach we could see footprints in the wet sand and counted 17 roses strewn along the shoreline.  Sobering, thought-provoking, and fascinating- O how I wished to know the story behind these roses.

We collected shells and climbed around on drift wood and enjoyed the sunshine.

This is the Tillamook Bay, as seen from The Fish Peddler.

 

 

And then after two weeks of visiting it was time to take Aunt Di back to the airport and send her on her way.  The trip to and from Portland was certainly and adventure.  We discovered Bubble Tea,  she was almost late catching her flight, we spend a total of 10.45 hours in the car (it should have been a simple 4 hours).  She missed her connecting flight..... but that's all for another post.