In the past few days we’ve seen a lot of beach and then a lot of blankets, to warm up. The water is freezing cold and a few minutes after entering the water anything that’s been submerged is numb. It’s great fun, especially as we are the only people dumb enough to go in and jump the waves.
Our first stop after Mt. St. Helens was in Bend, Oregon. It was a volcanic area, so almost everything we did was centered around volcanoes. It was cool, and a little bit freaky, as I was seriously hoping nothing would erupt while we were there!☺️ After Bend, it was off to Corvallis, Oregon. I don’t have too many photos of that time as we only spent two days there. We had a nice time, though, and great visits. Next after Corvallis, was Fort Stevens S.P. Our campsite was just a mile from a beautiful beach where we spent almost all of our time. The sand was SO soft, your feet just sank into it, and it gushed between your toes. You’ve got to love the beach!!!? By the time you read this we’ll be gone, but currently we are residing in Nehalem Bay S.P. There’s a gorgeous beach nearby as well, but only if you can find a way to get to it…
Going uphill is a whole lot easier when you have two strong little sisters to push you up…?
The lava tube; where the lava hardend on the outside quicker than on the inside, leaving a cave to explore! We turned our flashlights off and it was so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. It would have been incredibly scary if we hadn’t had our flashlights with us!
While in Bend we also went to see a Lava Butte. It was a one time volcano eruption, never to erupt again. It was really cool to be up this mini mountain and be able to see where the lava had flowed out and then stopped. It was incredibly windy though so it was a jump out of the car and take some pictures before you freeze all of the way through.?
A glass looking rock called obsidian. It is smooth to the touch and the result of one of the many volcaonoes near Bend.
Fording a stream, without falling in, is only possible while holding your sisters hand. Lanaya found the truth of this out later when she fell in and got soaking wet.?
Crossing our first covered bridge on our trip!!!
Once in Corvallis Tim and Jan kindly had us over for an amazing supper! (Missing from this photo is their son)
Francesco’s and our first gelato experience! It was really good, and we had the option to taste test every flavour, if we wanted. You just have to love stores with samples!!!?
The beach at Fort Stevens had some huge sand dunes; so what better to do than pretend you’re searching for water, as worn out travellers!?
As the oldest sister I do shoulder some responsiblity to bugging my sisters. So when there is a whole ocean in front of me, and some “accidently” splashes my sister…well, then, it might be my fault…?
Burying yourself in sand is incredibly comfy! Just dig a hole, sit in it, bury yourself and take a nap.
If you can figure out how to get to the Nehalem Bay S.P. beach, it’s beautiful! Which is true, but in our case, getting TO the beach was rather difficult. We wanted to ride our bikes but couldn’t find a paved path, so decided to take the horse trail. Advice to everyone: NEVER take the horse trail if you don’t know what it’s like or where it goes… We ended up carrying our bikes up sand dunes, through sharp hip height grass, to finally reach the beach. Once on the beach we discovered that your bike has no traction in the sand…? So what do you do, but find a different way back to the campsite…?
This photo is snapped about ten seconds after the fact a huge wave came and got mine and Lanaya’s runners soaking wet. When you can’t pedal, or balance a bike, in rushing water you have to put your feet down. So Lanaya and I got soaking wet runners!?
Carrying the bikes turned out to be the easiest thing to do, so Dad kindly carried our bikes up the dunes, where at the top we found a trail back to the campsite…?
The sunset was beautiful that night from the beach!
Thinking of my friends, sitting in a desk back home, while the cool sand sifts through my toes…
When you see a huge wave heading towards you, you get so excited, you just have to express your feelings somehow!!!
Crab fishing all day! It started out as a two hour excursion, then merged into an all day experience! It was cool and VERY smelly. The scent of dead fish is only attractive to the many seagulls just waiting to steal your bait!
Tossing the traps in required a lot of effort, as well as some stretching ahead of time, to get the traps into the water.?
Our first crab!!! It was just big enough to keep!
There were some jellyfish flaoting along, but thankfully no one caught one!
Mom finally got me to put a lid on it… Just kidding! We brought nothing to sit on so one person got to sit on the bucket full of crabs. It was a little bit scary though… What if one reached up and pinched you?!??
Finally cleaning the crabs!!! We got to eat three crabs, and two of them came from a fisherman.
The crabs; cleaned and ready to eat! Just add butter and you are good to go!
The crab tasted so good at first! And then the smell of the bait kicked in, and the thought of spending the day catching them, and cleaning them…. We bought some crackers on the way home to settle our stomachs! A very fun day, but FYI, you don’t need too much – crab and butter is very rich!
We hang on every word! Raquenna you have quite a sense of humour. Thanks for sharing. I wonder where you will spend this weekend?
Thanks, Grandma! We are staying some place near Newport next.
Your journey is amazing – I almost feel like I am travelling with you. Keep safe xx
Memories you will never forget.?
Yeah!!!?