Coast Trip and Another Life Bird!

[Pics have now been added!]

I had hoped to import my pictures from our coast trip last night, but after classes from 9am to 7:30pm with a total break consisting of an hour (aside from passing time) - half of which was consumed by travel to another campus - I was too tired! I hate my Tuesday schedule. So, I will post this now, and then tonight add pictures.

On the up side, we returned home from our trip to happy, healthy (although FAT) cats, swimming fish, chirping birds, and only another 4 inches of snow. Sabrina (the new cat) adjusted well returning home from boarding, and Tillie is doing pretty well, although after picking her up from the kennel we had to take her to the vet which diagnosed her as having stress-induced colitis. She is still feeling kinda under the weather, and we hope that there isn't anything more sinister going on.

Our coast trip was beautiful, relaxing, and short. We managed to leave our house by 7:30am and arrived in Bay city around 4:00pm. We only made a single one hour stop in Tri-cities to get the oil changed, but traffic wasn't ideal in Portland. We really enjoyed driving the new car (much better gas mileage than the truck), and it was fun driving during the day for a change.

The weather very was schizophrenic and varied significantly along our route. We started out at our house with about three inches of snow that had accumulated during the night with big, sticky flakes still coming down. After we de-iced the car and got packed, it took us about 30 minutes to drive out of the storm. As we approached Tri-cities we could see the signs of Spring progressively increasing. Many of the trees in Kennewick were in full bloom. Along the Gorge we had hail, wind, bright blue sky, and rumbling dark storm clouds. Each weather pattern seemed to stop and start very abruptly, and it was wild to see what was coming next on the horizon.

We were very excited to see Gram and enjoyed a really nice home cooked meal followed by some Cribbage games (all of which I won, I might add :>). The next day we woke up to snow!


After a yummy breakfast, we did our usual coastal tour of our favorite places, and added some new ones. We starting with the Tillamook bar where we enjoyed the waves and the begging gulls.


We then headed to the Grange Hall (where we hold the family reunion) to see if there were any fruiting bodies on the Pacific Yew tree because I wanted a start. We were very dismayed to find that it had been cut down! Such a shame. We followed the grange with a quick stop at the Manzanita bead shop, and then headed back to Wheeler to check out an "antique" store that we had never been in before. Unlike many coastal "antique" stores, this store did actually have some antiques mixed in with the myriad of collectibles. We enjoyed looking at shelves and shelves of glass balls, antique marbles, tons of glassware, old gadgets and furniture. I purchased an inexpensive serving bowl with six matching individual bowls that is the same aqua/green color as the sea on a windy, cool day when the sun peaks out from the clouds and illuminates the tops of the waves. We had lunch at the oyster factory in Bay City (after waiting 45 minutes for service!), and then headed up to Bay Ocean and Cape Mears. Along the road leading to the Bay Ocean spit I spotted a flock of very small shore birds. At first I dismissed them as Dunlin, but decided to get out the scope and take a closer look. I am glad I did because they were least sandpipers! Another lifebird!!!!

This picture is from google - the flock was too far away to get a good close-up).

We also saw an egret, heron, kingfisher, lots of pintails, killdeer, and cormorants. The birds didn't seem to be out in large numbers due to the regular deluges that hit us periodically during the day.

Our next stop was the new trail at the head of the Cape Mears Lighthouse road which leads to the newest spruce tree to be considered the largest in the pacific northwest. The trail was only about a quarter mile, and it was very nicely graveled.


(Raindrops on hemlock bough).

(Old cedar stump.)

We saw lots of destruction caused the most recent windstorm. Instead of removing trees, all fallen trees were left in place, and only sections blocking the path (or in precarious positions over the path) were cut.


Many of the fallen trees were hemlock, and the root balls were very wide, but not very deep. Some early spring flowers were blooming including yellow violets and trillium.

(Sour grass.)

(Licorice fern.)

The big spruce itself was enormous.

(Top of large spruce tree.)

Its base is probably about 9-10 feet in diameter, and, because only pictures with people in them provide perspective, I had Matt crawl through the brush in order to take this picture.


We made a quick stop at oceanside to check out the waves and then we headed back to Tillamook.


We got ice cream and cheese curds at the cheese factory, and then headed back to grams. Mom and Dad arrived for dinner and then we played some more crib.

The next morning Mom, Dad, Matt and I went back to the spruce trail so that they could see it.



Afterwards, we had a late lunch at La-Tea-Dah - an authentic English tea house. The tea was really good (I had a roibus (a South African herbal, caffiene free, tea) that was really good. For goodies, each of us had our own two tiered serving plates with scones, puff pastry pinwheels, tarts, sandwiches, and cookies - YUM!!! Afterwards we returned to Grams to help prepare dinner for extended family, and then enjoyed the company of Chris, Bev, Terry, and Dianne for dinner. After dinner Matt got out his Apple computer and showed everyone how to play with photobooth. All I can say is that my aunts and uncles are HAMS!! Mom got hilarious pics - go to her blog (which is linked to this site) to take a look.

Mom and Dad left that evening. The next day we went to sacrament with Gram, and then came back to her house and packed up. After eating lunch and visiting, we said good bye and then headed out to Jim's (my Dad's brother) to say "hi". We really enjoyed seeing him, and loved the yummy jerky he fed us. We are thinking of him and keeping him in our prayers as he goes through the courts to determine his resident status.

Our trip home was relatively uneventful. We got home before midnight (a first!), put everything away, fed the critters, and went to bed! I am still trying to catch up in sleep, but think today that I just might manage it....