Summer Fun

Wow, the summer just flew by! It was pretty routine for us, but I'll try to update on some of the highlights. It will take a couple of posts, so bear with me.
We kicked off the summer with a quick anniversary trip to Cannon Beach. We packed ourselves and Caleb into our new car (Honda Fit- can't break the Honda tradition) and drove off to the coast. In the fuel efficient (and VERY roomy) car Caleb had the whole back half of the car to himself and loved barking out the windows at everyone that he saw. (That is the end of my Honda commercial.)

It was almost more of a vacation for him than it was for us- we spent a couple of nights at a pet-friendly hotel on the beach. A welcome basket was waiting for the dog with treats and water bottles but nothing extra for Andy and I- I guess we're just supposed to be happy with fresh towels. But we really did love the hotel - what was supposed to be a "peek" view ended up being a great view of the beach and haystack rock right from our room. And it was of course just comfortable enough for us to kick back and watch Survivor- hey, it was Thursday. Anyway, this was our view. Not bad for being the cheap seats! If we had only had a Goonie coin, we could have found the buried treasure. (5 points to the first one to validate that reference. (: )

The beach was great! Being early May it was very unpopulated. We were free to wander at will and let Caleb off his leash quite a bit. His favorite activity at the beach is to RUN. And RUN. And RUN. If you look close, you can see that he gets so excited running at the beach that he even goes airborne. He's rather tired the next day, but it seems to be totally worth it, because he does the exact same thing every single time he goes to the beach- runs until he practically collapses. Then he looks grumpy like this when we make him stop. But he especially runs if there are birds, which were absolutely covering Haystack Rock this day. Haystack Rock is the most prominent feature of Cannon Beach, and depending on where the tide is, you can climb up to the base and see all the little sea creatures in the tidepools. It is really fun- very colorful starfish and tons and tons of barnacles cover everything that is normally below high tide. The overzealous gaming protection people were standing out in front of the rock this day to keep people from climbing too far, so we didn't spend too much time there, but rather threw some blankets down on the sand and soaked up the view. Check out King Caleb with the wind blowing the royal ears- it was very windy and pretty cold, but very beautiful. The Oregon coast is one of those wonderful places where it is equally amazing in cloudy and sunny weather. Instead of plain stretches of beaches spreading out to flat water, there are rock formations and cliffs that make it very majestic to view. It's one of those places that I love to go- because I can look all around me, take a deep breath, and sigh with the wonder of God's creation. I feel so lucky to be living so close to this beautiful place!

Of course, our trip wouldn't be complete without having tried a few great coastal restaurants. We found my new favorite (in America) place for Fish n' Chips. And Andy had a great Tilapia that he's still talking about. A quick stop at the Tillamook Smoker Outlet and the Creamery and we were back home after our too short vacation. But it was great to get away for even a couple of days, and we had a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary and remembering our wedding two years ago on a very different beach. It's hard to believe we've been married for two years- it seems to have gone by so fast, but time flies when you have fun, eh?