a perfect weekend at the beach....

If you live in Oregon or Washington, you know that hitting it "just right" for a perfect summer day is hard unless you live at the coast. As valley dwellers, 65 miles from the ocean, so our trips to the coastline are limited to a few times a year. This jaunt was planned several months ago as securing a camp spot for our motorhome must be made well in advance. So you always hope for good weather...and we lucked out this time!

We camped at South Beach State park which is just south of Newport on the central Oregon coast. The funny thing is, we have camped here a couple times in the past, have hiked the dunes, walked the jetty, but never knew the history of this immediate area....pretty sad since I grew up in Oregon!

Click on the pics to see full size photos

The above pic is the start of our hike to the beach---a paved walkway thru dense conifers and deciduous trees, about a quarter mile with markers of where the old shore line was as early as 1830.

The start of the boardwalk to the beach and sand dunes

Arriving at the beach---a history of how the jetty's formed this area...

acres and acres of sand dunes--all under water only 35 years ago!

is this not just gorgeous? You can see the south Jetty in the distance

okay--we had to prove WE were there!

A nice guy stopped to take our pic as we were trying to set up for a self portrait:)

It doesn't get much better than this!

The Yaquina Bay Bridge in the distance~at the far left you can see the North jetty

then there was the hike thru the soft sand back to the campground

ahhh...what a wonderful summer weekend we will not soon forget!

My mini vacation

Usually we try to do a tropical vacation every spring, but didn't work out for 2009. So we have been taking some "mini" vacations. This last weekend we headed out for Three Rivers which is located in the high plateau country of central Oregon. The views are breath taking here at Lake Billy Chinook which is a reservior of 3 rivers--the Crooked, Deschutes, and Metolious rivers (hence the name of this recreational area). My daughter Alissa and granddaughter Lynsie came along with Jim and I as we joined our friends Kathy and Ron on their 5 acre property. This area is "off the grid" meaning there is no power, water or sewer. So it was dry camping! There also is a State park campground and forest service campgrounds along this large lake.
Ron and Kathy took us out on thier pontoon boat one afternoon too. I took the liberty of borrowing the slide show Alissa did for her blog to show some of the photos. Lynsie hated that lifejacket (and I don't blame her) but now in Oregon all kids have to wear lifejackets at all times when riding in a boat. In a couple of the pics I have her on my lap. I guess I was lucky there wasn't a full body shot of me LOL!!

Tagged by a friend!

I was tagged today by my friend Carol from Etsy Cottage Style ning! I have to tell all of you 10 things about myself--some that you may or may not know already--hummm, this might take a while!

1. For starters--the above banner for Carol's blog--I designed for her!

2. I work a day time job for a grocery marketing company and have a website and 3 etsy shops

3.I have a wonderful hubby Jim, 2 grown children and a 21 month granddaughter Lynsie

4.I love David Austin and old garden pink roses and grow several in my cottage garden.

5. I love vintage textiles and it is a thrill to create beautiful home decor that can become new treasures.

6.. I collect vintage German porcelain (of course it has to have pink roses!) preferably the MZ Austria or Leuchtenburg marks

7. I am a Star Trek fan! Loved all the series!

8. I enjoy camping in the mountain forests of Western Oregon

9. I have a passion for traveling to Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island) I think I lived there in another life, it feels like home to me. Andmy dream is that some day we will have a second home there

10. I am a Christian and believe that we are all saved by God's grace

I am going to tag 4 of of my Shabby Lane Shops Friends today!

Janet at Graceful Rose

Theresa at Cottage Violets

Mimi at Mimi's Rose Chenille Boutique

Lynn at The Vintage Nest

Lynsie's camping trip

We saw the forecast for a sunny April weekend, so we loaded up our motorhome and our 18 month old granddaughter Lynsie. Thinking back, we never took our kids camping that young, (but we only had a tent back in the day), and I now I realize why at this age taking them off their regular schedule--well there was no schedule as far as Lynsie was concerned--is challenging to say the least. We were glad when her mommy showed up the next day! We camped at Detroit Lake in the Cascade mountians of Oregon. This is a reservior, and it will not be completely full until mid May, but still breath takingly beautiful!

A true little camper, she claimed her own personal chair upon arrival

She was a bit impatient waiting arround to head down to the lake

More interested in the rocks than posing for a pic with nana!