Let’s Skip the Boring Stuff!

and catch up to more current events…

Once I was traveling along the Oregon coast, it just started raining and raining and raining. I needed to dry out! I’m a desert girl after all!

So I headed east to the high desert of Oregon and Washington. Let’s just say it was beautiful but boring. But I did get dried out. The locals told me that by early May the weather starts drying up along the coast. So I hung out in the eastern parts of the Pacific Northwest until then.

If you’re wondering what eastern Oregon looks like, here’s a typical photo. It is beautiful with all the rolling hills and rivers mixed in from time to time.

When leaving Portland on my way east, I drove through the Columbia River Gorge. It was a beautiful drive. I took the time to stop at Multnomah Falls. I have always wanted to see this spectacular waterfall.

Once late April came around I started working my way back to the coast. I landed at Cape Lookout, Oregon. It was still a little rainy, but I did have one really good day at the beach there. Maddie and I walked for miles enjoying the sunny beach.

Maddie could tell there were clams under the sand

Whatever fish this was, it had some wicked teeth!

By sunset the clouds had come in and in began to rain all night and in to the next day

From Cape Lookout I worked my way up the coast to Kalaloch Beach, Washington. I loved this beach!!!! I stayed here for several days. Every day the weather was just gorgeous!

This beach is known for the now popular “tree of life”. It gets its name because it has been clinging to the cliff side by just its roots for years. I guess eventually it will die because the erosion will take it out, but from what I could see that’s still a long ways off. I spoke to a neighbor camper, and he said that he has seen this tree there for 50 years and it only now has become some kind of “bucket list” place LOL!

Needless to say, I wanted to see this tree. My first sunset at this beach was truly spectacular! I made sure to take photos of this now famous tree right at sunset to get the warm light shining on the roots. It is quite the sight to see. It’s so difficult to show scale in a photo, but this tree is massive. It could easily be a 100-year-old juniper.

Here’s the first sunset I experienced there. Just spectacular!

Every morning Maddie and I would get up and walk along the beach. Low tide was right at sunrise, so we always walked 2 miles up the beach to reach this really cool area that was exposed at low tide.

I have to say I had a fabulous time taking photos of this part of the beach. It was just so photogenic!

Since it was low tide, there were lots of tidal pools to explore. It’s amazing how much life is in each one of these tiny little pools.

This tiny little crab matched the rock perfectly. He’s even hard to see in this photo. I disturbed him so I could take a photo. When I first saw him, he had all of his legs and claws tucked in and kept a low profile to the rock. I almost missed this one-inch little guy!

The walk to the rocky shore was also fun. I tried to get some creative photos of the area. All of the old giant driftwood along the shore was so unique that I had to include it in some photos.

I enjoyed creating my own Zen stacked rocks. I thought it looked nice with some of the local foliage and a few items from the ocean. This beach is loaded with these rounded stones. I gathered several of them to keep. They are perfect to heat up and use for a hot stone massage.

Of course, Maddie had a blast at the beach every day. We would walk 6-8 miles every day and she was busy the whole time!

One time while walking along the beach, I managed to lose Maddie. I was looking everywhere. How could she just disappear? It’s a sheer cliff along the beach. It took me a few long minutes to finally spot her among the giant logs.

Maddie was perfectly camouflaged among the logs. She seemed to really enjoy going in to the dark caves created by the large logs.

To my delight I got to see the local Bald Eagle every day. I just had to break out my birding lens to photograph him.

While walking the beach, I got to photograph a Least Sandpiper. He was very tame and let me get very close. I took this photo with my regular camera lens!

Most of the evenings I was there, the sunsets were mostly uneventful. But the last evening’s sunset turned into a gorgeous explosion of orange.

I’m almost caught up to current time with my blog. My next blog will be about my stay at First Beach and my hike to the famous Sol Duc Waterfall.

After that post I will be in Canada!!!