I go to the sea to breathe...

Do you feel like you leave a part of your soul in places that are special to you?  The place you go to relax, a place where you have an adventure that re-energizes your soul or a place where happy memories are made with the ones you love?  And when you go back to that place you can pick up that piece of your soul you left behind and feel whole again?  Okay, maybe that's a bit over dramatic. But I love Cannon Beach so much that I feel I live there all the time and that I live my life at home for a while and then go back and pick up that other life and it fits so well and I'm so happy I wonder which life I would be happier in.  We all know we are often happier on vacation than off, but really there would be no way to sustain it.  So I enjoy every moment I'm there but I'm also happy to come home.

This year my cousin Melinda and her two children visited us for a day at the beach.  The weather was fine and I finally had someone who wanted to splash in the waves as much as I did!  It's been so many years since I jumped waves, splashed around, let the incoming tide rush up my legs as I stand there letting it soak my pants.  So. Many. Years.  I also forgot how much I love it!

Sand...*sigh*

We had such a good day!  We ate at Morris' Fireside restaurant, which was always our eating place when all my cousins would go with Mom and Gram.  I got clam chowder and Melinda said that just looking at it she knew what it tasted like.  She tried some and was happy it did still taste the same!

Since I'd missed Number 1's birthday and Number 2's is coming up soon, we went over to the toy store and they each picked out something good.  We also went down to the candy store, of course!  There's no way you could go to Cannon Beach without stopping at Bruce's Candy Kitchen.  All sugared up and new toys acquired, Melinda got the lucky task of driving home two crazy kids.  One can only hope they fell asleep...20 minutes before she made it there.  :)

Later that day there was an amazing storm coming in over the water...

It got closer and closer...and then the rain started.  It got harder and harder until it was almost horizontal and then some tiny hail was added in.  It was quite a downpour outside.  And then it was a downpour inside!  Water started coming through the small accent light in the mini-kitchen in a small stream.  We ran over and rescued food and candy and then stuck the ice bucket underneath.  Disaster temporarily fixed we called the front desk and they said that the people above us had called too.  The water was coming in their room from the balcony because of a blocked drain.  About that time water started leaking from the ceiling in our room around the fire sprinkler!  A couple of dog bowls under that one and we waited out the storm.  It disappeared as quickly as it came it, though it took a little longer for our indoor waterfall to stop.  Maintenance went up and cleaned out the drain on the balcony above and then came down to see what they could do for us.  There was really nothing to do besides giving us a bunch of towels to soak up the water.  Eventually it stopped and the sun came back out.

Other than that adventure, our vacation was fairly calm.  We walked the beach down to our favorite coffee shop, Sea Level, every morning.  A caramel mocha and a maple pecan roll for each of us and then the walk back to the hotel was required to work it off.  The puppies love walking the beach and meeting new dogs or following their noses to some detritus they find terribly appealing.  But this year Ariel seemed to have a bit of arthritis.  She would walk only so far and then sit.  This made getting to the coffee shop difficult.  The very first day we only walked part of the way and then headed back and drove down.  It would've taken all day to walk there and back with her sitting.  So we did what all good (dog) parents do; we bought a stroller.  That's right she rode up and down the beach this year and she loved it.  I have to say it was pretty cute.

And the clouds were amazing this year!  I couldn't stop taking pictures of them!  Other than the one rainstorm they didn't sprinkle on us.  Just built these amazing clouds up everyday over the Coastal Range.

It was a wonderfully relaxing vacation.  There was knitting and donut eating, movies and coloring, porch sitting and sea shell finding, puppy petting and stuffing yourself with chocolate.  I managed to finish the top part of my Outlander shawl, so a photo shoot was required.

And then all too soon it was time to go home.  Until next time, my beloved beach...

Small Trips :: Enumclaw and Langley

There weren't any big amazing trips this year, but Mom and I did get out to a few places.  It was really about maximizing what we could do in a single day and getting to see some new things.  My obsession with Outlander is still pretty intense, so the first trip we took was to Enumclaw Washington to go to the Scottish Highland Games.

It was a blast!  I was really stoked to see the pipe and drum competition and we arrived early enough to get to walk around through the marketplace first.  I was hoping to pick up something tartan and hopefully in a MacDonald clan pattern since we have ties to them.  My grandmother's-mother's-father's-great-great-great-grandfather came over from Scotland to Nova Scotia in the 1800's, so the ties are distant but who isn't excited to be a little bit Scottish?  They had plenty of tartans to choose from and lots of kilts, shirts and jewelry was available too.  The other exciting thing they had was in the way of food though, Fisher Fair Scones!  The Fair Scone truck hasn't make it to our fair in years and Mom and I got a strawberry shortcake to make quick work of and six scones to save for later.  It was as delicious as I remember.  On our way around the food and marketplace we saw some traditional dances and music, a small Scottish Highland village with women spinning yarn and men making weapons, and people participating in the actual games competition.  Every clan had their own tent and other groups, such as these Outlander fanatics, did too...

I know this isn't the MacDonald clan, but it's an Outlander thing.

Isn't that kid adorable in that wee kilt?!

Then we waited in the longest imaginable line to get some food (seriously every line to a food booth was a good 15-20 minutes of standing) and then the pipe and drums got under way.  I should have taken some video but I guess you'll have to make do with someone else's.



I fell in love with the music they play on Outlander and ended up getting the soundtrack by Bear McCreary.  Even if you don't love bagpipes he will change your mind about them with his amazing music.


Then while we were over in Seattle we took a day-trip over to Whidbey Island.  Both Mom and I love riding on the ferries around the sound or out to the San Juan Islands, so we of course took one over to Whidbey.  I had read in a magazine about the town of Langley and eating pie at Whidbey Island Pies and I was going to make it happen.  After one of my appointments we drove up to Mukilteo and took the ferry over...

And then drove to Langley...before any of the shops opened!  The town was very cute and looking through the windows, the stores looked very nice too.

There was one store open that sold pet supplies and we looked around for a new retractable leash because one of ours had gotten stuck at as a very small leash.  No luck.  So we walked all the way down the main street and sat for a while near this interesting bench...

And listened to the people coming and going.  We were sort of waiting around for 11:00 because most of the shops opened then.  As we wandered back up the street we saw a bookstore open, so we went in and meandered around, but didn't find anything we needed desperately.  There was a yarn store there that I was thinking of going in, but 11:00 came and went and it remained closed.  Beach time you know is 11ish.  I peered through the window and didn't see anything I couldn't live without and we didn't see the place I was looking for to eat pie.  A quick internet search showed that the cafe was actually a bit north in Greenbank.  Back on the road with nav-lady and we found Greenback Farm and Whidbey Island Pies!

The cafe was so quaint!  It felt like we stepped into a small British country cafe.  We ordered a BLT-like panini for lunch and it was so delicious!

And then it was time for pie.  Blueberry for me, triple berry for Mom...

The crust was perfect and the pies were tasty with generous amounts of ice cream.  I could have tried one of each flavor, but was stuffed.  We wandered around the farm and I picked up some jams made there on the island while Mom picked up some locally made wines.  All in all it was an enjoyable trip including the ferry ride back.  Now I have to start working on the perfect homemade pie crust...