Astoria: the Finale

We spent the second half of our Sunday in the Warrenton area, driving around Fort Stevens State Park. It was probably the strangest day for weather I've ever experienced. In the morning snow, rain, hail, and sun cycled through every half hour or so. By the late afternoon it had settled into alternating sun and clouds, the one constant being wind. Brrrr. Fortunately the weather was good for picture-taking.

Well, here is our glamorous vehicle parked on the sand as we briefly check out the wreck of the Peter Iredale. Overly empathetic people such as myself can enjoy it with no twinge of sadness--the wreck resulted in no casualties.

And here I am...ahem...enjoying my day on the beach. Little sleep + raging headache + glaring sun + virtuous McDonald's salad for lunch + cold wind + "I wonder how many hours it will be until we come across an open public restroom?"= this face. Now I can laugh about it. Not then.

The sunlight sparkling along the water was remarkably lovely, though...

At this point I said something like "Ooooh, it's so pretty, the sun on the water! Take a picture!" And Shaun complied, probably to keep me from making that face again.

After the novel "drive right onto the beach" beach, we explored a little more and came upon this practically deserted beach.  It couldn't have been more beautiful, and having it to ourselves was a definite bonus.  The scale of it was most impressive. If you click on the picture below, you may see our boys as two tiny specks next to the water.

Our poor deprived kids have only been to the beach a handful of times in their short lives.  They were soon playing chicken with the waves.  I haven't heard them laugh so much in a long, long time.

After that, there was nothing left to do but change the boys out of their wet, sandy clothes into cozy sweatpants and dry socks, grab a treat at Dairy Queen, and head for home.  

I definitely am looking forward to some more trips to the coast. Maybe once it's warmer, and we're no longer required to bring a potty chair in the van for use en route.  Maybe this summer.