A walk on the Beach

Now that we’ve lost the fever of finding floats, we’re back to our favorite walks – the most fav is from 72nd to the end of the cliffs – better yet – to the other side of the cliffs on a low tide. :) We only had time today at high tide, lots of debris on the beach, found a few agates, a few white limpid shells, and tons of fun. Enjoy!

The Final Step!

YEAH! We’ve walked the WHOLE THING! From Mystery beach, north of NW 72nd Street down to Hwy 101 and 51st street in Taft.

I started tracking our walks on  MapMyRun.com – to see where we were going, and how far – and then it became a challenge to walk the entire beach line.  A few of these entries I’ve done 5 or more times, the Moe’s to Spanish Head and the 72nd to the Cliffs, too many to count.

A - NW 72nd To Mystery Beach -1.600

B- NW 72nd To NW 50th Roads End - .400

C-1 Roads End NW 50th To Chinook NW 39th -  2.220

D3 - NW 35th To NW 40th - 0.720

E2 NW 22nd Long Back/Forth Stairs To NW 35th - 1.690

F - 15th (Drive Down Ramp) To 22nd Long Back Forth Stairs. - 0.730

G - NW 15th To D River - 1.030

H - SW 11th To D River - 1.030

I - SW 11th To SW 35th Nelscott - 2.640

J - SW 35th To The Inn At Spanish Head - 0.670

K - Moes To Inn At Spanish Head - 1.730

Equals 15.46 Round Trip Miles. The boys have been on all of these with me – I wonder if that is like 72 miles by dog foot. ?

A few of these entries I’ve done 5 or more times, the Moe’s to Spanish Head and the 72nd to the Cliffs, too many to count.

Nate took a couple of pics of the last over lapping step. :)

Is it brass or gold? What is this nail for?

Hubby found this at Nelscott Beach around 35th street SW at low tide in February, 2010.

It appears to be a nail, set in concrete of some type, encased in a tube of sorts.  The tube feels like stone, the concrete is getting softer the dryer it becomes. The nail does not have tarnish, does not smell of brass and does not conduct taste or acid to the tongue.

Is this from a survey post? For now we will go with it was a Nail that King David gave to his son to build the temple, since that sounds alot more fun. It seems to be antique and fossilized.

What do you think?

 

Tent Caterpillar

We stopped along Hwy 101 to explore Ona Beach, just south of Newport.  The parking lot has a couple of paved paths that wind through a pine forest in between two streams that lead to the pacific ocean.  Again, unable to put description to justice. Ferns, pines, moss, sand, grass, budding spring trees, pine cones.  Beauty everywhere.   Long this path we spotted a huge next in a tree full of caterpillars in various stages of development. I had left my camera in the car since I’ve taken about 150 sunset photos this weekend (literally) so I walked to the car and back to take these photos.  A quick look up told me that they are Tent Caterpillars, but I was unable to find out which kind. Do you know?

More Sand Dollars Found!

Darren’s brother missed out on the 250 Glass Sand Dollar Drop in Lincoln City, Oregon from feeling sick on the morning he was supposed to drive up – however, we were able to take Monday off and drive half way to meet him. 

We drove to Yachats to meet -  then drove a bit further south to  play around Cape Perpetua.

We happened on a beach south of the visitor’s center, a family was already there playing in the low tide.  I took out my new kite and let it soar to the end of the line, as there were no other obstructions to be concerned with. It was Glorious! Tookie took a walk with Nate, my oldest, Darren took a walk with Jonathan, and I took a walk with my kite. :)

When we first hit the beach – Darren found a Sand Dollar.  Then each of us in turn found one, and the race down the beach was on! All in all – we collected 13 sand dollars to take home to bleach and display. 

The scenery is indescribable, even in photos. My favorite is driving 2 miles straight up the hill to the top of Cape Perpetua for the view. Wow.  My favorite time was collecting my kite off the beach, and spotting a red rock crab being swayed back and forth by the tide – I adjusted it to take a photo, thinking  it dead – when it MOVED! I screeched a little. More like a small mouse than a scared girl.

Another GLORIOUSLY sunny day in the middle of February! Here is a collage for you:

Glass Sand Dollars Found in Lincoln City

We spent about 12 hours on the beach this Saturday, joining the community on a city wide easter egg er – Glass Sand Dollar hunt.  The city has several people put out 300 Sand Dollars over the course of 2 days. We have seen them handed out, found, stumbled upon. In the low tide, near the sea wall, on the grass and in the driftwood. We have seen tourists from all parts of the US who have journeyed here to join us, and locals out for the joy of discovery.

Our family has heard comments, given to other locals, that simply, these events are for the visitors, and not the locals. I’ve given this alot of thought recently – and would like to jot down a couple of my thoughts– in all actuality, the City Staff of Lincoln City should have us on either their payroll or their yearly Thank You for Promoting Tourism in Lincoln City Dinner Party.

We spend countless hours at the beach – besides the obvious joy – there really isn’t anything else to do here in town. We listen to several stories a day, some fulfilling their dream of seeing the ocean up close for the first time, some who journey here every weekend. From far and near. In fear and joy. Most, 9 out of 10, have never heard of glass floats, Japanese balls or glass sand dollars. We share every piece of information/rumor we have heard along the way. Part of the joy of the hunt is fact/rumor finding. We eat caramel apples from local vendors, share a hot dog at a stand, visit the galleries, eat a lot of soup. Give directions, listen to stories, carry a bag. The boys pass on their beach knowledge, we share our Oregon history. We also host many people from out of town!

So – As for our family – we will remain tourists at heart. Joy and Excitement and realizing people pay top dollar to stay here for the weekend and relax on vacation. Let us not loose sight of the glorious environment to which we’ve been transferred !!!

We did find a Glass Sand Dollar at sunset, after 10 hours of enjoying every part of the beach, not nearly as much “looking” as we did last weekend for floats, just enjoying the surf, the low tides, the sun, bon fires and people. :)

Finders Keepers : Sea the Forest

The release of 300 Japanese Glass Floats is happening this weekend.  Also  happening this weekend is a High Surf Advisory.  Which sort of shuts in the Float Fairies. :)   This afternoon, a break in the weather came – low tide, evening, warmth, Glory!  After walking on the beach for about 10 hours, asking everyone we encountered if they had heard or seen of any findings – we found ONE person with a Japanese float.  Then, Nathan spotted a float a the same moment as someone else and wasn’t fast enough to reach down in time – So that was 2 Japanese glass floats and 1 Finders Keepers float for the day. Discouraged and a bit flustered by how it went down with the lady, the boys walked to the car while I gave the beach a one more time look over. 

Earlier – like 15 minutes earlier – Jon had been working on a fire near the spot that he had previously built a shelter. Wait, I think I have a picture of that day - This is Abby, Ruby and Jon eating sandwiches in their house last week.

Se the log there? Behind the “yard”?  Jon was there playing, and then left to find me, and at the end of the log was the float. :) I think they placed it there for him to find, but he left the wrong way.

So – After only taking two breaks in the day, after walking back and forth from 8:45 – 6:00 pm – I finally found my 2010 Finders Keepers ball in Lincoln City – at Taft – in a log. :)

The Yellow and Orange one was from today, the Red and Black one is Nathan’s.  The Three little ones are the ones we purchased for Christmas, and the two Japanese Glass Floats are the ones we found in Charleston, Oregon. :)

BEEEE Utiful! #1500’s from the LCGC – Lincoln City Glass Center

White Egret - Georgia

We have a Blue Heron named George and a White Egret named Georgia.  She has been feeding in the afternoons towards the SE side of the lake.  Here are some shots we got today. Jon took a couple and I took a couple.  Enjoy!

Added Note – Febraury 5, 2010 – Jon was right – this is NOT Georgia- Apparently this is George Too. :)  Plumage indicates Male. :)