Out of the Sun and into the Punch Bowl

Day two at the beach condo started with a little rain. We expected that. But the rain didn’t seem serious about anything, until we were about to head out the door for a short walk… when it started to hail. Sadness.

Just north of Devil’s Punch Bowl is a “marine garden.” It is a nice collection of tide pools and pretty marine plants. If it weren’t so cold it would have been fun to wade through. As it was, I kept my shoes on and Dana did a little exploring in the water.

From the marine garden you can get into Devil’s Punch Bowl. This is a panoramic picture Dana took of the inside of the bowl. It has lots of pretty colors (and three entrances) and is only accessible at low tide.

This is what the path to the entrance looks like.

The cliffs are all very neat and have little features and small caves.

Dana tried to find a sea urchin, but we couldn’t find any. . Eventually we found a few starfishes. This one was a go-getter.

And even though this looks like it was taken the day before, the sun did come out for a few minutes as we finished our exploration.

As we drove out of town we stopped at Seal Rocks. Dana climbed up them with ease and down them with difficulty, but he made it in one piece, for which I am grateful.

Thanks, Dad and Terry for inviting us and giving us yummy food at the beach!

The Ocean, some Punch, and Shells in Stone

On President’s Day, we were invited by Ivan and Terry to spend the night at a timeshare condo in Depoe Bay, OR. We had a great time there. We left early Monday morning, and came home Tuesday afternoon.

We met up with my dad in Lincoln City. While waiting I took the opportunity to look at the the “world’s shortest river.” This is the D River. Depending who you talk to, this river is about 400 ft. long, or 120 ft. at high tide. However you measure it, the picture below is taken from the middle and you can see both ends (the tide was low).

This is the mouth of the D River:

After meeting up, we headed south to Otter Rock and Devil’s Punch Bowl view point. This is a place I really like and remember coming here several times when I was kid. The Punch Bowl is a large hole in the cliffs carved by the elements and erosion. I like it because there are some sea arches where the waves crash through.

The weather lately had been wintery, but this day on the beach was very nice. There was beautiful sun and only one phantom rain cloud (well, something rained on us for several minutes). It was also a wonderful temperature: mid-40’s. The sun made the water all kinds of colors.

We then went to the beach just south of Devil’s Punch Bowl, called Beverly Beach. We like this beach because it is usually empty of people and fossils are easily found there.

Ruth is enjoyed the warm February day and the cliffs by the beach.

Here are some close-ups of the fossils. Recent storms had taken off many layers of earth and lots of fossils were visible (all the white dots). The fossils here mostly consist of clams and mussels, with other shells mixed in. There were even impressions of much larger shells that had crumbled away, like the one in the bottom right.

Here are the four of us on the beach. This picture attempt went better than the one where the wave snuck up on us.

Dinner was a delicious stop at Mo’s:

Ruth and I then took a nice stroll in Depoe Bay and got some taffy. The city sits on some nice cliffs and rocks and has the world’s smallest harbor.

This was the view behind the place we stayed. Though it was cold, it was fun to watch the waves on the rocks.

And this was only the first day…

Riding on Skis

Last Wednesday, I went skiing with my dad and Terry. This was my Christmas gift from them, and it was wonderful. The weather and conditions were beautiful and made for possibly one of my best days of skiing ever.

This picture was taken as we were getting ready to leave the car, before we were tired. We went to Mt. Hood Meadows ski resort.

To give you an idea how it was, here is a comparison from summer to winter. On the right is Mt. Hood in August of 2009, and on the left is the day we went.

This was Terry’s second time skiing, so she decided to take a lesson (she did not the first time). They have this fun little tunnel thing with a moving walkway in it that takes you to the top of a very gentle slope to help beginners, so we gave it a go. I felt like we were in a carwash.

Part of the reason it was such a good day was the breathtaking views we had of the mountain. Here are just a few shots from various spots. Remember it is about 27 degrees out.

Here is Dad on the slopes:

The snow looks so soft:

Look at Dad go. Thank you for the wonderful trip.

Recent Craftiness

Just a few pictures of projects I’ve been working on recently.

Baby booties. If these booties look familiar to you it may be because I sent you a pair. I am a dog of few tricks where knitting is concerned. These two ended up two slightly different sizes, but overall I was pretty pleased.

Measuring out fabric for a baby sling. I decided I wanted to make a baby sling and made a half-size one a few weeks ago. I made all the mistakes on that one so I wouldn’t have to make any on this one. I am moderately pleased with the result: Yes, I am modeling my sling with a stuffed elephant in it. The baby (at least in the beginning) will be smaller, and so I’m hoping will fit better. The sling feels a bit long and so I may end up shortening it (but that’s WAY easier than trying to make it longer). And it also feels a bit flopsy, like I need to have ties to keep the sling in a shut-ish position… I’ll have to try it with a real infant before I make any real changes, though.

Sunshine, a Fort, and a Volcano

Hello from Vancouver,

Last Wednesday we were out grocery shopping and saw that the sky was quite clear and that Mt. Hood was very nice looking. But since a parking lot usually is not a good viewing of a mountain, I decided to take a stroll around Fort Vancouver. These are some of the shots I got, all of them have Mt. Hood in the distance. The sun was setting ever lower and I was finishing up just as the light went.

This is a place I like to go, since this our local historic area.

These are trellises in the Fort’s garden:

I like to think of this as a view as something that could have been observed 180 years ago:

The Fort’s Bastion and apple orchard:

Mt. Hood is a very nice looking mountain.

Hope everyone is doing well and making life an adventure…