Oregon Coast

As I mentioned the other day, I took advantage of some time off and went to visit a good friend who lives in Oregon.  This is possibly only the second or third time I’ve been away from my husband and kids by myself ever.  It was a nice little break and I’m so blessed to have a partner who can totally handle anything and everything that our monkeys throw at him.  I still missed having them with me to see all of these things.

On Saturday we decided to spend the day checking out the Columbia River Valley and visiting a couple of the waterfalls.

After the steep hike up the mountain to the top of Multnomah Falls, our legs needed a little break so we opted for a drive to the coast.  It was pretty foggy on the drive and I admit that I was a little nervous but we made it and the beach was mostly sunny with only a little bit of haze and fog.

Cannon Beach

We went to Cannon Beach (being a huge Goonies fan, I was so excited to see the rocks).

I wish I could have gotten a picture of the mountain just up to the right of this image.  Unfortunately, it was so foggy and there were so many people, it did make for a very pretty picture.  I was amazed that the mountains were so close to the shore.  I’ve been on the east coast from the Jersey Shore all the way down to Miami and it’s always flat, flat, and then the beach.  Here you turn right and face the sea, you turn left and face a mountain.

And then you see these huge rocks out in the sea.  It looks like something out of a fantasy story with all of the mist and haze.  I could almost imagine myself on the boat with Tolkien’s elves heading to the West.

I was also surprised at how rough the waves were.  On the east coast, the waves seem to gently roll in with small breaks between the crashing, unless of course there is a huge storm off of the coast.  But out here the waves were almost constantly beating their way into the shore.  Between how rough the waves were and the cold temps, I had no desire at all to put my toes in the water.  But it was so pretty to look at.

We walked quite a ways down the beach to get closer to the rocks.  They’re so massive, it was fun to capture how they seemed to grow as we got closer.

I can only imagine how cool it would be to climb out there but also with the rough seas, it was probably pretty dangerous too.  It makes me wonder how they came to be.  I wonder if it was part of the nearby mountains and was slowly cut off by the waves and that makes me think of the power of water again.

I couldn’t help getting sucked into trying to catch the wave crashing and spraying up on the rocks.  Sadly my little 50 mm lens just wasn’t powerful enough to do it justice but I’m sure you get the idea.

And then to catch some sea spray at the base of the big rock.

I really hope I get to go back to visit again someday.  3 days was just not enough to take in all of that beauty.  Thank you Teresa, for a great mini-vacation!