Today was our designated beach day that Lydia had been begging for over and over and over. She insisted that she wanted tons of beach time and to be there the entire day.
We started the day with breakfast at a lovely restaurant called the Osprey Cafe.
When Clarissa got fussy, I took her to the Sea Side beach two blocks away and snapped this photo:
Afterwards we stopped back at the place and then did some shopping. Then we went on a very long drive with the sole purpose of letting Clarissa get her beauty sleep in so she could be fresh for all of the time at the beach.
We drove all the way from Sea Side to Tillamook. Lydia and I went in to check out their new visitor’s center which is huge and amazing. Here are some pictures below:
Clarissa slept so long that Lily started to get nervous we would not have the beach time that Lydia wanted so badly, but finally Clarissa did wake up. We went to our first beach in Manzanita. For lunch we delicious fish and chips (from Big Wave Cafe) on the beach. Lily said they were the best she’s ever had.
Manzanita beach was beautiful and we got to fly all the kites we bought the day before. Just like the man at the kite shop predicted for today, the wind was perfect for kite flying. I especially loved the tails an Lydia and Mary’s kites. It was very fun to fly kites with them.
After playing at the beach for a while it started to rain, so we headed North to another beach. We pulled into a beach (I forgot the name), and were contemplating staying, but Lily happened to bump into a ranger on her way back from the background and he emphatically told her to visit Ecola State Park and that Indian Beach in Ecola State Park was the most beautiful beach in the world. This was such a tender mercy from God for us to get this tip, and great scouting by Lily! We of course headed straight to Ecola State Park.
Our jaws were dropping even before we got the the beach. There was a 4 mile or so ride through the state park to get to Indian Beach and the scenery was unbelievable. There were beautiful mossy trees towering over head, with ferns covering the ground. Below are some pictures that attempt to capture the beauty.
At Ecola Beach the kids played more and Lily took a bunch of photos. I built an awesome sandcastle with the kids the was on the edge of a small ocean inlet and had a log bridge leading to its entrance. We then all looked at tide pools. There were tons of creatures that Ammon loved poking. I also saw a sizable sand crab. Then we all stood in the ocean and let the incoming tide waves splash us. Clarissa was beside herself with glee until she got too wet from a big wave and then she was not happy.
After that, we spent some time at the overlook. Lily and I both gazed out for a solid five minutes just taking in the view. Lily loved the expansiveness and purity of the view on the right. I loved the motion and features of the view on the left. I loved it so much. We were riveted for 5 minutes straight.
With everyone wet, we headed home, getting pizza and candy (from Phillip’s candies) on the way. The sea foam from the candy store was amazing. They made it themselves.
After carefully cleaning everyone and dealing with sandy clothes (our air BNB host was super particular about not getting sand anywhere in the house, tub, washing machine or hot-tub), we got everyone to bed and got some rest.
What a great day!