We were so fortunate that our RV Site in Newport was so close to Lost Creek Beach, so we spent early mornings and evenings playing by the water.

Once Ollie finds a stick, the fun begins. Henry runs and runs and Ollie scampers after him until they're both smiling happily, panting, with shiny eyes and noses. Ollie is still a little nervous of the water so Henry keeps a close, protective eye on her. He's also very aware of her picking things up off the beach. As a puppy, she loves to find things and have a good chew on them. Watching Henry and Ollie together is pure joy.

I wrote a little message to my darling niece Nancy in the sand, just to say hi. She had been writing messages in the sand that week, back in the UK, so I wrote back to her. She is so sweet.

I like to mooch along the shoreline beach combing and rock hounding. Eyes searching out little treasures. I was hoping to found an old glass buoy washed ashore from local boats, but alas, no luck this time.  I pocketed some agates in warm, earthy shades of gold, amber, and rich bourbon. I was delighted when I found a huge hag stone that looked like a Google marker. I found quite a few more but left them behind on the beach for others to enjoy. 

About a week after our arrival in Newport, a jolly good storm blew through one night, leaving debris; wood and weed on the beach. It also left the beach covered with small blue jelly fish. I had seen something similar on the Morro Strand beach in California. They are called 'velella velella' jelly fish or 'by-the-wind sailors,' seeing as they look like little boats with little blue sails. The entire tideline was deep blue with these jellyfish. And Ollie loved them with the passion of an undergrad slurping down blue jello shots. 

After the first day of sneakily eating a couple of the blue jellies, despite being kept on a tight leash, she was a little bit poorly so we thought she had learned her lesson. She had not. She continued to fervently chase the blue jellies down as if they were the last chip in the bag. All our beach time from that point on meant Ollie was on her leash to prevent her from devouring her favorite little blue snack. 

Bye-bye Sisters, hello Oregon Coast!

The journey from Sisters, over the Cascade Mountains, in Central Oregon, on a gorgeous April morning, turned out to be bright and beautiful. It was a glorious day!

We had not fully anticipated how treacherous the winding curves, steep descents and scary drop-offs that we would have to navigate after we summited the Santiam Pass could have been. We were just so focused on getting over the Pass. Fortunately the roads were very clear and once we descended the mountains, crossed the busy I5 and dropped into Albany then the flats of Corvallis, we were itching to catch our first glimpse of the ocean.

Our next stop was in Newport, Oregon at the Thousand Trails site called Whaler's Rest.

On arrival we requested a full hook up site with the best opportunity for a strong wifi signal, especially for Henry. We were directed up a steep hill and we spent at least 20 minutes trying to back into a very tight site. We ended up shifting over to a neighboring site so we could gain extra leverage to safely manouver the trailer and park her up safely.

As I began setting up the trailer on the inside, Kim began setting everything up the trailer on the outside. He quickly discovered the standing water pipe was leaking, spraying both him and the surrounding area with water. It quickly became waterlogged and exceedingly muddy. We were parked in a bog.

We asked to move sites and found a lovely pull through site on the other side of the road. We quickly settled in. 

The site was within walking distance of the Lost Creek Beach, so I set off after dinner, with Ollie scampering along beside me, to potter through the woods, cross the road and to run wild on the beach. We while enjoy the scorching evening sunset.