Day at the Beach

We spent the day Sunday at the Oregon coast. It's so nice to be there and smell the ocean, see the crashing waves, and just hang out. It's a bit different with going there with kid than the "fly by the seat of your pants" days before Ben. Different in some good ways (seeing the 'o-sin' thru a little ones perspective) and some more difficult ways (packing, planning around nap, bedtime, etc.). Of course, the good ways out weigh the more difficult ones...

We started off with a picnic lunch with the (very) high tide waves crashing in nearby.


Then we headed out for a hike to Cascade Head (gorgeous!!) overlooking the Salmon River. We have done this hike twice before - right after Andy proposed and again while I was pregnant with Ben in 2008 (click the link for the video panorama of the area from Jan '08). Ben liked riding in the backpack for (most of) the whole 3-4 miles.

Of course, he got to get out and run around at the end of the hike. It was pretty steep and there were huge cliffs that dropped to the ocean, so there was a lot of hand holding.

The skunk cabbage was one of the few flowers blooming yet...

Then we drove south to Newport, watching the waves crash, and letting Ben catch a short nap. Next, we grabbed some ice cream, and found a nice beach (Agate Beach) for Ben to play at.

We watched the sun go down while Ben ran around chasing a tennis ball and shoveling the sand.

A great way to spend a Sunday.