Home From the Sea, Part 2

Wednesday morning heralded a beautiful day, as the view from the front porch shows.

 The weather beckoned us to explore some of my favorite places. First up, the north jetty of Tillamook Bay, where the sun was shining, the sky and water were blue, the wind was completely calmed, and the high tide had the rollers crashing on the rocks. 

 Fishermen were out in force in the channel. 

Sitting there watching the rollers break on the rocks was mesmerizing.

Then we pulled ourselves away to visit my friend Bruce the Spruce, at Cape Meares State Park. 

Bruce is very BIG! I love big trees, and visit here whenever I can.

This is rain forest country, mossy and green.

Bruce has big burls. :-)

Tom captures details.

Standing among big trees is like a cathedral to me. 

Then we went out to the Cape Meares lighthouse, where the views are wonderful.

The smaller trees are cool too, old and tortured by the wind.

We had lunch at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, and ice cream in downtown Rockaway, and then I went for a beach walk with the tide WAY out.

Twin Rocks, twin gulls. 

The day ended with another beautiful sunset. 

Thursday morning there was frost on the grass. 

I got up to get out on the beach as the sun was coming up over the mountains. 

 On a bright sunny morning, when the sun hits the Twin rocks, it lights them up, turns the sea a deep blue, and makes the surf glow. It is a magical time on the beach.

 We spent some time cleaning up the cabin, packing up, sitting and reading in the quietness of the cozy cabin, and then, after lunch, we began our trip home, making a few stops to explore places we usually don't stop.   Here we are at Tolovana Park, just south of Canon Beach.

 We chose to drive the north side of the Columbia this time. Autumn color was happening.

 And as we passed it, Dismal Nitch was not at all dismal on this day. https://www.nps.gov/lewi/planyourvisit/dismal.htm

We've been busy since we returned home, but the satisfaction of a lovely get away still lingers.