Thanksgiving

We slept pretty well – we’re used to the Arch Cape Property Services mandated fleece sheets and small beds. One major drawback to this house is that the master bedroom is in the back, so you can’t here the ocean at all. That makes us sad. On the other hand it’s set much further back from the road as well, so you don’t hear giant trucks rumbling by early in the morning. On the other hand the neighbors have small children who start playing outside and making happy shrieks at 8, but that’s kind of nice to wake up to. We had a nice slow morning, including rebuilding the fire and eating cacklin’ with no milk because we forgot to get some last night.

Eventually Tim woke up and we headed in to town for our now traditional (3^rd year in a row) brunch at Pig’n’Pancake. Last night at Castaways both Dave and Tim revealed the ugly truth that they don’t love the Pig’n, that they just go because I love it so much. This is heartbreaking – how can they not love the Pig’n? It is one of the highlights of the trip! On the other hand, it’s sweet of them to be willing to go without complaining because they know how much I love it. Tim had biscuits and gravy and half of Dave’s breakfast; Dave at one of my blankets, and everybody enjoyed themselves as near as I could tell.

After brunch we stopped at the Mariner for milk and eggnog, but Tim did not want any Hogwash. I think that means he’s really growing up. Most of the restaurants in town were open, but I think Mariner is the only shop that was. The weather was light overcast, but no rain, and moderately warm as well, so when we got back to the house we rebuilt the fire and then Dave and I went for a walk. We walked all the way to the Carriage Road, which is about a mile and a half each way. I have to say again that although I’m in good shape from all that BodyFit and Nia, my legs aren’t used to just making the same motions over and over again. Fortunately there are many scenic things to stop and take pictures of, and also many streams that come across the beach that you have to stop and think about how to get across. One of them was deep enough that we had to go up to a road that parallels the beach and cross over a little bridge, which we know from past vacations has a geocache under it.

The strangest part of the walk was when we got to the area around BLH. For one thing, the sand was very high, which always makes it look different. There’s a rock that usually sticks out of the sand in the middle of the beach and it was completely buried, and the passageway to the north is level and filled with sand. But the strangest thing, of course, is that we were not staying there. We walked up the stairs a short way to get a picture of the waterfall (in the summer you can hear it, but you can’t really see it) and felt a little like we were trespassing. On the other hand we are sure the people who are staying there are having a fantastic tie (how not?) and we are enjoying Rustlewood, especially the fireplace.

At the beginning of the walk we headed south towards Arch Cape Creek, and figured out where the Oregon Coast Trail goes from here, so that was good, although not very interesting, since where it goes is up Shingle Mill Lane to where we usually pick it up at the Two Bridges trailhead. We also found a perfect log for burning in the giant fireplace, so we brought it back and left where we could pick it up on the way back. Other interesting things on the walk were the house where the front of their yard collapsed and all their stairs fell down, and the waterfall at Hug Point, which was very big and once again had the stream at the bottom flowing up towards the carriage road so that you couldn’t go there. That area seems to have very low sand, in fact the sand in the Joel Marble burping cave was so low that I think a rock was exposed that I’ve never seen before.

The other thing about the walk back is that the wind was very strongly in our faces, which made us wonder about things. There have been a couple of times that we’ve gone beach biking in the summer where the wind has gone that way, but usually it goes the other way. So we wonder if the wind is usually from the north in the winter and from the south in the summer, and if that has something to do with where the sand is high and low. This is what engineers talk about when they take long walks on the beach. It’s very romantic! (Later on we found a local weather station showing wind directions for the past year and in fact the prevailing directions are just what we said.)

When we got back Tim had let the fire go out, so I spent some time playing around with it but couldn’t get it going again. Dave eventually came over and shoved it in a tighter pile, and it took off like crazy. The stones around the fireplace have also warmed up and it’s almost too hot to sit on the swing with your feet sticking out. While I was futzing with the fire and catching up on my Words with Friends, Dave took a short nap in the recliner, and Tim went out for a run. The recliner is Dave and Tim’s favorite chair, but I love the swing. It’s very sensitive to any motion, and last night I found I could make it rock side to side by lying on it and flexing my abs. That’s the kind of ab workout I like!

 

After some texting with Josh and some phone calls it was time to shower and get ready for dinner. Last year we ate at the Nehalem River Inn and had fabulous food , so we’d made plans to meet our friends Rhonda and Tracy there for dinner. What we didn’t know is that I has changed hands (and chefs), so while the food was very good (and the ’08 Panther Creek Shea was delightful), the food was not as good as it was last year. It was still very good though, and we had fun catching up with R&T and enjoying Thanksgiving. I’m particularly grateful this year for my family, both here and far away.