Day 6 - It's even better

Sunset From the Deck

Morning from the deck

Woke at the usual time after a more restless night than we’ve had – it was warmer than it’s been. The tide was pretty far out, so we drove both cars into town & left Dave’s in the parking lot behind Mariner, then drove back home and headed out on a Big Walk To Town. The beaches were fairly empty and the sky was as blue as blue can be. The waterfall has gotten even less full, becoming more like the water trickle that we're used to in the summer.

One odd thing was that it was very warm – I’d stripped down to my t-shirt and was wishing I’d worn shorts by the time we got to the other side of the carriage road. And here’s a small SAND REPORT ADDENDUM: when we took our first beach walk on Thursday morning, there had been big windstorms and the ocean was really riled up – there were breakers way far out. And the sand was very soft to walk on in many places – we’d sink in an inch or two, even barefoot. The sea is now much calmer, and the sand has gotten much more compacted. I’d hypothesized on Thursday morning that the storms had brought the sand in and it hadn’t yet had time to settle, and Dave wondered this morning if my hypothesis was correct. So we will be watching for this in the future. 

 Aside from being a little warm, the walk was really delightful – we had to time our movement across hug point and between the rocks north of arcadia, but other than that we could walk wherever we wanted. On the way in Dave and I had some disagreement about which part of the Waves motel Josh and Jen were staying in (he thought Flagship, I though La Colina, although he didn’t know the names). So we walked all the way north and came up the stairs at the hotel, and discovered that I was correct that they were at La Colina. We walked through the parking lot & saw their car was still there, but we weren’t sure if they were awake yet so we didn’t bother them.

 Our plan was to walk to pick up the car and drive to midtown for lunch at Pelican, which opens at 11 and has outdoor seating but is first come, first served and had huge lines over the weekend. We got there about 10:40 and were trying to figure out whether to hang out there or go for a walk when Josh and Jen pulled up – the restaurant they were going to go to in Astoria (Buoy, yum) isn’t open on Mondays so they’d decided to do Pelican as a second choice, and wanted to make sure they got there in time to get a table. Hooray! The three of them walked over to Elliot Cottage (where we stayed over Thanksgiving) so Josh could see the outside, and then we hung out on the benches in the sun waiting for the restaurant to open. Which they did, more or less on time, and we got the best table on the corner. Our server was very friendly and funny – when I ordered the beer called “Bronze God” he told me “You are what you drink; we’re renaming it to bronze goddess now.” The food and beer were both good (Jen’s wasabi pea crusted seared tuna was a little weird) and the company was exceptional. They even bought us lunch! They headed out to Forest Grove to pick up Dave’s old volvo to take to Medford and give to the Stanchfields, and also to water the plants on the deck.  (Ed. Note: they made it safely and the car has been delivered)

Meanwhile we took our weary bones back to the house, stopping on the way for milk. The deck was still in the shade and the air temperature was just right, so we sat out on the deck reading, blogging, knitting, and just watching the waves with great enjoyment. Eventually all that enjoyment turned into a nap for Dave. Then the sun got to the place where it starts to heat the house, and it was time for something different. Dave went to play some recorders while I went down to the beach for a nice walk in the surf. The water wasn’t cold but it was too full of jellyfish for my taste – I think the local jellies are harmless but I’m not sure, and also ICK, there were some really big ones on the beach and some pretty big ones floating around in the water with me. This morning on our hike I think I stepped on a part of one and almost fell down, like a banana peel. I walked down to the rocks to the south and saw quite a few starfish – with the sands this high the anemones and starfish are mostly buried, and we wonder what they do down there under the sand. I also walked up to Hug Point and was able to stand on the sand down below, so that was fun. Then I came back and did some Taijifit on the beach before coming up for a shower and some knitting. Man, was it warm in the house. We briefly considered setting up some beach chairs on the front porch, but it was almost time to leave for dinner.

 We left about 10 minutes late, so when we got to the Driftwood Inn there was a short wait for a table. We took a very short walk to get my steps, then waited patiently on a bench across the street. They called not long after and we were seated at a nice corner table in their new outdoor seating area, which is a roped off area where their parking lot used to be. The menu was standard steak and (mostly fried) seafood. We split a cup of the clam chowder, Dave had fried oysters and I had ribs. We both got the undercooked and slightly underseasoned “seasonal vegetable medley” (zucchini, summer squash, carrots and celery). The food was workmanlike – nothing to write home about (even though I just did) but reasonably priced and portioned. We were in and out in under an hour, and as we were leaving the sun was setting. We jumped in Dave’s car (conveniently located very nearby, since the Driftwood Inn seating backs on the the public lot behind the Mariner market) and headed off towards the scenic overlook, the closest convenient sunset observation point.

 

Bonus Points: What's on the mask?

Yesterday for our trip to Astoria we’d downloaded the spotify app for Dave’s car (yes, his car has apps. Of course it does). On the way home from there I’d put on Philip Wesley’s Dark Night of the Soul, and it had been playing every time we got in the car today. Just as we were getting on to the highway in our run to the viewpoint the second song on the album came on – it’s called Racing the Sunset. Which we did. We got to the overlook in plenty of time and were joined by several more cars as the sun took a long time to actually set – it was clear all the way down to the horizon, which never happens. We even saw a green flash!

 Back in the car to get home, which was still very, very warm inside. So we sat out on the deck and watched the long fade of the sunset, the stars appearing, the moon peeking over the roof of the house to light up the tree at the corner of the deck and the beach and waves down below. And of course, the constant sound of the waves, and the gentle breeze. Yeah, can we talk about that breeze for a minute? Because it’s really weird. Mostly it’s cool, but every so often it is a warm, dry breeze, which seems to come from the same direction. We noticed it this morning while we were walking on the beach, too. We don’t know what it is.

It is good to have people here and play games at night, and it is good to have it be just us and sit on the deck in the dark. So far this vacation has been one of surprising contentment. Tomorrow is our last full day here.

At one point we got home and there my car was,
looking extremely handsome and sporty. So I took its picture.