Anniversary at the Coast

Today is our anniversary. BN and I have been married for 3 years now.

To celebrate, we took a little getaway to the Oregon coast this past weekend. We drove to Heceta Head and ate our picnic lunch. The day was pleasant and sunny, but a bit on the windy side. After we ate we took a brief hike up to the lighthouse.

We took a leisurely drive the rest of the way up to Newport, where we checked into our Room with a View:

As you might notice from the picture, Agate Beach is a bit unusual in that it is all carved in very low dunes. The sand is super-fine, and anywhere there is a patch of moisture the wind has carved fascinating shapes, miniature sculpted cliffs, bluffs, and columns, like the gem on the left, only a few inches tall.

After we’d played on the beach and shaken off most of the sand that had been blown into our hair, ears, etc – we went out for dinner in Newport’s Historic Bayfront. That sounds fancy but it’s mostly funky little shops and narrow streets with big murals of whales on the old industrial buildings. We got back to our room just in time to catch the tail end of the sunset:

Even after it was totally dark, we got a view of a few fireworks from the crest of the hill to the right of the hotel.

On Sunday we took our time and stopped at several places along the way back down the coast. Most notably was this spot where we wandered among “tide-cliffs” – you’ve heard of tide-pools, well, the tide was so low that we were walking on flat sand all around these masses of rocks with all kinds of barnacles and sea anemones covering the walls. I’ve never seen so many starfish, all clustered together trying to stay wet and out of the sun.

What a lovely excursion. Even though we were only away one night, we felt that we’d maximized our time, spending almost two full days doing what we do best: exploring and relaxing, keeping each other company.