Beaches, Birthdays, and Brothers

Brother Jim is visiting so we decided it would be fun to go out to the beach house and share some of the joys of vacation living. It's also Kevin's birthday this week, so it seemed fitting to make it a birthday celebration weekend as well. So Amy, Shane, Ben, Ryann, Kerry, Kevin, Stephanie, Sophie and Juliet came out to enjoy some time with Uncle Jim and also to honor Kevin on his 31st birthday. It's rather strange that Kevin is now in his thirties, since I'm only 39. I wonder if I should bump up my age a decade or so.

The first two days were fairly low-key because of the rain outside and the brewing storm so we mostly stayed indoors and played pinochle, read, watched some tv and enjoyed the kids antics. I spent time searching the sea for whales, but didn't have any luck this time. We seemed to be able to keep each other entertained and really didn't need any other activities. Bruce did invite Jim on his early morning walk on the beach. Ryann and Ben wanted to go along so they left before the sun came up and walked a long way on the beach at low tide. They all remarked on the strangeness of the light at that time of the day and seemed to enjoy it.

Everyone else had left by 10:00 a.m., so I talked Bruce and Jim into a drive south to Newport beach. I wanted Jim to see some of the Oregon Coast besides the view outside my windows. The weather seemed to cooperate somewhat and we were able to make several stops to see many of the natural wonders as well as a few of the man-made ones. Seas were high because of the storms so it was fun to watch the water churn and smash against rocks. We also made stops at a few lighthouses. My favorite one is the Yaquina Head lighthouse where we were able to climb up to the top and peek out near the light. The lighthouse is 93 feet high and has a spiral iron staircase inside. Its a bit of a climb, but certainly well worth the effort. We also stopped at the Yaquina Bay lighthouse which is no longer in service, but fully restored from the 1870's and very interesting to see and imagine life in those days. We had lunch at Mo's and the sandwiches were yummy, but the clam chowder disappointing. Some Marionberry Cobbler helped ease the sting of the crummy chowder. Late in the afternoon we returned to the beach house to finish a few things, then headed back to Salem.

Tomorrow is our last full day with Jim and we are already looking forward to future visits.