Oregon Escape

Chris and I had the chance to take three days and go on a trip with just the two of us.  Before this trip we'd only left Grady overnight once before and that was to run the Sawtooth Relay last year, which was not exactly relaxing.  The trip was not exactly a babymoon, but just more of a decompression trip.  We took long walks, did a lot of window shopping, ate out, enjoyed slow mornings, took drives up and down the coast, talked about our future and our family, and just soaked in a weekend together.  It was amazing. 

We flew in to Portland early morning and made the short drive to the coast.  Thursday was supposed to be the best weather day so we were eager to get to the beach. On our drive we passed a place that Chris recognized and we  made an impromptu decision to turn around and go back and eat breakfast there.  The place was Camp 18, an old logging camp.  The grounds were beautiful and the time to sip coffee, play table games, and start the decompression weekend the right were just perfect. We decided we'd make it a tradition to go back there each time we made our way to the coast.

We got to Cannon Beach and  started our day out downtown and made our way down the beach and walked down to Haystack.  Lucky for us it was low tide so there was plenty of shell searching and tidepool hopping to be done.

Christopher starfish rescuer and a picture of Chris's first sand dollar that he has ever found in a single piece, I told him it still counted event thought it is was more like a sand nickel.

 

We took a trip to Ecola State Park the next day.  I don't remember ever visiting this park and I was so glad we did.  I think it may be one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen.  Pictures cannot do it justice.

We took a couple of small hikes down to various viewpoints.

Ultimately we found ourselves on this beach that we had almost all to ourselves.  We stripped down to t-shirts and tank tops and enjoyed the afternoon sitting on a log just talking.  Such a simple joy, but so truly wonderful.

Our final day was supposed to be rainy and very "Oregon Coasty" and instead we ended up with this!  We walked the beach and let the sun kiss our faces before walking back for our final dinner on the caost.  We ended the trip with an amazing dinner overlooking Haystack.  The only thing that could have made it better is a glass of wine!

Showing my bump in front of the big bump.  19 Weeks!

Chris's turn for a belly shot.

Love this man.

The perfect ending.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Grady got a ton of cousin time in and 5 days with Grandma who watched him all weekend and then stayed over two more days to help us out!  We couldn't have made this trip without Gradma's help.  Grady loved the time with her and we are forever grateful.  THANK YOU KIM!