It's all about the Beach, and the Sand, and the Surf and the Rain!

With names like Rose Cottage, Wind 'n Tide, Crab Shack and our home; the Sand Dollar you should have a mind picture of small cedar shingle-sided cottages. Nearly every home here in Cannon Beach has grey and weathered cedar shingles. They are quaint and picturesque and many are getting 'new' or replacement shingles in the 'off season'. Lots of building and repair work going on here. Most of those 'little cottages' look modest on the outside, but inside, they reveal their designer interiors and you begin to understand the million dollar price tags, with million dollar views that make you crave a cottage on the beach!
We have weathered some pretty terrific and wicked wind and rain storms in our six weeks here at the beach. Our little 'sand dollar' home has been very comfortable, warm and snug in the 60-70 mph winds and horizontal rains that we have experienced. We are a scant half block from the ocean and on many evenings as the sun is setting, we have taken our coffees or wine and walked down to the beach to witness some spectacular sunsets! We've had more weather in the 50's with peek-a-boo sunshine than we have had rain. It's just when it rains and blows, we are confined to the house and that can be particularly hard on one of us! The last five days have been warm and sunny, no wind,and just enough nice weather to make us sad to leave. Almost!
During our stay here we have been able to explore Astoria to the north and much of the coastline to the South of us. Last week we took a 4 mile hike out to one of the beaches. The trail was nicely groomed, however, we went the day following a 70 mph wind and had to dodge or cross several downed trees. The scenery was wonderful and scary, in that part of the trail followed the cliff that made you dizzy to look over the edge! We compared it to our hike in Cinque Terre Italy, beautiful vistas, but very scary to think about it too much. We were rewarded with a lovely halfway mark of Indian Beach at high tide. We watched spectacular BIG waves crash on a very black-rock beach. The waves made a beautiful 'tumbling stone' sound as the water receded, reminding us also of our stay in Napier NZ. The beach was nearly identical to 'Alan and Sally's' beach!

The beach in Cannon Beach is very sandy and not rocky at all. It also yields very little beach combing material. Very rarely do you find sand dollars, although I managed to find about a dozen while here, very few shells, but it is always a challenge to 'hunt' while walking. We did see a beached baby sperm whale around the first of the year. I snapped a couple of pictures just as the biology crew was showing up to do their measurements and autopsy. With my background in pathology, I wanted to stay and help, but they really didn't need me! Today, we witnessed the highest tide of 2010! I'm sure that they will experience higher tides later this year, but at noon today, it was spectacular. Big crashing waves, and we chose a spot and watched the waves come up to our toes.
It has been leisurely here. Reading and relaxing in front of the fire. Jon has polished off about 6 books and I have finished about 5! Very relaxing. Jon loves building a fire each night, and tonight he put the last log in the fireplace and marveled that the wood lasted just the right amount of time! Good job Jon!
We walked into town yesterday and said our goodbyes to some of the shop owners we have gotten to know. Everyone here has been so nice and the local coffee shop now gives us a discount like the locals (we are sure it isn't a senior discount!)

We will miss the beach, but we are sure to return and have mind memories of a very relaxing winter solstice! Goodbye Cannon Beach.
We are happy and healthy here,
Jon and Joyce

Welcome 2010!

Our winter sabbatical has been busy in the week since we've visited. The logistics of being in the northern hemisphere with plenty of wind and rain have challenged us, but we've stuck to our creed of "getting out everyday" and as a result, we've met some really nice people and learned a few new things along the way.

We had such a wonderful Christmas week. The sun came out in full force the Thursday before Christmas and continued to shine through until the 30th! Christmas eve found us in Seaside,OR at the movie theater to see Avatar. Not my usual genre of movie, but it really was interesting and the special effects were superb. We dashed off to the fish shop after the movie to pick up some "just caught" FRESH Dungeness crab for our Christmas dinner.
We had hoped to find a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen to volunteer in, but had to settle for an assorted box of food "goodies" that we donated to the local food bank. The ladies there were happy to see us and were so gracious, wonderful, caring people. Christmas day found us to be very lazy as we enjoyed our coffee and tea in our jammies and exchanged gifts. We had a "sock theme" gift exchange this year. Jon gave me new exercise socks and a gift certificate and I gave him socks and chocolates! Funny, how you don't need much, but enjoy the "little" things in life! We had temps in the 50's and sun all day, so I managed to get a 2 hr. walk on the beach, then returned to enjoy our crab dinner with ice cold beers! Remember, it's the little things in life.
Over the next couple of days we enjoyed more sunshine and some of the lowest tides of the year and a beautiful full moon this month! We found a great little coffee roaster called the Sleepy Monk just a couple of blocks from us and walked down to have one of the best lattes' we've had since leaving New Zealand. We drove north of town to the local state park, Ecola Park and discovered that it is gray whale migration time and there was a husband and wife team of "whale-watcher volunteers" from Hood Canal, WA. We had a great chat with them, and fortunately, the whales are migrating but, unfortuanately they are about 10 miles out. The vantage point at Ecola is not as high as some places along the coast and so is insufficient for sightings. They had over 100 sightings near the mouth of the Columbia river, north of here but as I mentioned, the whales are out too far to see. We learned something new that day about whales, and met some new people and the scenery was beautiful. I posted a picture of the Tillamook lighthouse from Ecola Park.
Jon and I are celebrating our birthdays this week and as an early present to ourselves, we enjoyed an evening at EVOO with 16 other new friends! EVOO is a cooking school and they have an evening called "skillet suppers" in which they demonstration cook several courses while you watch and ask questions and enjoy a glass of wine or two. We met a couple from Kelowna BC, a lady from Toronto,some visitors from New York city and of course, some people from Portland. It was a diverse and fun group. The food was terrific and the owners of the school are charming and lots of fun. It was such a warm and nice night that we walked home after dinner (good thing with all that red wine) and we couldn't help but reminisce about our "walk about" evenings in NZ. It was a lovely evening and a wonderful celebration.
Our days of sunshine have come to an end as we have been experiencing rain and gusts of wind up to 60 mph, but they tell us the sun will come out again! Hope so, as tomorrow starts the New Year's resolutions that so many of us make to shed a few pounds, so tomorrow, come rain or shine I am getting back outside.
I'm posting links to a couple of our favorite sites in the margin to the left. Be sure to look at Donni and Adam's Christmas ski trip to Roger's Pass BC. They had a very cold, and frozen trip, but it was fun for them. I've also included a link to Adam's new business venture, The Inner Circle Gym. He is a full-time owner and trainer at a new and unique gym and we are very proud of him.
Enjoy the start of a new year. We certainly are.
We are happy and healthy here,
Jon and Joyce