Barbara's Birthday on the Oregon Coast

To celebrate a major milestone in Barbara's life (coincides with Bastille Day), we recently enjoyed a relaxing weekend getaway at the Oregon coast and got to introduce Brodie to the beach.

Luckily I was able to secure Susan Hoffman's house in Gearhart (her husband spent a week in Scotland a few years ago so this is payback). Last time we stayed there we easily fit three couples in the house, so needless to say there was plenty of room for us to spread out with just the two of us.

Gearhart is also my favorite town on the Oregon coast. It is a small upscale area where most people have their second or third homes. There is a small grocery store, ice cream shop and a great restaurant/bakery about 10 minutes walk from the house and the beach is literally a straight shot out the back door. If you want more adventure you are only 10 miles from Seaside which is a bigger tourist town with all the seaside tourist traps as well as some nice cafes and the much visited outlet stores.

Another great thing about Gearhart is that they have a golf course about five minutes from the house. On paper it looks really easy, about 6,600 yards from the back tees, but in practice it is a very tight course with a lot of trees and very small, undulating greens. Luckily we were paired with a local so we got some insider knowledge; otherwise this course would have been a killer.

Apart from our golf and shopping trips we also had a couple of great meals at the Pacific Way Cafe and Bakery (see review posted Monday, July 16th) and took a lot of walks on the beach. Brodie loved chasing the ball and I have never seen him so tired as when we got back from the beach. We had to keep checking to make sure he was still breathing!

We also got a great dose of Oregon weather on the trip. On the way to the coast we saw some of the most dramatic lightening I have seen in Oregon and huge rain drops (we normally get mist). Then Friday and Saturday were amazing, somewhere in the high 80's. Sunday morning brought the famous fog and mist, but luckily it burned off by the afternoon.

The one drawback of the coast is that the water is really cold, so you don't really get much chance to swim or body surf unless you have a wet suit. I guess that is why Oregonians always call it the coast and not the beach; we don't want you to confuse it with Malibu. So instead of just laying around Oregonians are pretty active. You see a lot of kite flying, clamming, sand castle building, and jogging. But my all time favorite coast activity is storm watching. This is not a joke. In the winter people rent places on the beach or build bonfires to watch storms roll in. I think I would prefer to be inside if I had my choice.

Apart from golf we also got a little exercise riding bikes around all the neighborhoods wondering if we could afford a house of our own. Unfortunately a look in the window of the real estate office threw some cold water on that idea. Turns out the little two bedroom fixer uppers that are several blocks from the water are starting at $300,000. Oh well, hopefully we can continue to count on friends to borrow a place or find a nice rental for the twice a year we actually would ever make it down here.