Last Summer's Trip To The Beach

Last summer the kids and I took a trip to the beach. We like listening to waves crash against the rocks.

When the water hits the rocks it sprays high into the air.

The kids enjoy climbing around on the giant rocks.

The kids found a lot of great hiding places among the rocks.

The trees on this beach are fun to climb.

While the kids climb high into the tree, I stand guard to make sure they stay safe.

We also love to meet the crabs, starfish, birds, and other friends that play at the beach.

Watching the wildlife is one of our favorite things to do at the beach.

They usually don't try to hurt us, but I am still cautious around them.

They make funny faces and act all goofy.

I can't help laughing when I hear the sounds they make.

Also, when wildlife are around, we rarely need to bring our own food.

We always have a good time at the beach.

A Few Recent Pics (not 3-D)

Click to see a larger version (and more detail)

65 ft Young's River Falls (Astoria, OR)

From the mouth of the Columbia River we can see Mt. St. Helen's 130 (or so) miles away. Right above the river's horizon, you can make out the 4+ mile-long Astoria-Megler bridge.

Sunset @ Sunset Beach, OR (fairly close to the actual colors)

A point of clarification: The first and last pictures (the best pictures on this blog) we actually taken by my brother-in-law. The pictures I took of the same subjects with my point-and-shoot didn't capture the color as well as his camera did (you can kind of tell by comparing the middle picture).

Thanks for your comments.

Scenes From The Columbia River Coast

I sit here 'freezing,' in the dark gloomy evening, as the reality that summer really is over soaks painfully to my bones. I decided to look at some of the beach pictures we've taken over the years...there is some association of beach to summer and summer to warmth and light that is very inviting now that the hot chocolate I just drank has lost its warming effect.

Ironically most of our good beach pictures weren't taken during the summer. I think the beach is like coast residents...just kind of hangs low until the vacation rush ends, then comes out to play. (Click on the picture to see more detail.)

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse @ the Mouth of the Columbia River (Ilwaco, WA)

North Head Light House (Ilwaco, WA) and a sample of the Coast's great avian populations.

Peaceful Light clouds and pure blue sky backdrop a boldly colorful Kite.

Indian Head Beach, Ecola State Park, where the water dances majestically over giant, beautifully scatter rocks.(Cannon Beach, OR)

Blue Sky; White-tipped,Blue Ocean; Scattered Clouds; add Sunset = Unmatched beauty.

The sun goes to bed behind the endless Pacific Ocean under a warm blanket of clouds!

Going to bed under a pile of warm blankets sound really good about now. Maybe I'll dream of walking barefoot on a warm, soft, sandy beach with the calming hush of the waves in the background and the cool water lapping at my feet...hand in hand with my wife as a light, warm breeze blows from the yellow, orange, red sunset shimmering across the eternal sea.

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[Technical note: If you hover over a picture in the blog, you will see a web link address show up on the bottom of your browser, depending on which browser you use. Towards the end of the address you will see text between a set of slashes that reads: "s1600-h"--or a variation.

If your picture doesn't link to a bigger-sized picture when you click on it, you can add it by copying the picture address as shown in the Edit Html tab (starts with 'http://..." and ends with ".jpg"--or some other picture format extension following the name of the picture you uploaded.) Now, switch to the Compose tab, click on the appropriate picture, click the 'Link' icon (the green circle with a chain link overlapping the top in the tool bar), and paste the web address in the field provided. From there you can change the 's400' to 's1600-h' (or your desired resolution) resulting in a bigger picture when you click on the blog picture.]