The Oregon Coast

The biggest thing Inger and the twins were looking forward to on their trip to America was to pick up sand dollars on the beach. I had given her one in Norway and she’d never seen such a thing. When I told her they were just lying in the sand, free for the taking, she got all excited. The twins also share her love of collecting things at the beach, so today was their big day. Unfortunately, the sand dollars have to be collected a low tide, and even more unfortunately, low tide came early today. Just when they would have liked to sleep in a little and have a relaxing morning, we had to hop out of bed by 7:30 to get down to the beach to look for sand dollars.




Kory, Tobias and Kaleb were not the least bit motivated to rise from the comfort of their warm blankets, so it was just the five of us, trekking off down the dunes onto the beach below to find our treasure. Fortunately, and unfortunately, the fog was thick this morning. It wasn’t good for little boys who got cold very quickly and wanted to go back, but it was good for Inger and I, as no one else ventured out onto the beach, so we got every sand dollar there was to get in a two mile stretch. Normally though, we are here on the Oregon Coast in April or September. I haven’t experienced just how many tourists can show up around here all at one time, so we did not get nearly as many sand dollars as I expected, as the beach has been picked clean each and every day this summer, I’m sure. We picked up 32 perfectly whole ones without a dent or crack, and another 28 slightly imperfect ones that will work almost as well. Inger wants to use them for place names for Tobias’ confirmation party next year, and the imperfect ones can be used for decorations. It’s a cool idea, and she’s very creative, so I know it will be nice. But still, when I’ve come here in the past, I’ve collected up to 300 at a time, and there are always more than I can carry, so today was slim pickins, but there is always tomorrow’s low tide. I just hope the sun comes out so it’s more pleasant for everyone (and the pictures will be far more colorful, too.)



Inger wanted to buy some Crocs, and there is a store in Seaside, so on our way down there, we stopped off at Fort Clatsop to give them all a little American History lesson and show them the replica of the fort built by Lewis and Clark on their westward expedition in 1804. There were some hands-on demonstrations going on for kids, like stringing beads, weaving, and trying to start a fire with flint and steel. It was good for all the kids to have something to do that was geared for them, so that stop was worthwhile.



After a stop at Costco for lunch and a little more shopping, and a trip to Seaside for the Crocs, we headed back out to the beach at Fort Stevens State Park near the wreck of the Peter Iredale (see photo) and let the kids play in the sand. They rolled down a hill of sand, they jumped off a cliff of sand, they covered themselves in sand and put sand in their pockets. We were there for hours, and it was perfect in every way except the sun was still hiding behind a thick layer of coastal fog (we could see the sun was shining just a few miles inland, so it was all the more unfair to us.) I kept telling Bjorn the sun will come out, but he’s dismissed me as an eternal optimist and won’t believe a thing I say. Turns out, he was right, we never saw sunshine all day, and it never got above 60 degrees. It was fine for me, as long as there was no rain, but everyone else was craving sunshine. Oops.



The only thing that got the kids motivated to leave the beach, was the promise of going swimming in the Astoria Aquatic Center, complete with waterslide and sometimes, a river current (if it’s running). They all gladly hopped in the car and off we went. We thought it was a good place to get all the sand out of their ears, so Bjorn went swimming with the boys and Kory observed. Inger and I went shopping.



It was tough to find a restaurant for dinner as my favorite place had a long wait, and the place next door only had pasta on the kids menu and they didn’t want that, so we ended up at a Mexican restaurant, which worked fine for everyone but me. I love to eat seafood when I’m down in this neck of the woods, but as I told Kaleb several times today, “It’s not about you.” It was fine though and the kids were happy.



We made a fire in the fire pit tonight. Tobias wanted to start it with a flint and steel he got today at the park, but all he managed to do is rough up his knuckles. He got plenty of spark, but we didn’t have good kindling to get it going, so we cheated and used matches. I think he was disappointed, but I’m sure he’ll try again back in Norway. I suggested he do a report on Lewis and Clark for school, and bring the flint and steel in as a prop. I’m pretty sure he won’t be burning down the school house with it, after watching it in action tonight.