I was certain we would see sunshine today, and I kept telling Bjorn we would, but he just laughed. The constant 58 degree temperature was the only thing that could have been better, otherwise, it was a wonderful day on the Oregon Coast.
We drove up to the Astoria Column (see photo) and went from hunting for sand dollars at the beach to hunting for balsa wood airplanes in the woods. The gift shop at the column sells them for 75 cents each and people climb up the 167 steps, then send them out into the wind to see where they land. Often they land in the woods to the east, so that’s always our first stop. One time we got 53 of them, but today we only found a few dozen. We also brought along the ones we had from our last trip down in April, so there were plenty of planes to fly. The twins got a real kick out of it. Kory, Inger and I stayed on the ground trying to retrieve as many as possible, but with the hoards of tourists this time of year, many got picked up by them, never to be seen again. Most of the planes were flown a few times from the balcony, and will live to fly again. I think the boys could have flown those planes all day as the wind wasn’t too strong and it was fun to watch them gliding ever so peacefully toward the ground below.
I know for a fact God has angels watching out for Kaleb, as at one point he climbed up very high in a tree in the caretaker’s back yard, retrieving several planes that landed in branches of that tree. I didn’t see him until he was climbing back down (wearing Crocs, no less), and when I screeched at him, the guy next to me said, “It’s a good thing you didn’t see where he was earlier.” Yikes, and thank you Jesus for saving my boy. We hung out at the Column just for a little while after we retired the planes because the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds and Bjorn wanted to soak it in and just relax for a few minutes. He was rightfully tired and needed a little break from that drive to and from San Francisco.
When I stopped to get coffee at my friend’s coffee shop, I told the woman taking my order that we had company here from Norway. She responded with, “They have no idea of the distances here in America,” which I thought was pretty funny because that is so true. It’s hard to imagine a country as big as America, when coming from a country the size of Norway, but as they say, “Everything is bigger in America.” It’s just hard to imagine it, until one actually experiences it.
We drove around Astoria a little and I showed Bjorn and Inger the house I gave away to be a battered women’s shelter, and the “safe house” that was named after me. I wasn’t going to mention it, but Kory thought I should tell them, since we were in the neighborhood and all. Now they know.
Kaleb insisted we eat lunch at Subway, so he was thrilled to finally have a say in some of the agenda. He’s used to calling all the shots, so he is having a hard time adjusting to the democratic way of life where majority rules. Afterwards we headed out to the Peter Iredale beach again because our God in heaven loves me and finally sent sunshine our way. Everyone went back to the campsite, changed into shorts and t-shirts and hit the beach. Unfortunately, it only lasted twenty minutes before the next wave of fog rolled in, then everyone was freezing and wrapped up in beach towels to keep warm. I left for a while to go visit my friend Gail, who lives just down the street, so I even missed the sunshine and taking any blue sky photos. Darn. The boys all had fun flying kites in the breeze that kicked up, so it was good to make lemons out of the lemonade, as it were.
We had a yummy dinner out then made yet another trip to Costco for those last minute tax free shopping items. Bjorn bought a new set of luggage as he realized he’s not going to make it back home with the four pieces of luggage he came with. Too funny.
It was our last day on the Oregon Coast. We didn’t drive around too much so we had a few minutes here and there to catch our breath, so all in all, it was a good day, but it would have been even better if we’d had more than 20 minutes of sunshine. I guess I’m just thankful it didn’t rain. Hallelujah!
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