Lochaerie Resort

Toward the middle of April we took a trip into Oregon. We thought it would be fun to take the back roads to Portland and then Cannon Beach. We took Highway 101 south through Aberdeen and Raymond. We then took Highway 4 to the little town of Cathlamet and drove across Puget Island to the small open car ferry which took us across the Columbia River to Oregon. From there we drove along the river to Portland on Highway 30. Portland is always great for shopping, walking, and eating. After a couple of nights in Portland, we decided to head over the Coast Range on Highway 6 along the picturesque Wilson River to Tillamook and it’s cheese factory! (Pretty cheesy!) Then we headed up the coast to meet friends in Cannon Beach for a couple of days. We discovered a beautiful new beach with caves and a waterfall called Hug Point which is just south of Cannon Beach. We saw lots of birds, Oyster Catchers, Pelicans, gulls, but no Puffins yet on Haystack Rock. We returned home by going up the coast through Astoria returning to buckets of rain! What a fun getaway.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to spend a few days in Victoria. We had decided that we’d like to take the Black Ball ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria. This was a very pleasant 90 minute crossing that put us right in the Victoria Harbor.  Ah, Victoria! Books at Munro’s , teas at Murchie’s, and chocolates at Roger’s. What could be better? Oh yes, Canadian beer at various pubs. We spent a good part of one day at the Royal British Columbia Museum. Two excellent exhibits that we enjoyed were the First People’s Gallery and the Natural History Gallery. The Emily Carr Museum is only open seasonally, much to our disappointment. We once again ate at the Reef restaurant and the Superior restaurant. They’ve become two of our favorites. We also enjoy having an special evening drink at the Bengal Room in the Empress Hotel. While waiting for the ferry in Port Angeles, we discovered a restaurant that we very much enjoyed, called the Kokopelli Grill on East Front Street.

Last Thursday we had a clear day with a temperature of 63 degrees! What a great day to head to the beach. We hadn’t been to Beach 2 for a while so we decided to check  out what was going on there. Parking at the trail head to this beach is a bit limited, but the trail to the beach is short and easy. That is until we got to literally a wall of driftwood that we had to climb over to get to the water! The tide was very high so we kept scrambling up onto the driftwood when the waves would come in and then quick run around large trees while the tide was out. The best part? Clearly no one had been on this beach for a while and we found all sorts of cool floats-um and jets-um. We dragged back what we could, but sadly had to leave the really big stuff behind.

A couple of weeks ago we went with some friends that were visiting us to Damon Pt, which is at the far southern end of Ocean Shores to see the Snowy Owls that have been wintering there. They were so well camouflaged that it took us a while to recognize them sitting casually around on the driftwood.  I only had my small pocket camera, so I wasn’t able to get very good pictures of them, however, there are some very nice pictures on this link: columbiariverimages.com/Birds/Birds/snowy_owl.html

On another note, a neighbor of ours went clamming last weekend and was quite successful! We got to share in the bounty when he brought over razor clams that we turned into delicious clam chowder. What a treat! It looks like the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife is going to be opening up the beaches again toward the end of March and early April for early morning digs including a March 24 dig during the Ocean Shores Razor Clam Festival.  Updated information can be found on the Shellfish hotline: 888-562-5632.

We don’t have Punxsutawaney Phil to help us tell if spring is around the corner. Instead, we have Skunk Cabbage! Other signs of spring include Alder catkins, Witch Hazel blossoms, and more Trumpeter Swan activity on the lake. We don’t know if we’ll be having 6 more weeks of winter, but the last few days at least have been beautiful!

From Cabin Ellinor’s  Journal – Happy New Year

Ellinor you are such a cute dear

So relaxing reading by the fire with a beer.

I fear myself and beautiful girlfriend fall in love

with Ellinor, we are sincere

We did adore you

Ellinor the cottage with the great view.

From Cabin Christie’s Journal – I rang in the new year in the most beautiful place imaginable. I had solitude to end 2011 and enjoyed it with hikes, bike riding, relaxing, and writing.  My family joined me for New Years and we made a joyful day of it with the loop drive around the lake and great Italian food for dinner.  Thanks to the builder of this cabin on the rock because he has brought joy to many!

We decided to start a new tradition for the first day of the new year. That tradition is to walk our north ocean beaches no matter what the weather might be. Who would guess that the first day of 2012 on the Kalaloch beaches would be almost clear and dry with a warm gentle breeze? We started at Beach 4 and walked south past Beach 3 until we couldn’t go any farther because of the incoming tide and headlands. Beachcombing on a winter beach turns up all sorts of  treasures.

Thoughts from Chris – This has been the most amazing December! After the wind storm we had just before Thanksgiving, the weather turned cold and dry.  We’ve been taking advantage of this weather to do some hiking and exploring. One day we walked along Finley Creek as far as we could go to the river. Another day we hiked up to Pony Bridge. It was beautiful and we were the only ones up there! I never get tired of walking the Maple Glade Trail and checking on Kestner Homestead to see the progress they’re making on restoring the old house. This is where we almost always see elk. Now in the next few days we’re hoping to make it up to Wolf Bar before the rains set in!

Thoughts from Tom – We’ve both been wanting to see the progress of removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams on the lower Elwha River north of us on the peninsula, so a few days ago, we left before dawn on what turned into one of those gorgeous autumn mornings with frost, sun, and foliage color. There is no current viewing access to the Glines Canyon dam, but a nice trail and overlook is provided at the Elwha dam.  Already the dam is half gone with earthmovers and excavators moving steel, concrete, and soil. We arrived home to find an article in the December Smithsonian magazine about this “most ambitious dam removal project” in the nation. Read more about this:  Smithsonian.com/elwha

Yesterday it snowed off and on all day but didn’t stick. Then this morning when we woke up everything was dusted with a thin blanket of snow!  We ran outside and couldn’t resist taking a few pictures. It sets the scene for the upcoming holidays.