Day at the beach.

"We're going to the beach for the day.  Where should we go?" I posted this query on Facebook and Kelly said we should do the hike at Cascade Head.  And so that's how we started our day.

A picture of our map so we could refer to it during our hike, if necessary.

View at the trailhead.

We found this Bearing Tree, which was kind of cool.

From the trail.

Our view from the lower stopping point. 

Self-portrait at the upper stopping point.  This was a hearty and fun hike.  Good suggestion, Kelly!

For part of the way down it looked like I could fall and roll all the way down to the ocean.

On the way to our next beach adventure, we stopped for some food.  I had oyster stew and a beet/kale salad and they were both superb.  Too bad I can't remember where we stopped.

Another suggestion, this one by Angele, was Short Sands Beach, which is located in Oswald West State Park and required a short, easy hike in from the parking lot.  Here's our obligatory feet-in-the-sea photo.

And a couple of self-portraits.

We looked in a few tide pools.

This is a very big surfing beach.

View from the rock on which we perched to take a short nap.

What a great beach.  We shall return someday.

We then opted to drive home instead of continuing on to Seaside.  The drive was eventful. We were re-routed off of Highway 26 to detour around a fire at Manning.  Thankfully, the windy road was easily traversed and kicked us back on to 26 right before a Dairy Queen so we could have a snack before continuing home.

Hooray for a day at the beach!

Various things at Elk Lake

When looking for kindling for the fire, I found this clip-on light.  It proved to be very bright.

This is the trip we've decided to give up our tent.  We still like staying in yurts and state-park-style cabins, but neither one of us loves tent camping enough to keep a tent around.  So if you are interested, let me know and I'll give you my tent.

Remains of last night's fire.

The thing I enjoy about camping is the snacks.  Including these peanut butter M&Ms.

Overall it was a fun camping trip, with lots of reading from the read-aloud books.

Elk Lake: canoeing and hiking and stuff.

We went canoeing in the morning, my first time in a canoe.  I didn't bring my camera because I wasn't sure how good I would be at canoeing and didn't want to ruin this camera in the first month, just like I did the last one. I wasn't sure if I wouldn't accidentally drop it in the water, or flip the canoe or some such thing. So there are no pictures, but it was fun.  After eating lunch and Matt spending three hours procuring a shower, we went for a short hike at the end of the day.

Matt on a cool bridge.

Matt by a waterfall.

Just the waterfall.

Self portrait by the waterfall.

Elk Lake: on the way and arrival.

We're headed to Elk Lake, one of the Cascade Lakes, which are located outside of Bend.  On our way, we saw a lot of the drought.  This is Detroit Lake, or, I guess, "Lake". It's a reservoir that has been drained down to nothing.  The stumps from the trees they removed before they flooded the lake, could be seen easily.  They are usually far under water.

Another view of the "Lake" which had me wondering how our lake was going to fare.

Thanks to the fact that I had AM & PM switched on my camera, we've now moved on to the next day.  And here's the obligatory picture of Matt sleeping.

Here's our campsite.  It was more primitive than the usual State Park camping we do.  The toilets were pit toilets and if you wanted a shower it cost $5.00.  This is because Elk Lake is on the Pacific Crest Trail and gets a lot of thru-hikers. 

A place to tie up your horses.

A vehicle for use during the snowy season.

First view of the lake.

It was low, you can see those sailboats are beached.  But it was still a lake, so that was nice.

Back at the tent, Matt is still sleeping.

Last bits of Grand Lodge

The wedding that was beginning as we started our self-guided tour kept going into the night.  The next morning I was amused to see "Wedding Aftermath" outside of the Bridal Suite.

Matt poses for another dog statue photo.

We stayed in the John Porter room.  Mr. Porter planted sequoias all over Forest Grove.

Detail on our closet door.

Verbiage of Mr. Porter's story.

Both Matt and I completed four experiences and each received a $20.00 gift card.  I bought some Pear Brandy to take home.

Tour of Grand Lodge

We took the self-guided walking tour and had a great time.  At one point, the front desk guy saw us walking around with our guidebooks and said, "We should hire you guys."  That's us. Nerdy walking tour people. 

As we were getting started, people were assembling for a wedding that was taking place upstairs.  Not everyone had picked up their boutonniere.

Grand Lodge, as mentioned before, was a Masonic retirement home until 1999, when the Masons built a more modern retirement facility behind the original, and sold Grand Lodge to McMenamins.  A year later the hotel opened for business.  This makes it different from Edgefield, which was abandoned and dilapidated for a long time before the company bought and refurbished it.  This building was in good shape.

Really awesome mosaic tiling, to go with the excellent original tile floors.

Matt becomes the dog, which is a greeter from the main entrance.

Masonic detail on the fireplace.

Quote from one of the sitting rooms.

Really beautiful picture.  The art was chosen to reflect the history and the community, including Forest Grove's large Hispanic community.

Pictures of orphans playing in the snow.  One of them is wearing striped socks that appear in a painting painted for the site.

The rooms all have names.  I enjoyed that this one was called Mike's Light Bulb Room.

Art detail on the electrical panel.

Fabulous picture of Richard Nixon visiting Pacific University.  One of the Fraternity Brothers managed to sneak the Pacific University mascot into the photo.

Ad to support the effort of building of the home.

I loved this picture of some of the last residents.

Another of the sitting rooms.

The lady painted on this door is a portrait of a ghost one of the artists saw while working.  It's a very true-to-life (true-to-ghost?) portrait, scaring me a few times as I glanced down the hallway.

The back porches of the Grand Lodge had slides to make it easier for residents to escape in case of fire.  Here's a fantastical painting of them in use.  Which I don't think they ever were.

Photo of the Mozart Room, where we spent some of our time.

This painting is a portrait of a resident who was a photographer in World War II.

Another favorite room name:  Pioneer Japanese Students.

More excellent mosaic and an early trapper.

I liked this portrait of a dog.

And liked even better the poem that went with it.

The entire downstairs was a mosaic frenzy.  I wondered how long it took the artists to complete the mosaics.

Beautiful detail added to the pipes.

Matt reads the last of his tour, while leaning against a mosaic.

We enjoyed our walking tour.