Shhhh . . . . it's a secret!

One of our favorite spots in all the world is a secret.  Secret beach.

It is a pristine little beach next to Little Whale Cove on the Oregon Coast. All beaches in Oregon are public, but this one is basically private by default. It can only be accessed from one of two housing developments, and then only by scaling down a pretty steep cliff.

But, oh, it is so worth it. We have very rarely seen any other visitors to the beach, so when we have visited it has been our private playground.  

We spent a beautiful August day at the beach.

 

 

 Joseph tried to talk Dan and Brandon into exploring this watery cave with him.

 Bailey suntanned while working on her AP English summer assignment.
 

 

Eventually, we regretfully packed up our sand toys and headed back home for dinner, climbing the steep cliff with the help of a big rope and then walking down the little hill and through the pebble beach.
 

Oh, but wait . . . .there's more!

The next day the kids and I decided to go for an exploration walk while Dan was taking a nap.  Brandon and Angela headed off in the direction of the benches along the ocean, and Bailey, Aubrey, and Joseph followed me through the forest paths. Joseph was still in the early stages of riding his bike, so he practiced pedaling as we explored.

I love the forest paths at least as much as the ocean. They feel primeval and tranquil.

Eventually, we parked the bikes and took off exploring a really cool part of Little Whale Cove. There is a boardwalk which winds through a marshy part of the forest. It has totally different vegetation than the surrounding area. Along the way, we saw an old still which was used to make alcohol during the Prohibition.

 We stopped here and there, including this swing which overlooks a pretty view.

Eventually we wound our way back to the "long way to secret beach".  I hadn't taken this route in many years, not since Grandpa Springer led us there about a decade ago. But, we were up for the challenge. This route took us through another housing development. So, technically we trespassed when we tiptoed past a few houses and to a back entrance to the beach. The only way to descend was with a ladder. 

 We found that the tide was entirely out, leaving a large swath of beach and driftwood.

We explored, climbed, ran, jumped, balanced, and had a perfectly wonderful afternoon.

 

Then, we walked to where we had parked our bikes and wound our way home. On the way we took pictures of the sunset again. Aaaaaah. I feel relaxed just looking at these pictures.

 I'm grateful for such a beautiful world and for the privilege of spending time on the Oregon Coast.

Heaven is on the Oregon coast

16 years ago we started visiting a peaceful spot along the Oregon Coast. (Just to put that in perspective, Brandon was 5 years old, Bailey was 3 months old, and Aubrey and Joseph were just a dream). We have so many happy memories in this beautiful place. We had the chance to go back for almost a week in August, and Brandon and his girlfriend Angela joined us.

I took a crazy amount of pictures during the week, and I'm really working to just post the best ones on the blog,but I really want to document this very special part of the world.

Everyone except Dan and Bailey took off on a Saturday. Dan was deejaying the stake dance Saturday night, and Bailey wanted to attend the dance, so they joined us Sunday afternoon.

After stocking up on some groceries, we arrived at the peaceful Little Whale Cove. Almost immediately, we headed out for a walk along the ocean. We returned a few hours later to see the sunset.

 

 

Sunday morning we got up and prepared to go to church in Lincoln City. I had texted a friend in that ward to double check the time, and Sunday morning found out it was Stake Conference for the area, which was over an hour away. So, we weighed our options and decided to hold our own church service.  Each person took turns sharing a favorite scripture or scripture story, and Aubrey shared some Mormon Messages on her iPad.

Then we went for a walk along the ocean again. I will never get enough of that view. We stopped at "our" bench. For 16 years we have been stopping at the same bench overlooking the ocean to read our books. The kids all have wonderful memories of this spot. So, we all brought a book and we enjoyed the sunshine while reading for awhile.

On the way back, we took a few pictures in the ancient forest that meets the coastline.

That night we walked back to view the sunset, and soon Bailey and Dan arrived and joined us.
  
We reveled in the beauty of the sunset before heading back to make dinner.
 




Howling at the moon . . . Angela was an especially gifted howler.
 
After returning to the home, we made dinner. Actually, I see that there is light out the window in these pictures, so maybe we ate and then ran to see the sunset? I can't remember.

I love this picture.  It just makes me laugh!

On Tuesday we visited one of our favorite places along the coast - Fuddy Duddy Fudge. And we discovered that they are closed every Tuesday?  Whaaaat?  We were not amused.

So, we returned on Wednesday to load up on our favorite goodies.

We enjoyed the hot tub and pool several times.

On another day we drove to nearby Fogarty Creek Beach to check out the tidepools. Apparently our tidepool schedule was mistaken, because the tide was in instead of out, and we saw no sealife that day.

But, we had fun exploring the beach.

Hmmmmm - I wonder where our kids get their awesome sense of humor?

I like this picture, too.

And the fab four Porter kids together.

More to come later.