Florida Oregon Coast

 Trey's headaches continue.  I'm frustrated, Trey is frustrated and the school is frustrated.  Last week I was having a really rough week dealing with Trey and life in general.  I lay in my bed on Tuesday night I just wanted to get away from everyone and everything. I don't normally feel this way, but I was just dealing with a lot of problems that week.

 The next morning, I got a text from my friend Tiffany that said "This is random and the last minute...would you like to go to the Oregon Coast next weekend with me and Cindi and stay at her beach house?"  I could hardly believe it.  I was so down and frustrated the night before then I get this random text.  It turns out that Cindi had planned to go with a bunch of girls from the Young Single Adult ward that she is an advisor over.  Those plans all fell apart, nobody could go and one of the girls was Tiffany's daughter, Kate.  They normally have the house rented out as a vacation home, but they had already reserved the weekend and it was still available so they were trying to salvage the trip the best they could.  They were trying to think who they could invite, that didn't have other obligations like young children, work, etc.  Tiffany said my name kept coming to her mind.  I felt so blessed, loved, and cared for that they thought of me.  It ended up being Cindi Nelson, Tiffany, her daughter Kate, and myself.  It was a great trip.  I have been to Oregon a few times but he has been about 25+ years and I had never been to the Oregon coast.  It was my type of beach vacation.  It was mostly overcast, we didn't get in the water (it was too cold).  We still spent several hours on the beach hunting for treasures.  It was so peaceful and I loved not getting wet, sandy, and sunburned.

Cindi grew up in Portland and she loves the Coast. She loves to search for Agates.  I had heard Cindi talk about searching for agates but I didn't really know what they were.  It is a clear volcanic rock that gets washed up from the Ocean.  Cindi watches the tide and she goes out at low tide some beaches she searches for agates and on different beaches she searches for sand dollars.  Cindi literally has thousands of agates that she had found.  She polishes them and keeps them in bowls and jars all over her Oregon house.  Apparently, she keeps more, her favorites, at her Chandler house. 

My meager collection of Agates

One of Cindi's many bowls of agates.  
I loved running my hands through the polished stones.

Kate, Cindi, Tiffany, and Me

Beautiful Sunset.

We stayed near Tillamook, OR  which is where Tillamook cheese and ice cream are made.  We ate ice cream daily. 

Cindi also likes to hunt for Sand dollars.  Tiffany and I told her we thought sand dollars were a myth because neither one of us had actually seen a real sand dollar on the beach. 

My sand dollar finds of two days of searching

One of Cindi's sand dollar collections.  She said one day she found 180. She is the Queen of beach treasures

We ate a lot of seafood/Fish and Chips.

Sand Dollars before they are bleached white

We all enjoyed collecting rocks and treasures on the beach.  Kate decided she was going to make animals out of the rocks.  We all searched for the perfect rocks for her creations.

Kate makes her rock animals

Driftwood fort on the beach.  This beach had a ton of driftwood
It is amazing what the tide brings in

a lighthouse

Octopus Tree

Cindi and Tiffany walking along the beach

This beach was so huge a deep when the tide was low

A cave/tunnel we visited at Lost Boys Beach



We were at a souvenir shop, where everyone else was buying Oregon T-shirts etc.  I wasn't that interested, but then we decided we all needed a matching T-shirt.  I went along with the T-shirt, but I knew I would not wear the sweatpants they were buying, so I bought some pants similar in color so it looked close enough to match.  Funny thing Cindi, Tiffany, and Kate probably spent 30+ minutes going through this pile of sweat pants, finding the right size, and deciding if it was what the "Oregon coast/Rockaway Beach souvenir they wanted.  Kate and Cindi even tried on a T-shirt and the sweatpant together.  They thoroughly went through the sweatpants to get the perfect pair, until they didn't.  They had been wearing them for an entire day,   when Cindi looked down and noticed these Oregon Sweat pants said "FLORIDA"  what??? No wonder they were on clearance.  We had a good laugh, the pants I opted for said "Oregon Coast"  another reason I'm happy I passed on those pants.

It was a great trip.  I would love to visit the Oregon Coast again.  It was very peaceful walking alone (even though I had friends near me) on the beach looking for rocks and treasures.  I feel like I was able to clear my head.