Author Archives: Ellen

Cannon Beach

Before I show you all my shots from Cannon Beach in Oregon I have a burning question for you…

Did you put all your white shoes away? It seems the rules have changed over time and white shoes are now acceptable after Labor Day.

Cannon Beach was a stop along our way down the coast of Oregon but just to take some photos. In the future after seeing all the beaches from Astoria to Lincoln City we would choose Cannon Beach to return to.

“The City of Cannon Beach is located on the Pacific Northwest Coast of Oregon, 80 miles west of Portland and 25 miles south of Astoria, Cannon Beach is surrounded by the rugged natural beauty of forests, ocean beaches, and rivers. Only four miles in length, and with a population of 1,695, Cannon Beach is a popular and picturesque resort area, playing host to an estimated over 750,000 visitors annually. Although Cannon Beach was incorporated as a city in 1957, it has been occupied much longer: first by native cultures, and then, since the late 1800s, by American settlers. In 1806, Captain William Clark, of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, traveled south to our area in order to secure needed blubber from a whale beached near the mouth of Ecola Creek.”

This is the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse. It has some interesting history behind it and you can read about it here.

“Located near Cannon Beach on the North coast of Oregon, Haystack Rock is a unique monolith that attracts wildlife and tourists alike. Towering 235 feet  over the beach, the Rock is home to nesting seabirds in the summer and marine  invertebrates all year long. It is one of the largest “sea stacks” on  America’s Pacific coast.”

I was excited to see these pelicans. It has been a long time since our weekly walks on the beach in California where we’d see pelicans all the time.

I’m looking forward to returning to Cannon Beach in the future for a whole weekend.

Labor Day Monday Mosaics ~

We took a little road trip last week to the Oregon Coast and Bonneville Hot Springs in Washington. On our way from the coast for breakfast in McMinnville we took Highway 18 and spotted a sign for a covered bridge. The original bridge was built in 1914 but was damaged and was rebuilt. The new rebuilt bridge is on private property that is owned by a military family with a son in service with the Marines. We can relate to that.

We found a great little cafe in McMinnville that bakes their own bread and has homemade jam. We enjoyed a granola crusted french toast and an egg scramble that was really tasty at Wild Wood Cafe. After breakfast I had a little sit and chat with Ben Franklin in the historic section of old town.

I’m linking up with the fabulous photographer Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday, I guess it will be a special Labor Day Mosaic Monday.

I hope you all are enjoying your long weekend and you’ve fit in some time free from labor!!

A Light Came Out of Darkness ~ Hymn

A Light Came Out of Darkness

A light came out of darkness;
No light, no hope had we,
Till Jesus came from Heaven
Our light and hope to be.
Oh, as I read the story
From birth to dying cry,
A longing fills my bosom
To meet Him by and by.

How tender His compassion
How loving was His call,
How earnest His entreaty
To sinners, one and all.
He wooed, and won them to Him
By love, and that is why
I long to be like Jesus,
And meet Him by and by.

Yet deeper do I ponder,
His cross and sorrow see,
And ever gaze and wonder
Why Jesus died for me.

And shall I fear to own Him?
Can I my Lord deny?
No! let me love Him, serve Him,
And meet Him by and by.

Words: William A. Hawley, 1901.

Astoria

We started out from our house while it was still dark. I saw the sun rise in the rear view mirror when we were approaching Olympia, Washington. We had never traveled from Washington to the Oregon coast before so when we got off of the interstate all roads and sights were new to us. We drove through Kelso and into Longview where we crossed from Washington into Oregon on the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

Stopping at a viewpoint and looking back I got a shot of the bridge with the sun rising in the East.

The view West towards the mouth of the Columbia river where it meets the Pacific ocean was a lot different.

We passed through many small sleepy towns on our way to Astoria. Our first stop in Astoria was to have some breakfast. We stopped at Stephanie’s Cabin. The restaurant didn’t look anything like a cabin but the food was good old fashioned grub. We split the Cabin Omelet ~ Ham, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, cheese, hashbrowns, covered with their own sausage gravy and served with a homemade biscuit.

Yes folks this is what a heart attack on a plate looks like but only if this is the way you ate every day or for every meal. It was a real tasty vacation treat for one of our 2 meals of the day…

After breakfast we checked out a few of the Astoria sights. “The City of Astoria– the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies, is situated on the Oregon shore of the Columbia River. The city is nestled on steep hillsides overlooking the Columbia River, and is a short distance from the Pacific Ocean.”

This is the Astoria-Megler Bridge and judging from all the comments that you have made about the bridge it’s a scary one to cross.  That’s Washington across the Columbia. The bridge is 4 miles long.

From a distance it looks quite tame.

This was our view leaving Astoria crossing Young’s Bay on Highway 101.

Our next seaside stop was in Cannon Beach.

Here in the Northwest the big news is that we are finally getting a week long stretch of warm sunshiny days. I’ll be watering more and keeping my sunglasses handy. Hope the weather is treating you nice where you are.

FFF ~ Summer Roadtrip

It’s time to think back over the week and pick out some favorites to share. I’m thankful for Susanne at Living to Tell the Story…for who she is as a fellow blogger and for hosting this worthwhile meme each week.

Tuesday morning Dear and I took off for the Oregon Coast for a night and then swung inland and northward for a night at Bonneville Hot Springs. Here are a few highlights of our time. More to come next week…

Our first stop was Astoria, Oregon. Did any of you ever watch Goonies? Well Goonies was filmed here in this coastal city. We had breakfast here and then we found the Goonies House. The Flavel house museum looked interesting but one thing about traveling with Dear is that you start real early and usually get to your first destination before anything opens. We headed south along the coast after our heart attack on a plate breakfast.

We decided to stop at Tillamook Cheese in Tillamook, Oregon. It was interesting to see the cheese assembly line. Besides cheese samples and a cafeteria you could buy scoops of their delicious ice cream.

Our first night we stayed at the Salishan Spa just below Lincoln City, Oregon. It was in a lovely setting and had a golf course on the grounds. We enjoyed a quiet night here with a nice view of the water from our room.

We drove through many little Seaside towns on our way here.

For the second night of our roadtrip we stayed just across the Columbia river from Oregon at Bonneville Hot Springs Resort in Bonneville, Washington. We again had a lovely room and a great view. The mineral waters in the pool and hot tub were refreshing and relaxing. The great room at this resort is really beautiful with that floor to ceiling stone fireplace…

I’ll be posting a lot more photos next week from Cannon Beach and Multnomah falls and the amazing waves we heard and saw on our walk to the beach from Salashan spa. Those all deserved posts of their own. Hope you are enjoying the beginning of September. We are getting some real warm weather forecast for the next week or so…

Eating Well…

…twice a day.

We’ve found some fun cafes and have also enjoyed meals in the spas we stayed overnight in. For us older folks it works well to limit ourselves to 2 meals while traveling. We’ve been splitting dishes, too. Fish tacos, granola crusted french toast, an omelette stuffed to the gills and covered with gravy (a real heart attack on a plate) We split that omelette, thank goodness. We also came across some fun food related scenes and eateries from our past that made us slam on the brakes to take a photo…

“Oh I’d love to be an Oscar Meyer Weiner, that is what I’d truly like to be…”

We’ve been having a nice relaxing time and that has inspired us to plan another getaway soon…

Tomorrow we head home. Can you believe it’s September already?!

Oh Ye of Little Faith…

We have been having weather that is just perfect for Dear and me. We saw lots of beauty today and have seen and heard the power of our Creator.

I’ll share more when I get back to my little corner of the world. Until then we are finding sunshine in the most unexpected places…

Hope you are all well…

Leave it to Us…

…to pick the worst weather days of the week to head out on a road trip to Oregon.

No worries because we are sure to drown our weather sorrows eating lovely plates of food like these.

If you don’t see anything new around here or don’t see comments from me on your posts you’ll know why. As usual I’m not guaranteeing you won’t see anything new here. It all depends on wi-fi and down time in a hotel room.

Glamorous…

“It would have been pretty darn difficult for actress Dina Merrill to have ever pulled off playing a commoner on stage, film or TV. She just had too much class. The epitome of poise and glamor, the New York-born socialite and celebrity was born in 1925 the daughter of financier E.F. Hutton, the founder of the Wall Street firm, and heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post of the Post cereal fortune”. (from a mini biography of Dina Merrill)

I really enjoyed the glamour surrounding the Hillwood Estate in Washington D.C. I’m not one to fuss much with glamour but I can appreciate it in others. Unlike Dina Merrill I can pull off being a commoner every day.

I’m quite comfortable in blue jeans and a comfy tee-shirt. I like a certain level of glamour once in a while. That glamour still has to have an element of comfort with it.

Dina Merrill whose birth name was Nedenia Marjorie Hutton, was the only child of Merriweather’s union with E.F. Hutton.

Wow! How about these wedding bouquets!?

Marjorie Merriweather Post seemed to have connections with other very glamorous people, too.

I think my most glamorous days have been at weddings. Growing up my mother always made sure my sisters and I had a new home sewn dress for Easter and Christmas. Those were glamorous days, too. How about you? Do you enjoy glamour and what was the most glamorous event you attended or were the star of?