Boys Will Be Boys

May your life be like toilet paper  …..  Long and Useful!!

Here comes the train!!

Sometimes it takes a lot of thinking power to write a blog. It kind of depends how much we’ve done that needs to be put in words. We seem to have had quite a few of those days recently. Matter of fact, we’ve had an awful lot of them.

Chairs are arranged for a bird's eye view

We’re still at the coast.  Well, we are as I’m writing this.  However, by the time it does get posted we will most certainly be long gone.  I’m sure you’ve figured out by now when we’re at the coast, we’re pretty busy people.  When we’re that busy it’s really hard to keep up a blog because by the time we turn in, we are zonked.  Saturday was absolutely no exception.  It just happened to be one of the busiest days ever.

How about this view of them putting their coins on the track?  (I must admit it's been "altered" a bit.)

The blog of a couple days ago showed the six monster crabs we caught.  This is just a continuation of that same day.  After devouring them, we sat outside and enjoyed the evening.  We had zoned out by then.  Duchess was even given her birthday cake treat.  Well, the birthday cake for her was a hamburger patty.  She much prefers hamburger over cakes.

Now they are comparing their treasurers .....

Remember the private train track sits right behind us. It’s the one that’s only used about twice a month.  Well, we remembered it about the time we heard the train coming.  It’s times like this that Janice and are reminded that we are really married to a couple of little boys.  Almost in unison Terry ran into his motorhome and Jerry into his.  They both started robbing the coin jars.  You know the ones.  It’s where the change is stored for the laundromat or the car wish.

Giving us a look at their coins

Most kids who put coins on the railroad tracks put one or two.  Isn’t that right?   Not these guys.  They put a handful on the track …. as you can tell.  Terry used quarters.  Jerry used pennies.

Terry sticking his tongue out

Janice and I got a lot of laughs at the boys acting like boys.  You can see the photos we got looking for their treasures and comparing their treasures.

I know this may not be funny to most but we laughed so hard probably because we were so tired.  Some days it just doesn’t take much to entertain us.

Tillamook Air Museum and Other Stuff

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.  That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.

Janice learned a trick.  She got out her fishing pole, attached a note and figured this was a better way to send a message from one motorhome to another.

We had been crabbing and we had been crabbing.  On this particular Sunday it was intended to be a little different.  We actually didn’t spend the day on the water.  We went to the Tillamook Air Museum and stopped for a little more ice cream.  That was the plan and that’s what we did.  After all, we knew Sunday would be the last day we spent on the coast with the Hyders.  Finally …. we’ll get some rest.  Finally!!

However, we did get a little sidetracked just a tad.  Our first stop came when we passed through Garibaldi and Jerry eyed the local festival.  It was Garibaldi Days.  We stopped and found some more treasurers.  These treasures were sand dollars that had been “harvested” and polished.

Then, we plugged along to Ace Hardware and also Fred Meyer.  So, it wasn’t exactly as planned but we figured close enough.  Part of the day’s plan was also to get back early enough that we could rest a little.  We didn’t actually get to relax too much after getting back for our day’s excursion because it was later than we figured.

I saw this little poster at the air museum and thought it was relevant.  When I wrote this blog Justin was soon to be heading out.  He was wanted.  However, now that this is finally getting posted, that date is behind us.

The Tillamook Air Museum is just south of the town.  It’s worth the trip and we enjoyed looking at the old planes, autos and displays.

Getting back also meant that we’d need to work on getting the boat back on the trailer and dinner.  However, the four of us really needed a nap.  We set our alarm clock for 6:00 PM which allowed for one hour of rest before dinner.  One thing we have discovered is that we all enjoy having a nap.  We can only go, go, go for so long and we've been going for a long time.  

That was it.  That was the day.  We finished up the remainder of the crab in our crab salad and pretty much called it a day.

Left over crab and salad

We really need a vacation!!

Monster Crabs and Happy Birthday, Tammi

Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless but because they are priceless.

There’s another birthday happening in our family today.  This time of year there’s just one of those right after another.  Today just happens to be the birthday of our youngest.  Now I’m not saying she’s young.  It’s just our youngest!   Happy Birthday, Tammi.

Happy Birthday to you.

Dungeness Crab

Guess what we did Saturday?  You’re right.  We went crabbing again.  It was another gorgeous day on the coast.  We had no choice.  We actually heard the crab calling to us.

The first plan of action was to get another 3-day crab license and bait.  Neither of those are sold at the park we are at.  We had to run down to Jetty Fishery again to do that.  We came back with fish heads and our licenses.  Thus, we were ready to go.

The difference between being on the water Saturday and earlier in the week when we had been in the area was that there were lot more boats and a lot more crab rings.  However, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and no huge swells like last time we made the trek in this direction.

We ended up with some nice sized crab this time.  There’s a lot of difference between crabbing off the dock and in a boat.  The ones off the dock were mainly female and small.  In the boat we got our share of small ones but we also saw some nice sized keepers.

Park crab cooker

Jerry learned to pull those crab pots up fast.  We sorted them on the bottom of the boat and tossed those back that weren’t legal.  Seagulls swarmed us for rejects.  We also had a couple Bald Eagles soaring over the trees.  It was definitely a nice day.

The park has a propane crab cooker.  We had it lit and waited and waited.  It was pretty slow in heating.  After about 45 minutes, it still wasn’t close to a boil.

Crabs are cooking!

Finally one of the other RV’ers parked next to the cooker set up his own crab cooker for us.  He has a nifty little burner for outside cooking and it heated up in no time.  If we were going to do much more of this, we’d certainly have our own little cooker.

The cleaning station

The park also has a fish and crab cleaning station down on the dock.  That was nice since it meant no mess at our site.

Our appetizer

We certainly had a mess of crab with enough left over for a crab salad the next day.

Clam for our neighbors

Our neighbors at the park brought over some samples of their day’s find.  We thought that was super nice.  First of all, we each had a large clam they had fixed for each of us,

They also brought seaweed they had collected and prepared Asian style.  I normally totally dislike seaweed.  I think I’ve had enough of that in my mouth over the years and not by choice.  The idea of eating it was never an option.  However, I felt compelled to be polite and try it.  Actually, I would have to admit that the way they had it fixed wasn’t bad at all.  At least I had a bite and tried it.  You realize, of course, that I still have no intention of having more in the future though.  It’s one of those mental things I guess.

Seaweed

This is how they dried the seaweed.  They hung it on their clothesline.  We’d never seen that before.  It was definitely interesting.


Events of Saturday, July 31st

We’re Fishing Instead of Crabbing

A half-baked idea is okay as long as it’s in the oven.

Off with the front windshield and back panel for a beautiful day on the water!

I thought this little tiny boat was just my speed.

Friday we did something different.  We didn’t go crabbing.  We went fishing. This was kind of like the semi-blind leading the blinder in this circumstance.  We didn’t catch a thing.  We didn’t have a bite.  We also think  half the time we had everything hooked up wrong.  But, then again, from what we understand no one else did any good either.  We’re going to blame it on the fact that the fish weren’t running yet.  They were all out in the ocean getting ready to come in.  That’s our story and we’re sticking with it.

Here's Jerry trying for the perfect setup on his pole.

The first thing you have to do to prepare yourself for this new adventure is to buy licenses.  Oregon seems to require a license for every type of fun you can think up.  We jumped in the boat and went down to the Wheeler Marina.  That place was absolutely packed with everyone else around trying to buy bait or licenses.  Once that was accomplished we were back out in the boat with high hopes of snagging that big one.

And, Janice is trying for a better rigging than Jerry.

The problem for us fishing here is we’ve not done a lot of trolling for salmon in years and years.  Thus, we didn’t actually know how to help.  Oh, we knew a little … just a little.  We know how to tie everything and connect it from point A to point B.  The problem was putting the actual plug bait on the hook and keeping it there without dragging the bottom. The current was swift, the depth not so deep and the seaweed plentiful.

A garage sale we just had to visit.

Either way I think we all had another great day doing something.  After being totally skunked, we headed into Wheeler in a vehicle instead of the boat.  The first thing that caught Jerry’s eye was a sign for a garage sale.  You can guess where we stopped ... the garage sale.  We don’t have too much too worry about at these places because most of the nooks and crannies in our motorhomes are already full of something else.

View from our table at the Pizza Garden.

Next, it was off for pizza …. again.  The day was still gorgeous and we sat out on the deck just above the river.

Another great day and we had taken advantage of all of it.  Now you know what we were up to on that Friday which was over a week ago from the time this blog will get posted.  With all this activity just maybe it's time to start posting a little more often again to get caught up again.

A Heron sitting in the tree and watching us eat.

Friday, July 30.

Beaching the Boat and Manzanita Beach

I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford.  Then, I want to move in with them.

Thursday turned out to be another gorgeous day on the Oregon coast.  Many times on the coast the fog will roll in during the morning hours and as the sun pops up it will roll on out.  That didn’t even happen on Thursday.  It was just beautiful from the start.

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After sitting around for a while drinking our coffee and then a trip into town to a little café for breakfast that was really lunch, it was time to launch the boat and take a spin.  That we did.

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First we headed down the Nehalem River to the town of Wheeler.  There were lots of fishing boats in the river.  There were also several kayaks out.

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Then, we turned around and headed to Nehalem Bay and the area by the Nehalem Bay State Park.  Since this area is close to the ocean, the beach is pretty sandy there.

 

The boat was beached and we started checking out the driftwood along the waterfront.   We were also   looking for treasures.

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This was the treasure that Janice found.  We weren’t quite sure what it looked like but we could imagine lots of things. 
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The sand was pretty soft close to the water’s edge.  Sinking into it was definitely something we did at times.

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When we finally got ready to return, the boat took a little bit of pushing to get it totally back in the water.  After all, it had been high tide when we landed and not so high when it was time to return.


The winds had picked up considerably.  Sitting and walking on the beach we hadn’t noticed this.  There were white caps and good sized little swells going back.  Since we had unzipped and taken off the front windshield covers, the water was splashing in and we were getting sprayed with salt water.

 

The good thing was it was only a short jaunt to the bend.   At that point we were protected from the winds coming in off the ocean and the water in the bay calmed.  Once the white caps disappeared the splashing stopped and our RV park wasn’t far away.

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In the evening we took a little drive down to Manzanita Beach.  It’s just one more place along the Oregon coast with a gorgeous beach.

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Another day behind us and we were totally zonked again.  Being in the salt air and on the water sure tires us out.

 

I’m beginning to think we need a vacation.  We seem to be very, very worn out every night.

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What a day!!!

Happy Birthday again, Lee.

On the Dock of the Bay .. Again

Time goes by so fast, people go in and out of your life.  You must never miss the opportunity to tell these people how much they mean to you.

With the weekend came tons of folks to the beach.  Everywhere we went there were people and more people.  Parking lots were full and the roads had many more cars than during the week
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Hey ... look what I caught!

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We decided to spend one more day “on the dock of the bay”.  Since none of us had thought about sunburns, we were surprised that Michael got one.  The weather had been nice but cool.  We doctored him up with a little aloe vera and sunscreen.  He also played it a little safe and sought shelter when available.
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A perfect day to nap in between checking crab pots

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Justin and Michael, being the pro crabbers they had become, were the teachers for Janice and Jerry.  Before long everyone was tossing the nets and sorting the crabs.  Saturday was a beautiful day.

Eating was another thing that didn’t take much convincing.  As you can tell, Michael and Terry weren’t that interested in it.  The rest of us were pretty happy that we didn’t have to share with more than necessary.
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You catch them.  You eat them.

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Sunday was the day the boys needed to head back inland.  So, after fiddling with WOW for awhile we all headed towards Seaside with them.  That little town was more than packed. Kids and their parents were everywhere.  Finding parking spaces was extremely difficult.

We returned to Pudgy’s for some of their “killer” chowder.  Isn’t it amazing that the first time we taste something we seem to like it better than the second time?  It was good but not quite so memorable the second time around.  Oh well …….. still in search of the perfect chowder.

Clam chowder bread bowl at Pudgy's.

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The boys were off north and we headed south to spend another evening enjoying life on the road.

Best Chowder on the Oregon Coast ??

If you could have everything, where would you put it?

Since Justin and Jordan left with their parents Sunday night, it was just us.  We still had food left but decided we were going to run into the little town of Nehalem for breakfast.  We had eaten at the Baywater Café several times before and always enjoyed it so that’s where we went.  It’s a nice little local place and definitely worth stopping at if you’re in the area.

Many of the stores in the beach towns decorate with hanging baskets of flowers.  The flowers are gorgeous.

After breakfast, Terry and I took another spin in the boat.  This time we headed in the opposite direction.  It was a gorgeous day and we certainly enjoyed a day on the bay.

 

We didn’t go crabbing and we didn’t go fishing.  We just enjoyed being out on the water.  The motors were working perfectly and it was a perfect day.

Later in the day we made another stop in the little town of Rockaway Beach.  One of the little street side cafes had a sign out front that tempted me.  Remember …. I love good chowder.   I think I’ve mentioned this at least once or maybe a dozen times before.

I also know what someone considers good chowder isn’t always what I call good chowder.  Isn't it great though that we all have different taste buds?  If we didn't, all the good chowder (in my opinion) would be gone before I got there!!   Posting this sign for me to see was like issuing a challenge. 

It was a challenge I had to accept.  Of course, I had to try the chowder.  I can definitely say that in my opinion I do not believe it is the BEST clam chowder on the coast.  Matter of fact, would I order it again?  That's the real test.  The answer to that is NO.  There is another little café on the wharf in Garibaldi that boasts about their clam chowder.  If it works out, I'd like to see if they really have chowder to boast about.  I'll let you know.