Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Vacation – Staycation- A Sampling
Last week we headed down the Oregon Coast, intending to end up in Northern California and the magnificent Redwoods. We’ve made this trip many times before and never get tired of it; there’s always something new to see, beach to explore, and Redwood grove to hike in.
It was a gorgeous, sunny day when we arrived in Seaside for the night, a quintessential beach town on the northern Oregon coast. Condos and motels line the beach and shops and eateries line the small town’s streets. We found the best ice cream in town, and I was happy to find my favorite flavor – licorice! – fortunately for Bob, without the color that usually turns my lips and teeth a lovely shade of charcoal-green.
We were too full for dinner so turned in early, which meant rising early the next morning and having the beach to ourselves.
We continued south with stops at Cannon Beach and the tiny towns of Nehalem and Wheeler,
and lunch at Pacific City where we enjoyed wonderful views of Cape Kiwanda, a large beast of sandstone.
We crammed a lot into those two days and it’s a good thing, as just past Lincoln City, we got a call that would cut our trip short, life happens, right?
We returned home and after our personal universe settled down, we were left wondering what to do with the rest of the week. We didn’t want to resume the typical cares and responsibilities of home, so we decided upon a staycation, which is really just a state of mind, to those who are retired.
Still, it meant we could eat out with abandon and find local things to do, starting with bicycling the Foothills Trail in Buckley where I tested out my new bike. (The battery died on my old bike and refused to be resurrected.)
What to do next? We considered going up in the Space Needle (it’s been years) or going to a Mariners (baseball game) also years. But then I remembered the Tulip Festival in the Skagit Valley so off we went to the town of La Conner for lunch and shopping, then to Roozengaarde, my favorite tulip field. Which, honestly deserves its own post, don’t you think? Me too. So I’ll save my pictures for later, except for this sneak peek.
Suffice it to say, the week didn’t go as planned but we managed to salvage it and enjoy it just the same.
Back soon with more daffodils and tulips!
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
Great photos Susanne. I hope the call wasn’t too awful, but as you say, life happens. You certainly made the most of the change though.
Thanks, Graham. Thankfully, it all worked out okay, but it was along drive home from Lincoln City that night.
Well, that’s good.
I’m sorry your planned trip was cut short – but the photos say that you found plenty to do closer to home!! Great photos too!
Thank you! We’ll try to get a ‘real’ vacation sometime soon, but this worked fine for now. 😊
Beautiful area!!
I did that drive on the back of a Honda Goldwing and loved it! I look forward to the pictures of the tulip festival. Another great memory for me.
A great place for a motorcycle ride! The tulip fields were glorious, will be sharing soon. 😊
Good save on the vacation, brilliant! Beautiful photos and scenery… can’t wait to see the rest!
Thanks so much! More tulips and daffodils coming. 😊
A shame your plans got upended like that – I hope the call didn’t mean any really dreadful news? But you certainly made the most of the time you had at home that week. I’m especially looking forward to seeing more of those tulips! Interestingly, here in the UK we use ‘staycation’ to mean a holiday (you would say vacation) taken somewhere in this country rather than abroad, rather than as you use it, to mean doing holiday-style activities from your own home as base.
An emergency with my mom but it worked out okay. She’s 94 and things happen. If we’d continued on, I’d have worried the whole time so it was best to return. We did what we could to salvage the week and hope to get a ‘real’ vacation, of longer duration soon. The tulip fields were amazing and I got lots of pictures that I thought I’d save for Sunday Stills.
Oh yes, I know what it is to have elderly parents to worry about 🤗
Beautiful photos. Love the tulips.
Thank you! More on the way.
The first part of the trip looks magnificent, but you definitely made the most of having to stay home later, especially the Tulips!
Best wishes, Pete.
Thanks, Pete.. It all worked out. Thankfully, there’s a lot to see and do close to home.
Lovely sights on your trip.
Thank you.. Though our plans changed, we still enjoyed our week!