Water, Water Everywhere

Did you know that today is "Cow Appreciation Day"? No, you say, you did not? Well, it is. Pretty cool day to go visit the Tillamook Cheese Factory to let the boys show their proper appreciation. One would almost think we planned it. And we may have, if only we had known in advance that such a thing as "Cow Appreciation Day" actually existed. Since we did not, it was just a wonderful coincidence. A coincidence that meant a free cow baby beanie for my two boys, who were almost as excited about the stuffed animal, as they were about the free cheese and ice cream. Almost. Tillamook, what can I say. We came, we saw, boys sampled. I do know that if I were going to be a cow, this would be a stunningly beautiful place to live. So to all the cows out there reading this blog, know that you are appreciated.

After Tillamook, we wanted to do some hiking (after feeding me at a more Vegan friendly venue). Bill had found a few trails in Oswald State Park that looked fun. A forest-y mountain area that you can hike up to overlooks or down to beaches. It was overcast, but not too rainy. Cool, but not too cold. Pretty nice weather to hike in actually. There were a couple of things we didn't take into consideration.


First, we didn't take into consideration that while it was not currently raining, it had been earlier and there had not been any sun to dry out the trails. We did great on the first part of our hike, but got a bit "stuck in the mud", if you will, for the second part.


The boys found perfect walking sticks, which would come in handy when we were sliding around in the mud. Romney like to use his as a base to pole jump from. He also liked to bang into every rock we past to see if he could break the rock open and have water gush from it. (Ok, so I made the second part up about the gushing water. I have no idea what he was really wanting to accomplish, I just know that he would bang it straight up and down on every rock we walked by.) Miraculously, no one lost an eye or broke a nose by walking behind him while the stick was flying around.

The first part of the hike was to a very cool suspension bridge. The boys loved walking across it all alone and then seeing how much they could make it bounce by jumping up and down over and over while giggling madly. Luckily, it wasn't a heavy traffic hiking day, and they had it all to themselves. The second hike was going to be to Falcon Cove, but the mud was too thick and our shoes were too nice. We would been in good shape if we had worn our fishing waders. (Ok, we don't have any of those and I am apparently prone to exaggeration in this post.)

My favorite part of our day trip to the beach cities, was seeing old O.C. friends. It was so wonderful to see some familiar faces after feeling a bit "alone" in Portland for the past week and a half. We were able to chat and enjoy their company for a few hours at the Manzanita farmer's market. It drizzled a lot and rained a little, but with the wonderful company, I barely noticed. Until we were finished and then I was happy to get in the car and turn on the heater and the seat warmer. Ah, July in Oregon. Where I wore a short sleeve shirt, a sweater and another jacket on top at various points in the day.