Last Weekend was John's Birthday.  He wanted to go to the beach.  He WANTED to have it be really stormy weather so that he could just sit there and watch the storm come through.  Well, at first it looked as if he got his wish.  It was raining when we arrived.

 We stayed at this place years ago.  At that time each room had a beautiful rock fireplace and they kept a pile of wood outside each door.  I was disappointed to find out that they had 'upgraded' and now each room has a fake fireplace.  It looks nice, but there is no crackle and pop, no smell of wood burning, no mess of little sticks to pick up and most of all, it never did feel like any warmth was coming from it.  But that was fine, I hunkered down with a new book and got lost in it.

 It had pretty much stopped raining by nightfall and that made me really happy to be able to get some blue hour shots.  I love the reflected lights on the water.  There was too much fog out there to get a good shot of the lighthouse.

 The next morning, all sign of his storm had gone and it was a nice sunny day.  Unbelievable that I was able to walk on the beach without a coat!!  There was no wind at all!!!  The Oregon beach at the first of January?  Unreal.  

 The waves were so foamy

evidence of the wind

 All the winds from the past make it look like the wind is still blowing.  It seems that every tree along the beach had this look to it.

I don't know why, but the beach, not just a warm sunny beach, ANY beach is one of my favorite places to be.  I can just sit for hours sifting the sand through my fingers while looking at the waves coming in and going out.  Or sometimes I start out for a little walk and then forget to turn around...until I have walked miles away.  Hopefully, I have my pockets full of great little shells and rocks by then to make it worth the walk back.