Birthday Boy & Sister Visit at the Beach

*H*A*P*P*Y* * *B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y*!*!*!* to Dayle today!  He's celebrating quite a milestone.  70 years old.  Here he is at his birthday lunch today at "Clearwater Restaurant" in the Historic Bay Front of Newport, Oregon.  They treated him to an apple/blackberry crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for his dessert.  :-)  There was a sparkler going off on his plate!  LOL!

Hard to believe, isn't it?  The day is perfect and stretching out ahead of us and life is good.  Dayle is the love of my life and I'm happy we have each other.  We've been graced with gorgeous sunny days here at the beach.  This is looking south at the Pacific Ocean from our trailer door.

My younger sister Denise came for a visit on Monday.  She joined us for a chat in the trailer while we all enjoyed having the door open and listening to the waves crashing and seeing the beautiful waves breaking on the sand.

We then piled into my car and we headed to Kyllo's Restaurant for lunch.  She was in the mood for a steak and so was I.  :-)  After lunch she asked if we'd ever driven around Devil's Lake and we had not.. so off we went to see what we could see.  Our first stop was this wonderful park with a boat ramp, this dock and a swimming area.  

I was charmed by these three fisher-people all set up for the day in the sun on the dock.  Each had their own cooler, chair and side table.  LOL!  I wonder if they caught anything.

Up the hillside from the dock was this fabulous play structure for kids.. I texted a photo to Kristi and told her we need to bring the boys here.  We had no idea this was here!

We found another park directly across the lake from that last one, in fact if you look really hard you can see it over there.  There were even rental cabins by that park.

On the way back to the trailer for more visiting, we pulled into this cute little community next door to our RV park, all the houses are built in beach-y architecture with weathered cedar siding, although this row of houses are all painted a different color, it's so cute.  Many of the houses are in a vacation rental pool so you can rent one for a while.  

Denise headed back to her big luxurious hotel room for the night, she stayed in the Looking Glass Inn in Taft.  The sun set with no clouds.. the sky glowed orange.

Yesterday Denise joined us again and after visiting a while we headed to Newport, Oregon for lunch at Georgie's Grill.  It was delish as always.  Then we took Denise on our well-traveled route, first stop was the park by Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, the sun was so brilliant reflecting off the ocean.. it was glowing like liquid silver.

The cute little lighthouse which is a museum now.

Just a few hundred feet heading towards the old waterfront is where I always stop to get this shot of Yaquina Bay Bridge.  I do hope my longtime readers aren't tired of seeing these same images.. LOL!!

We drove through the historic working fishing waterfront with the fish packing businesses on the bay front and across the street are cafes, salt water taffy shops, art galleries and all manner of souvenir shops... I pulled over to get a shot of these sea lions.. oh you should hear the joyful racket they make... ORK ORK OORRKKK.. it's really rather hilarious.

And of course I had to show my sister my favorite spot next to the fishing boats where I get THIS shot of the bridge.. I really never get tired of this because each time the light is different and this was the most amazing scene of the sun reflecting off the water under the bridge.. it captivated me.

This stack of crab pots must be new as the brilliant colors of the buoys have not been weathered as most of them are.  We saw some crabbers working on their pots and I told them I'd just had crab for lunch and they got big smiles on their faces.

As we drove up the curve out of the bay front I pulled over and snapped this image of the US Coast Guard headquarters with their old surf rescue boat out front.  These men and women are heroic in how they rescue fishermen and boaters when they are in trouble.  They have a gorgeous helicopter that flies up and down the ocean making sure all is well.

Denise has a new camera that she is enthralled with, a Nikon bridge one that has an amazing zoom.. so of course we had to take her to see one of the most scenic things in the state, the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  This image is from the first viewing turnout so you get to see more of the ocean behind it.

This is from the second view turnout.  Swoon.. I love this image.

Then we parked right in front of the lighthouse and I walked over to try to get a photo of the Pelicans while Denise walked around the LH to see what she could see on the big rock behind it.  Occasionally you can see a Puffin.. but not today.

While I was standing out looking over the ocean I saw a Grey Whale spouting several times and then I saw it kick it's tail out of the water as it went down on a long dive.  :-)

I was zooming into the sunlight so I took this shot not knowing what I would capture, but indeed I got a whole flock of Brown Pelicans.  They were enjoying the sun as well.. lots of preening and feather drying was going on.  :-)

A photo of my beloved sister Denise with her new camera and a "mono-pod" - a one legged tripod which steadies your camera.  I might need one of those!

I gave Denise her birthday present early.. a handblown glass float with local sand and some shells, a piece of beach glass and a tiny piece of driftwood.  It's her own private little beach, preserved forever.. she loved it.

Then Denise headed home and we enjoyed the evening sun as it set over the beautiful Pacific Ocean.

As I zoomed in on the last rays of the sun the low band of clouds on the horizon and light refracted the sun into this interesting shape.. have you ever seen anything like this?

I had to add this photo of Buddy enjoying the sunshine on my crocheted pillow and blanket.  What a dear little doggie.

Last but not least.. I bought this book on my iPad and read it over a few days and wanted to recommend it to you.  It's a novel inspired by a true story of a family that lived on a shanty boat in the Mississippi and the awful true story about a woman who took children and sold them.. a very good book - to learn more click HERE.   

And so.. we will set out to take Dayle out for his birthday lunch and possibly some cake will be in our future.  Tomorrow we pack up and head home.  Thanks for sharing our journey with us.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)