Catching up...

I don't know how I overlooked our annual trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon but I did.

All of us... Andrea and Justin, Kerri, Andrew, Bailey, Hannah, Reese, Jerry and Sharilyn, J and I and 5 dogs headed for the Oregon coast the day after Christmas for a couple of days. We all met at the beach house we've rented in the past. We had a ball!

It was stormy but fun.

Isn't that what stormy weather does? Makes things exciting, mysterious, on the edge... fun?

On the first day there was a pretty major storm blowing in. Andrew, Jerry, Sharilyn and I headed to the beach as soon as we unpacked. J stayed at the house with Reese while Andrea and Justin went into town to get some things that we all forgot to bring. Kerri, Bailey and Hannah were the last to arrive.

With the wind blowing as hard as it was Andrew almost blew away. The seagulls did...

...and we continued to play on the beach. Starved of common sense, us the adventurers... adults and children alike playing on the beach, taunting the ocean.

The angry spray was cold. Icey rain flew laterally as the wind pushed it, pelting our faces like needles.

We traveled along the beach for a bit then decided it would be best if we returned to the house before one or all of us were swept to sea by some large, freak wave. Those rogue waves the Oregon and Washington coasts are so well known for during these types of winter Pacific storms.

When we arrived at the house Andrea and Justin had returned from town. A fire was burning in the fireplace, everyone was safe. We all relaxed, let the rush of the Christmas holidays slow to a crawl. Some of us sipped wine, all of us talked, wound down and enjoyed good company, taking it all in.

Throughout the evening the storm continued to blow. The lights flickered, the walls creaked, the windows shook.

On the last day the sun came out. The ocean and beach turned into an entirely different animal.

Calm, tame, blue...

...almost like another season, another time, another ocean.

Almost, but the air was still crisp, the wind cold.

It was deceiving.

People came out of their homes and walked up and down the beach.

Two days prior we were the only souls walking the cold, foamy, wet sand looking along the high water mark for any "treasures" that the storm surge might have washed up.

Now, the ocean seemed to relax a bit... still very cold but relaxed.

And the sky was flawless! Blue and clear.

J and Chief took a short jaunt to the surf's edge, watching the tide roll in.

Until it was time to leave, to make the long drive home...

...to cross the covered bridge.