Another Trip to the Coast

We love the coast and try to go as often as we can.  We were only about an hour from the coast when we lived in Forest Grove.  Then we spent 3 marvelous months on Whidbey Island. 

Now we're about an hour and a half from the coast.  So we made our first coastal trip of this rotation. This time it was more than just sight seeing though!  I don't want to say too much and jinx ourselves, but I will say that it was about an optometry job and that things are looking promising!  I was even doing a little house hunting and looking for desirable neighborhoods to live in.  

It was supposed to be a miserable weekend at the coast, rain and wind, typical winter storm stuff.  It did turn out to be very windy, but luckily we barely hit any rain. 

 

We dropped James off for a meeting with a local optometrist, then the kids & I roamed the town while we waited.  Actually, we're very familiar with the first town we stopped in, but somehow I've missed this giant fish made from washed up garage and debris.  Lucky for us we found it this time.

Sandwiched between Hwy 101 and the road to Old Town, and right next to the Chamber of Commerce is this "blast from the past."  Just a cute little house and it's antique car behind an iron fence.  It doesn't fit in there anymore, but I love it's tenacity to remain unchanged, like a stubborn, but lovable old Grandfather. 

We went to Face Rock, but couldn't even make it down the path to the lookout, much less the beach...

because we could hardly walk straight, or even stand up very well, or even breath easily.  It was that windy.  Taylor was becoming frightened, and she's usually fearless.

I tried to take a few pictures, but I couldn't keep my camera still long enough to focus and get the horizon level.  It was that windy.

It turned out to be a beautiful, albeit, windy January day at the coast. 

We decided to go inland a few blocks, where the wind couldn't get to us. 

Okay, maybe it still got to us, but the kids loved getting out and running like mad for a little while.  

James finally finished his meeting.  It went well though, so we'll forgive him for being so long.  Then we headed toward the town that he would most likely be spending the majority of his work week in.  It's about an hour from the first town.  

These coastal towns are all about a half hour apart.  So in between the first town and the last town we visited, is another town.  We briefly stopped to assess the possibility of living there, half way between the two clinics.  We don't think we'll end up there though.  It's super tiny.  I would have to drive half an hour anytime I wanted to do anything, and that would only get me to a town that's small, as opposed to tiny.  

So we arrived at our final destination of the day, after driving past spectacular ocean and mountain scenery.  We didn't find what we were looking for, a great home for rent in May of 2014, but maybe we just didn't know where to look.  We'll see what happens over the next few months.  

We still have other hurdles to get over first, but we can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel.  James has about 4 weeks left of this rotation.  We'll be moving to our last rotation in about 5 weeks.  Then 3 months, roughly, until graduation and moving one last time.  

On the way back home, we stopped to stretch our legs.  

Logan stretched his faster than anyone else, he always does.   

Poor Taylor, still had wind in her face and went back to sit in the car after only a couple of minutes.  

 Beautiful evening on the coast.

The sun was getting low in the sky.  It would be dark soon.

That's okay, though, because we were headed back home after another wonderful trip to the coast.