Tillamook Bay at Garibaldi

Well obviously the above picture is not of our usual digs but was taken during a day-trip to the coast on Wednesday!
We hadn't been on an outing in forever, the forecast promised a beautiful sunny and rather warm day and James was caught up with work and had no new orders, so we went for it!

First stop: Garibaldi, where we had a first cup of coffee and pastries at the harbor ...

                                     

                                     

After which we continued our drive north ..

An hour later we arrived at our end-destination of the day, Indian Beach at Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach.

After some more coffee we set off to hike one of the trails, the 'Indian Beach Trail', considered to be the prettiest of several trails that start from here.
The 3.8-mile out-and-back trail is considered a moderately challenging route and takes an average of 2 h,1 min to complete with views of Haystack Rock.
(a sea 'stack' is a tall, steep column of rock that juts out from the sea, they are created by wave erosion over thousands or millions of years).

                                    

Due to a big storm of a few days ago the trail was a little muddy but nothing we couldn't handle and it led us through beautiful old-growth Sitka spruce forest which opened up here and there for views of the ocean and the beach below us:

                              

                          

Unfortunately we had to turn around when we were about halfway, due to a land/mudslide that had wiped out the trail!
I later read on the park's website that "this park was built on top of active landslides and unstable coastal rock formations. The park roads were built in the 1930s before the nature of the coastal geology in the area was fully understood. Because of this, the park often experiences landslides."
I guess I didn't read the fine-print before we took off on this trip!

Oh well .. when we returned to the trailhead and the parking lot we decided to hike part of the Canon Beach Trail instead that starts there as well and which leads you north along the shore for a view of the historic “Terrible Tilly” lighthouse.

              

Apparently he lighthouse earned the nickname due to the local erratic weather conditions, and the dangerous commute for both keepers and suppliers.

 

The views from the many viewing points along the trail were absolutely spectacular!

Afterwards we slowly made our way back along the coast, had a late lunch in the small beach-town of Manzanita, afternoon coffee in Pacific city and took a short detour to drive through quaint Neskowin before heading home.
All in all a wonderful relaxing and beautiful day at the coast ... just what the doctor ordered!

The weather stayed beautiful, almost spring-like, this whole week.
Sunny days with temperatures of around 62F and blue skies made these Starlings come out to gather in large, extremely noisy groups in the treetops.

Some of the Maples are actually starting to flower, believe it or not:

  


And it the meadow of our next-door neighbor the first calves are starting to show up!

                                                               

                                                               


On Saturday we had our first 'al fresco' coffee of the season!

Of course Coco immediately showed up. Apple pie? Count me in!

 

Spring is just around the corner, although I have no doubts that we'll have some more wintery-weather to endure before the season will officially start.