After a very hectic start to our trip, we were now headed (on another car ride) to our first home base. This would be my first time booking a place on AirBnB, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect staying in someone else’s house.
It turns out, it is awesome. Traveling became easier as we now had access to multiple rooms, a kitchen to cook, and the most amazing deck and view you could ask for.
As soon as we got there, I let Jenn get settled, and the kids & I went down to the beach to explore. The beach was amazing, and it was empty, although that was a matter of perception I guess. We quickly met a local who had driven about an hour with her dog to spend the day at the beach because it was so nice out (to be clear, it was really cold).
She told me how crazy it was that the beach was so crowded. I looked around to count one other dad with two kids and one other couple with a dog within about 500 yards.
Nolin immediately had a best friend with the dog, as the two of them ran across every inch of the (crowded) beach. The woman thanked me for exercising her dog, I thanked her for exercising my son.
Grace quickly befriended the other little girl on the beach. The kids now felt like this was the greatest place they had visited.
The next morning, we went back down to the beach to explore the tide pools. For the few days that we would spend at this house, tide pools would be the constant. We basically explored up and down the coast stopping at every beach and tide pool along the way.
During our adventures over these few days, we probably handled approximately 13,431 tadpoles, 942 crabs, 25 sea anemones, and a host of other marine life. When we did finally leave, the kids were definitely sad to leave all of their friends behind.
We also had a chance to experience Oregon’s best tourist trap The Sea Lion Caves. There was an elevator, some sea lions, and a gift shop. Good to say you went, but definitely didn’t compare to the beaches.
Jenn & I loved sitting out on the deck at night after the kids went to sleep enjoying a glass of wine and listening to the ocean. In the mornings, it served as a great dance studio where Nolin (try hard as he could) attempted to teach me the Whip Nae Nae.
It was wonderful to be able to set up a home base and relax and take in all that is absolutely amazing about the Oregon coast. We already knew that this would be a trip we would not soon forget.
As we loaded up the car and headed to our next adventure, we took a break from tide pools and took some time to experience sand sledding, on some of the largest dunes I have ever seen.
We purchased our sand sled and took off ( unfortunately not very fast), apparently, we didn’t get great sleds. The other issue was once you finally got to the bottom, it was an Ironman type of workout to get back to the top. Regardless, we had a lot of fun and hopped back in the car with an extra 10 pounds of sand in each of our shoes.
While this house was a comfortable and modern beach house in a quaint unique town, our next stop would be staying at a barn house on a cranberry farm. Two opposites, but I was excited to see our next adventure.
Our Modern Family 