Birthday Weekend at the Beach

Bill and I traveled down to Seaside, Oregon for his birthday weekend. It actually wasn't much of a fun trip for him. We went so that he could go to a district meeting for Rotary that was being held there. And I sort of pushed him into it. It had been about ten years since we had been to that portion of the Oregon coast and I was feeling the need to go see the ocean. So while he was in meetings, I was out doing some sightseeing. I would join him for meals and he skipped out on a few sessions so that it wasn't all work for him. But I did feel bad going down to Cannon Beach and up to Fort Clatsop by myself while he was in meetings on his birthday.

Friday night's dinner and entertainment was actually very fun. The Rotary International exchange students were at the dinner and provided a talent show including singing, dancing, juggling, and stand-up comedy. The energy and enthusiasm was contagious. And they were so talented.

Saturday morning, I drove down to Cannon Beach area to take pictures. I love the view from Ecola State Park so I started there. And then stopped at various spots in Cannon Beach and south of there to get pictures of Haystack Rock.

When I got back to Seaside, I took a stroll down the Prom along the beach to go see the Lewis and Clark Salt Works that is nestled in a residential neighborhood of Seaside. Lewis and Clark sent three of their men to the ocean to make salt. By the time they got to the ocean, they had exhausted their salt supply that they needed to preserve their meat. So for nearly two months, three men boiled seawater 24 hours a day in order to get 4 bushels full of salt-enough to get back to the east coast.

After eating lunch with the Rotarians, I headed up to Warrenton to go to Fort Clatsop--Lewis and Clark's winter camp. They arrived on the north side of the Columbia in November but were unable to find a suitable place to setup camp on the north side so they decided to come to the south side of the Columbia where they had heard from the Indians that game was more plentiful. It took them a few weeks to built the fort but they had it completed by Christmas Day. It rained all but 12 days during the 106 days that they were there. They traded with the Clatsop and Chinook tribes and hunted elk, deer and other small game to survive the winter. Lewis and Clark updated their journals while they were there.

All in all, it was a good weekend.

(Bill's birthday layout was made with Polka Dot Pixel's Circle of Friends kit. The Lewis and Clark layout was made using Polka Dot Pixel's grungy cardboard papers and Penmanship kit.)