A Day at the Beach

What a day, what a day! It was going to be hot in Portland, so we decided to pack up the pooches and head to the beach!

Brother and sister...not fighting in the car

We are fortunate that BnB are great travelers, so long as they haven't eaten a bunch of sticks prior to leaving. Last time, we had to make an emergency landing to clean up a little Baxter barf. This time, we were prepared and put a plastic table cloth in the car to protect from such disasters.

So, they did what they do best --- sleep! We know they are at their happiest when we are just doin' whatever together.

Bella sound asleep

Our destination was Rockaway. The route to Rockaway is really the most beautiful. The roads are windy, but the countryside is spectacular. There's nothing like blue sky, green trees, and Oregon wildflowers.

On the road!

Tillamook just wouldn't be Tillmook without seeing a cow. This one happened to be sitting right next to the road looking very comfy! I doubt very seriously whether he was completely responsible for the overwhelming cow pie smell that lingered in the hot sun air. GAH!

Tillamook Cow

We realized our trip hadn't been orchestrated very well. Margaret forgot her beach shoes, and I forgot my regular tennis shoes (I was wearing my Crocs for the beach). Worse yet, we forgot our jackets. The thought of a jacket hadn't really crossed our minds as the weather was so hot in Portland, we just assumed the same would be true at the beach. Not so! After stopping at Fred's in Tillmook to pick up some beach shoes, we continued on, headed for Garibaldi. Little did we know it was Garibaldi Days where we were slowed to a crawl behind the parade. Thank goodness Garibaldi is a small town!

Finally, we landed in Rockaway. We like this little town because it's not over commercialized, and not overwhelmed with people. Remember how I said Portland was hot and there was no need for a jacket? WRONG! The wind was a howlin' and we were freezing! It just seemed wrong to drive all the way to the beach and not even touch sand, so we picked up a couple hooded jackets and made our way down to the water.

Wind blowing their tail feathers

Running from the tide

She is part bunny!

Bella biting at the blowing sand

Sandy face after biting at blowing sand (click the pic to see the sand)

Quickly, quickly, move along folks

A day at the beach - windy is okay as long as we get to go

Clearly, the wind was at our backs...and their backsides!

Baxter loved the soft sand. He hopped and flopped all around. Bella was headed for water. She loves her some water! Unfortunately, the wind was blowing so hard, and the sand blowing everywhere, we only spent a little bit of time down there. The wind was at our backs but we knew we couldn't walk back into the wind so we spent a requisite 10 minutes on the beach and headed back to the town.

I love to stop at Dragon Fly Sisters Espresso & Internet Cafe to get an ice cream cone.

Wondering if I'm going to bring them an ice cream cone

While we were there, along comes Oscar! Oscar is an 11 year old corgi and a very sweet boy. He's not in to playing as much as Baxter though, so we had to keep them separated. I didn't want to give Oscar a heart attack!

Oscar (not the grouch)

Since it was so cold, we thought it might be nice to simply drive up the coast to Cannon Beach.  It's amazing how the weather can be completely different just a mere 25 miles away! It was warm, sunny, and beautiful. Our destination in Cannon Beach is Puppy Love By The Sea where we were greated by Rose who helped us find some new clothes for BnB. This is a great store, worth the trip. We picked out 2 step-in harnesses with matching leashes. These are great for training and oh so cute!

They're ready to go!

The designs we chose

Amazingly enough, Baxter and Bella were ever so patient in the store. There are a few large stuffed dogs displaying some doggy accessories, and when we first went in, Baxter jumped all over one of the dogs, thinking it would play back! Uh...Baxter...that's just a stuffed dog. We all left very happy!

On the drive home, Baxter and Bella were pooped. They are so funny because they are dog tired, but don't want to miss anything. Here's a video of them just about to fall asleep...too cute.




What a great day. Let's do this again!