ELLEA, Thursday, November 6, 2008

Each of us got another good night's rest. The only downer of the entire short trip to Lincoln City was just that, it's short length. Nevertheless, we knew we'd best eat up, pack up and head out by noon, check-out time at the Ester Lee. Lucy and Mama both used the microwave to heat up leftover coffee. I'm not a coffee-drinker, never have been, never will be, I can say with certainty. Lucy's new jammies suited her very well, and she's wearing the earrings she found at the outlet mall.

Mama did very well with a blender new=to-her, mixing her protein just like she likes to do each and every morning. It always gives her an energy boost and serves for nourishment until lunch time.

One thing I learned early on up here in Portland is that one cannot under estimate the importance of keeping one's hood out of one's eyes, hence the cap with the bill. Let me say that I have not got it cocked to the side because I'm a member of some gang. I have to set my Los Lonely Boys hat on my head like because I have a barrette holding back my hair on the left side of my head. Mama took this photo, by the way, and did very well. She's famous for cutting off folks' heads! I guess you've guessed that I'm dressed like this and Duncan's wearing his coat because it's raining outside, and it's his morning walk time. A strong wind blowing from the south managed to spray my glasses, right beneath the bill of that cap and my hood both!

The sweethearts happily played Hand and Foot until time to get ready to go.

I spent some time watching the waves, heading north at a sharper angle to the shore than the ones on Tuesday or Wednesday. My goal was to get a decent wave photo and a bird photo. Look at these iPhoto enhanced and cropped photos to see all I was able to get--I'm satisfied, for this time.

It looks like a pelican to me, flying south into the wind.

Yep, I got every bit of it back into the trunk!

And turned in the key at noon, on the dot. Then I took this photo from the office windows. At some point, I'd like to stay with the guys, their girlfriends, Mama and Duncan in the cottage, the top story one that has the tan SUV parked at the door, or the one you see on the right, with the brown door, if it's just Mama, Duncan and me.
Right after I left the key in the office, we headed back to make our exit at the north end of the parking lot so that I could get a clear shot of Cottage 232. That's it with the door open--the housekeeper didn't waste a moment going in to get to work, looks like. That round window was in the bathroom, and that's the chimney for the gas fireplace at the other end of the cottage. I slept near those two windows on the corner to the left of the door, on a twin bed straight across from that great big picture window in the living room and next to the fireplace. Mama, Duncan and Lucy slept in a bedroom diagonally across from my corner, with a pretty good-sized window overlooking the ocean.

A few miles north, on Highway 101, there's a public parking lot with access to the beach. We pulled in there so that I could take a few more photos and the gals could get one last look at the Pacific Ocean. First thing that caught my eye--an exuberant dog, digging sand at high speed which he had halted before I could get the camera ready! However, I like this shot of three different types loving a windy, cold, lightly rainy day at beach.

Next I shot several photos of the gulls enjoying a sort of inlet and/or the beach. I've cropped and/or enhanced these photos, with iPhoto. I hope they look OK. You certainly do get a feeling for the wind when you see those waves.





Notice the wind buffeting this bird's feathers? Is it a crow?


Before my hat flew off my head, I stuffed it into my coat and quickly walked back to the car. Our next stop, for 30 minutes, an antique mall on Highway 101 where Lucy and I took a quick look--Mama and Duncan waited in the car. Then we were off for Spirit Mountain and the penny machines! Look at the beautiful sight that greeted us as we pulled into the parking lot!

While we didn't win big, we did manage to hear some bells and whistles and see some flashing lights, including one of my favorite neon signs on Barbur Blvd.

A few minutes after taking this photo, I parked the Corolla in front of the Doug Fir. Inside at the bar, Lamont waited for us to join him. One of our Mississippi buds, Chris, works there so we got to see him, too. Plus the three of us split a couple orders of their crispy, tasty fish and chips before heading home to the apartment.

All told, our mini-vacation to the coast made each of us very, very happy.