We had an epic trip to the coast this year for the 4th of July. We spent three nights in a house on the beach in Lincoln City and then three nights camping at Nahalem Bay State park.

We lucked out with the coast! The weather was warm and I even thought the water felt nice. It also happened to be an extra low tide at Lincoln City. The house was very close to the tide pools. We saw huge mussels, sea stars, sculpins, and hermit crabs. The twins found a bigger fish that was stuck in a pool, caught it, and released it back to the ocean. Soren really wanted to hold it but with positioning and the rocks, it didn’t work. Soren was quiet sad about it but he will likely be catching them also soon.

We saw a group of people harvesting mussels from the tide pool rocks. This led to a stealth investigation with the cousins and Papa2. A neighbor had noticed and call the police. They all followed at a distance as the group walked back to their car. No big fall out with police but a little excitement for the day. Sloane enjoyed it and loved to say “we followed the culprits down the beach” as she told the story.

The water was warm enough to boogie board. There were a couple at the house, but they were cracked. Papa2 went out and bought some new ones. The kids had a blast and Sloane was a champion. Soren mostly loved a little boat on a string some other kids like him use for a while.

Though the original Brambles had been there before, but it was the first time our crew had been to Nehalem State Park. We had a row of spots with a nice wooded area behind it. There was some good trees to climb. Soren had a few close calls when Ellie, Max, or Zander had to rush over to help him.

We managed to not pack our tent, so Adam had to run out to Tillamock Sporting Goods to buy us a new one. As gas prices are so high, the drive home to get it would have cost almost as much as a new tent. The new one is red and had a nice glow for reading at bedtime.

We were across the bay from Kelley’s Marina where we went to this spring with G and Pa. We went over and did some dock and boat crabbing. Adam was the boat pilot and did some passenger switch outs. Sloane and Soren were old enough to go on the boats at Kelley’s and they were super stocked. Sloane even got to help drive the boat. Unfortunately, it was not peak crab season and we ended up with only one crab.

The beach has sand dunes and the water was warmer than Lincoln City. I even went in past my knees. We jumped waves and chased them back to shore. Soren had to pee and we told him he could just go in the ocean. He thought this required pulling down his swim trunks down and Adam caught it on camera.

A week on the coast was a treat! And it was just our first family vacation of the summer.