The beach but not the beach

The Oregon coast is still wild. The man-made parts... kind of great in a depressed, rundown, empty streets sort of way.

And yet, I think there's a community that lives there that sustains and imagines creative little corners of this damp, green, windy place. Perhaps they're working hard to keep it intimate, private. The weather is surely on their side.

On Saturday we drove out to Lincoln City because we'd read in Sunset about a little shack that was the only place on the coast serving Stumptown, and they just happened to also have an in-house macaw. With Calder's fascination with all things bird, parrot especially, we thought it would be a worthwhile adventure.

The beach right there was pretty windy, so we got back in the car and drove through a little neighborhood just looking at the beach houses - we like trying to pick a favorite and imagine it's ours. On our weaving way we came upon a small beach and explored the less windy shore until the tide began to cut off our return access on the narrow strip of sand. The sky started spitting rain.

Back in Newport, Cafe Mundo filled us with our afternoon treats, after which we explored the neighboring property that was for sale. What a ton of work! But wouldn't it be an incredible place?

And isn't Lake looking older?! How 'bout that little ponytail?

Time to head home, so we piled back in the car and headed off only to stop two blocks later at the sight of a new city park. There was a pause in the rain and the play equipment was awesome - stuff that made me feel like I was on a thrill ride. But the highlight was a tube slide that streched 60 feet from the top of a hill down to the main park. We all took a turn... Calder quite a few.

Then home again home again, happy to find a few new spots to explore at the secretive, ramshackle, always intriguing Oregon coast.