30 Days of Fun! Part 1

We did it!  My husband and I actually went on a vacation...just the two of us... for 30 days and we survived to tell about it.  I never really thought we would be able to do this for a variety of reasons.  First, my husband is NOT a person that likes to be away from home for more than a few days but this was his idea and his choice to be gone for a whole month.  I was not going to hold my breath because nothing we have ever planned before has come to pass but he was determined.

The biggest obstacle for this trip was his health.  This last year was measured by how many times he was in the hospital.  He started the year seriously ill.  He had a nasty infection in his leg that should have taken his life (he was given a 40% chance of living through it and they were sure if he lived, he would not keep his leg).  He lived and kept his leg!  It was a long recovery but we made it through that and two eye surgerys, a gall bladder surgery, and finally a hip replacement.  He retired in October and the next week had his hip replaced.  He just knew that would be the answer to help him walk without pain.....but unfortunately, that was not to be.  It seems that his body is trying too hard to fix itself and is now growing bone where bone is not suppose to be.  This is causing a lot of pain...as much as before the hip replacement.  We decided to go ahead with the trip but it did make it a bit rough for him and we didn't get to do some of the things we had hoped to do - but we still had a fantastic time.

So we packed up the car, made a spot in the back seat for the dog, and headed to the Pacific Coast.  Our plan was to take our time and go down the coast of Oregon then on into California to see my mom, then on to see our daughter in Southern CA, possibly take a trip to AZ to see some friends, over to Utah to see our youngest son, then up through Boise to see some more friends, and home to Idaho.

We began our trip going down the Oregon coast on Highway 101.  It was beautiful.  The weather was a bit nippy and the ocean was rough but it was so pretty and so much fun.  One of the things we wanted to do was check out camping spots along the way because someday we hope to have a family gathering along the coast.

Our favorite spot was Beverly Beach.  We loved it.  The camp ground was clean and nicely laid out and a short walk to the beach. 

The camp is on one side of the highway and the ocean on the other.  It was such a clean and beautiful campsite.  We loved the Yurts!  They are like circular tents with beds and a porch.  They had quite a few so we thought this would be great for our family.  They also had many camp sites nestled under the trees in a park like setting.  There was a small river that ran by the camp down to the ocean. 

To get to the ocean beach, you walked under the highway.  The beach was not as good as some that we saw.  There was some debris to navigate around but the overall feel of this camp was great.  We liked that the highway kind of protected the camping area from some of the windy weather off the ocean.  We also liked that it was an easy short walk from the camp to the ocean.  Our dog loved this park too!  We did meet another dog, a yellow lab that seemed to be very at home.  I think he must live there.  He was fun to watch.

You can see the Yurts in the background!

The ocean was very rough and you can't see much of the beach but there was a good sized area of beach.  There were a lot of logs in the stream that flowed to the ocean and some logs on the beach area.

Our dog loved the beach.  We actually stopped at several beaches on our trip and she didn't want to leave any of them. 

This is the dog we saw at the beach.  He ran all over - in and out of the water.  This is the little river that ran by the camping site and into the ocean.