The Beach

Greetings from the wilds of Lincoln County. Last Thursday Diane and I hitched up the trailer – actually, I hooked up the trailer while she loaded it – and headed southwest to Lincoln City where we had reservations at Devil’s Lake State Park. To make the trip interesting, we let Veronica, our GPS Lady, pick the route. We were thankful that she chose to NOT take us through Dundee, the slowest way to Lincoln City Ever, we thought, until we found ourselves in the equally slow back streets of Salem. We figured it was a toss up as to which way took the longest. We’ll be going home via Dundee to check that out.

It rained most of the way on the trip but we didn’t care. We were going to the beach. The weather didn’t matter.

The main reason for the trip, in addition to the beach, was to meet up with Kathie and Kevin Coon. They’ve been married for a while but we’ve never met Kevin. We had seen a few random shots of her and Kevin traveling all over but everyone knows photos can be doctored. We were looking forward to meeting him.

That happened Friday morning, shortly before lunch, so we can verify to the masses that Kevin actually exists. He’s not a figment of Kathie’s imagination. He was a little surprised that his cover had been blown.

He calmed right down once he realized we weren’t a threat …

As a bonus, almost all of Kevin’s family were there, also. What a surprise. Including Kathie and Kevin, there were thirteen of them: Will, Casey (Kevin’s daughter), Wyatt & Gracie (Will & Casey’s), Jason, Rhonda (Pam’s daughter), Cody & Colton (Jason & Rhonda’s), Danny, Pam (Kevin’s sister), and Cam (Kevin & Pam’s Mom). Cam, incidentally, is 95, and a fun lady. The reason for this family gathering was the semiannual hand off of Cam from Kevin & Kathie to Danny & Pam as she transitioned from California to Washington. It’s a special event and we felt blessed to have been invited into Kathie’s new family to share it.

Danny and Pam. Pam is Kevin’s sister.

Left to right:

Cody, Wyatt, Will, Colton, and Jason Kooy the famous race car driver.

Will owns Wyatt and the older boys are Jason’s.

Rhonda, Will’s wife, Mother of Colton & Cody, daughter of Pam & Danny.

Diane, not related to anyone present except Kathie, a 2nd cousin, and me, a 1st husband.

Cam, mother of Kevin and Pam, mother-in-law to some, Grandma to the rest. She’s 95.

Casey, daughter of Kevin, wife of Will, mother of Gracie and Wyatt. I have no photos of Gracie. She moved around too fast for me to get a still shot.

For lunch at on Friday we drove K&K to Depoe Bay to visit the Sea Hag, our favorite place. Had to have my crab Louie. K&K also had crab Louie’s and Diane had fish and chips. Turns out it was all excellent, served by my new favorite waitress, Shannon, who Kathie said was going to spit in my food if I didn’t leave her alone. I’m pretty sure she didn’t but you never really know, do you? It all worked out nicely for Diane and me because Kathie grabbed our bill and made Kevin pay it.

While eating, Kathie spied Pam walking past on the sidewalk carrying a box of wine from which she was able to decipher the name of a winery. Using that info she searched Google on her phone and discovered there was a tasting room only three doors north of the Sea Hag. So, after we were done eating we went that way.

Upon entering the tasting room potential customers are greeted by a low ceiling with dollar bills taped all over it. The story, according to the wine steward on duty is that the dollars are removed once a year and the total is matched as a donation to charity. Pretty nifty.

I believe the tasting experience was a success because Kathie & Kevin bought some. I’m unclear as to whether or not they also bought into the wine club plan the Wine Lady offered, but I don’t think they did.

The rest of the day was spent visiting and relaxing while Pam BBQ’d a lot of dead chicken for supper. I suspect she had help but I have no firm information regarding that. I could speculate, but that wouldn’t be fair because I’d miss someone for sure and won’t be invited back next year. All I can say is the chicken was awesome, as were the beans and potato salad. Also, the banter at the table as we ate was very familiar to us. Just like being at home when the family gathers. Very nice to be involved.

On Saturday we arrived later, after lunch, and I stayed outside with Ziva working on this blog entry, outside in the cold wind, while Diane and Kathie went bra shopping at Goodwill. I understand they both came away with items that were as good as new for less than half the price. If I properly understood the gist of the conversations regarding their treasures, we’ll probably be buying our underwear from Goodwill from now on. I’ve looked at them before and noticed that most of the items offered do not have labels, but that doesn’t matter because they are also color coded so there’s no doubt which is the front or back. That’s really handy unless you’re trying to out them on in the dark. That’s when you have to resort to using the scratch-and-sniff feature also available on their used underwear. While extolling the virtues of these items I learned that not everyone is a fan of used underwear. Seems like such a waste.

The foregoing topic was covered at another incredible dinner that Pam made … BBQ ribs. Really, really good stuff. I discovered that I really like ribs and that I’m a pig because I ate too much.

Sadly, after spending 2-3 has hours hammering out my blog entry I turned off my iPad with the intent of finishing it later. Turns it that if you don’t make an attempt to save it, turning off the iPad just makes it go away. Forever. So, I had to start all over. I suspect you don’t really care about that but had to tell you anyway.

All to soon it was time to part as Kathie & Kevin’s clan had to depart early Sunday morning so the respective wives could get home in time to rest so they could be all fresh for work Monday morning. We said our good byes and travelled back to the trailer, and Ziva, who was returned there before dinner. She was excited to see us, as she always is, no matter how long we are away.

This Sunday morning, we jumped in the truck and headed south to Agate Beach. There are no longer agates on that beach, but there used to be. It was pretty bare. Pretty, but bare. Diane found a stick that interfered with putting her hands in her pockets. I suggested she drop the stick and she said, “No. I might find something I want to Poke.” I understood, and kept my distance.

It took us about 20 minutes to walk all the way to the waters edge, the tide was so low. Ziva had a nice walk, as did we. The beach was mainly for Ziva because Diane promised her another trip to play in the sand. But, she didn’t play. She just followed along with us, sniffing things that interested her, ignored those that didn’t, it was always on the alert for another untethered dog to visit. There weren’t many of those, as your can see.

Diane stopped at the Newport Fred Meyer for gas, but they didn’t have a gas station, so she bought some food and candy for us. Then we went a little further south to a Shell station that honored our Fred Meyer card. Saved $2.05. Then we went back to the trailer and took a nice walk in the sun. I didn’t mention that it was sunny, did I? It was.

We walked through the park to the lake with Ziva and came across this duck swimming around in space C-4. Many spaces here are flooded like that because of the incessant rain lately. I’m sure the duck didn’t have a reservation for C-4 but doubt if it mattered. There are many other spaces available.