Number Six

Every year about this time I am reminded of a very special day in our lives just by looking at the garden in our backyard. Our wedding day...six years ago, on May 15th. The one lone white tulip which remains cleverly placed under the green arch. Both a part of our big day.

That arch, now covered with purple Clematis, was adorned with silk flowers and greens and all of our guests passed through it as they entered the reception hall. White tulips, one my favorites, were used in everything from bouquets to church decorations to table centerpieces. Each bulb was planted in pots the fall before our wedding and kept in my inlaw's garden. A week prior to the big day, all of the pots were carefully transported 4 hours across the state of Wisconsin to my mom's house where they were kept for the final week, while we all prayed that the flowers would open...and they did. It was beautiful!

Six years later, we celebrated this treasured day by spending three nights on the Oregon coast. We rented a small house with great views, packed our belongings and our dog, and off we went on 7-hour road trip to the Pacific Ocean.

Our first night we were welcomed with a neat sunset - right from the front yard of our house.

The ruggedness of the mountains meeting the ocean - another view from the front yard.

Onyx's first ever trip to the Ocean. As any kid does, she drank her fair share of salt water. She had a great time prancing along in the sand.

Our anniversary day. The rhodendrums were beautiful. This one was on the back side of our house and was probably about 12 feet tall.

A scenic viewpoint along the coastal Highway. We just loved this area. The best of both worlds - the forested mountain sides and the sandy ocean beaches.

We were able to visit 4 or 5 different beaches all within 10 miles of the house we rented. This particular beach nestled in Smuggler's Cove is a popular surfer hangout. This day was partly sunny, with cold winds and an air temp of about 57 degrees! These guys are crazy, but it was fun to watch them tackle the waves.

My favorite beach that we visited was called Hug Point. It was nice and sandy even at the high tide and had awesome tidal pools at low tide. We spent a good deal of time exploring all the rock formations and sea creatures.

The reddish-pinkish thing attached to the barnacle covered large rock is a starfish. I had never seen a live starfish in it's natural setting. Very cool!

I thought one live starfish was neat, but we found this one too, and were able to get much closer to it.

Us. The dampness in the air brings out the curls!

In addition to a lot of beach walking and exploring, we were able to have some of the best fish & chips we've ever eaten. The clam chowder was excellent too, and I don't even like clam chowder! For our anniversary dinner, we stopped and got fresh dungeness crab to eat at the house - that too was delicious. We definitely had our share of local seafood - all in one day!

One of the highlights of our trip for me was the morning we left to come back home. Ever since my first trip to the Oregon coast 4 years ago, I have been on a mission to find a sand dollar. Even after visiting several beaches over 4 days, I could not find an uncrushed sand dollar for the life of me. We were packing up our belongings and I noticed that the tide was low enough to show the sand in front of our cabin, so I took the opportunity to do one last check on the beach. I walked quite a ways and found nothing - not even crab parts or shells. The beach was eerily clean. I was about to turn around when I saw something white a short distance ahead. To my surprise it was a whole, untouched sand dollar. I practically screamed in excitement. And suddenly my eyes were open to the possibilities - another white thing caught my eye....a second whole, untouched sand dollar. I turned around to walk back the cabin and found yet another white thing laying on the beach....a third sand dollar!! It was an awesome way to end a great trip!