A February trip to the beach.

Kricket and I have been talking about camping this summer for a few weeks now, and decided to do a little recce of the Nestucca River Scenic Drive. This road runs along the Nestucca, over the Coast Range, from Carlton to Blaine/Hebo. We took it last summer for a Independence Day camping trip to the coast w/Jen and Pat.

We left at noon and headed east. Pretty soon, both girls were asleep, though Abby woke up when we stopped in Carlton to pick up some sandwiches. On the road again, we started climbing higher and higher, and began to see leftover snow in the parts that never see direct sun. The snow became more and more pronounced untill we were driving in ruts headed east, with corresponding, west-bound ruts on the opposite side.




Eventually, the road choked down to just one set of ruts.




And further down the road, we were driving on pure snow. We took it slow and did just fine.


We knew that we'd see some snow, but this was pretty surprising! The snow didn't last too long though, and as we headed down, it got thinner and thinner. By the time we got to the first campground on our list, there was only a skiff left. We did encounter this huge tree down across the road; I'd bet it was 20'+ in circumference.



Picnic area w/firepit at Dovre Rec Area.


Libby taking a pit stop with her Mom.

My big girl!

My girls in the car.


Eventually we made it out of the woods and headed south on 101 to Lincoln City. This was Libby's first trip to the beach.


We had a great time at the beach. At dusk, we headed back into town for fish and chips, (which were great!,) and chowder, (which was ok.) After dinner we bundled the two tired girls into the car and headed for home.