North Bend to Port Orford: Sand, Sun, and Wind

We headed back down the Oregon Coast today and showed my in-laws many of the pretty sights along the way.

First, we stopped at the Horsfall Recreation area just north of North Bend to show them the impressive Oregon Sand Dunes.

We continued onto Bandon, which has a lovely Beach Loop Drive where you can see nice rock formations. 

 

This is "Face Rock" (can you see the profile?)

It was sooooo windy there-- can you tell by my hair and Pepper's ears?

Bandon has a cute Old Town area, where we had crab for lunch and strolled on the Boardwalk.

We continued towards Port Orford and stopped at Cape Blanco State Park and Lighthouse, which were shrouded in fog.

We hiked a nice easy trail at Port Orford Heads.

 Love this family shot of us!

We finished our sightseeing at Battlerock State Park.

Iver did pretty well in the car-- taking one greater than 1-hour nap, and a couple of 30-min naps while we drove. We did stop a lot, which helped entertain him (when he was awake)-- there were only a couple of car meltdowns when he got bored!

While we were met with some impressive winds, it was a really beautiful, sunny day to spend on the Oregon Coast!

Gold Beach Sunset

Celebrating in Coos Bay

I am so thankful to have this weekend to recover from a very busy month of work, particularly with OB call, sleepless nights, and deliveries (the grand total was 15 deliveries in 30 days, which was a record for me).

Khao, Kelvin's dad, came up from Orange County and we celebrated his 65th birthday (yesterday) and our fourth anniversary (today) with a trip up the Oregon Coast.  K's parents have never been to Oregon, so it was fun to show them some of the sights that we had seen back in September 2012, which was the last time we drove this part of the Highway 101, as well as to explore some new places.

We spent the early part of the afternoon at Sunset Bay Beach off Cape Arago Highway, where Iver got to experience SAND for the first time and Pepper wondered why she couldn't roam free on the beach (which she loves) off leash in this stricter state :). While the weather wasn't particularly warm, as you can see by our attire, I did see kids getting in the ocean (Brr!).

 Grumpy Face

"on but off leash"

  

Iver loved the sand!

Amy, a friend from the UC Davis Family Medicine Department, now resides in Coos Bay (well, North Bend) with her husband and two kids. She (who had suggested this park/beach) and her two-year-old Goldendoodle, Simon, joined us for a nice hike above the ocean bluffs.

We then spent some time at Amy's house and in her lovely yard, which includes a true goldfish pond and grassy area. The dogs frolicked and then rested in the shade, while we ate snacks and the kids played with Playdoh...

 

... and the grandparents swung on the swingset.

We concluded the day with a great meal at Tokyo Bistro, a restaurant that was recommended by Amy.

Not yet onto "sushi" solids, Iver resorted to eating his feet.

Here's to more happy years of milestones!

Pony Party

On Sunday, we went to our friend Natalia's place for the second birthday party for her twins, Maxim and Nikolai.  We spent a good amount of time socializing (and thus not much picture-taking). The food was awesome, we caught up with some doctor friends who we don't see very often, and Iver enjoyed riding the pony and playing with Daddy in the bouncy house!