Super Family Fun Day

We took a big Super Family Fun Day trip to Lincoln City, Oregon back in January. I thought I had already posted this but whoops! Guess not.

Here's how we spent our day...

Of course, it started with Rachel's hair ritual. She has ultra curly hair.

Wow, that's quite a 'do.

Her mohawk is growing out. We discovered this interesting fact while getting ready for Super Family Fun Day.

We're finally on the road and Rachel is shooting stuff out the window from her backseat. Our destination today: Lincoln City, Oregon. Our goals: run around on the beach with the dog, then find a new place to have supper. It's Super Family Fun Day!

"Poop Farm"I'm announcing that we're approaching the Poop Farm. Everybody hold your breath; Frank you keep that window closed of I'll duct tape you to the roof of the car for the rest of the ride.

Anyone who grew up in dairy farm country knows the smell of slurry. This is slurry at it's best. And yes of course they spread the liquid slurry on the fields in the summertime when traffic to the coast is at its peak. Everyone here is familiar with the poop farm on Hwy 22 just east of Rickreall.

No, seriously, it's a poop farm. They make dairy waste based fertilizer. It sure smells like it, too. You can't see much in the picture but the cement barrier in the road doesn't prevent you from enjoying the experience.

As they say, "You can't miss it."

Call me silly but I love this partI always get excited about going to the coast when we reach that first section of road where the uphill lane splits and all the slow cars move to the right... so I can keep cruise control set at 59 as I zoom upward.

Ever watch Ax Men on the History Channel?

Here's one of the locations where the lumber is handled after they get it off the mountain. It's blurry because congestion in this area is bad and this stretch of road is notorious for fatal car accidents, so Rachel shot this from the back seat while I just kept driving 50mph.

If you haven't seen the tv show, check it out. It's really interesting to see what these guys have to go through.

The Van Duzer CorridorHeading up the last few hundred feet to Murphy's Pass (the mountain pass).

Gloomy and rainy. Typical Oregon winter weather. Are we crazy to be heading to the beach today?

Nah. It's a beautiful day...

Oh yeah, and parts of the road are washing awayThe sign behind us said "Right lane closed. Rough road."

No kidding. I think I'll hug the yellow line because the dropoff to the right is at least 100 feet through big trees and brush.

Wait - where's the yellow line? I'll have to just try to keep to the right of this car coming up the mountain.

Ahhh, at last we're here at the beach.

Arriving to this point might be the most exciting part of any trip to the coast. I get so excited when I open the car door to hear the roar of the waves and smell the salty brine of the ocean. In the summer I usually roll down the car windows as we pull into town, to try to get the salt air into the car as early as possible.

Logs can kill.
(And these two are plotting something.)
Seriously. There are signs around town (esp in the summer) that warn tourists that logs can kill. They have killed before and they'll kill again. They're a rogue group of murderers, roaming the beaches, and rolling with the tide.

These two look suspicious to me. I don't trust them.

This beach Rocks!Winter storms clean all the sand off the beach, leaving behind nothing but rocks. The sand comes back in time for summer hole-digging, castle building, and running with kites.

What is it about me and rocks? When we moved from our first house to the next one, I insisted we move some specific rocks from the front garden to the new place. Now, several home later, I still have a collection of rocks on my windowsill. I don't know what my fascination is... I just really like rocks.

WARNING: bad pun ahead

Metamorphic Rock (Granite) - Sedimentary Rock (Sandstone)

Igneous Rock (Lava) - Religious Rock (It's holey)

Great day for beachcombing

The fun isn't just in finding agates, driftwood, cool fossils, and shells. It's also fun to find weird rocks.

Rachel & Caesar at the mouth of the D River

The D River is the shortest river in the world. It runs from Devil's Lake to the Pacific Ocean in Lincoln City. You can walk across it but it's really cold in the winter. The river cuts deep grooves in the sand - perfect for dunking an unsuspecting dog as he chases seagulls across the river.

We He discovered this by accident.

Mussel shellOne of the least interesting finds on the beach today...

Miss Goofiness's New NecklaceMiss Rachel was feeling crafty the other day. Her style is punk / grunge / alternative trendsetting. You've seen her red shoes and skinny pants in the other photos...

Say no more.

Our first agate!The purple caught my eye. We've never found an agate on the beach before. I can't decide if we should polish it in a rock tumbler or keep it raw.

Maybe it's not an agate.
Maybe it's a tiny spaceship from the movie Star Wars.

Rock shapes are as intriguing to us as cloud shapes are to other people... It was just a lot of fun to walk and pick on the beach.

An ancient fish?
This is just too cool.

(Here I am, trying to be all 'edjumacashional' in the video - for G-ma and G-pa to see - and Rachel makes the coolest discovery yet.)

BTW, if you're looking for gift ideas...

Before heading home, we stopped at a family style restaurant for supper.

Frank's telling a joke here. Unfortunately, nobody remembers what it was.

The only pen in Pam's purse lights upWe went out to eat, so of course we played Hangman. The only pen I have in my purse is the kind that lights up.

Yeah, I'm kind of a weirdo.

Even signing a restaurant check is fun...
The button at the end turns on the light. To get the ink nib out, you need to twist the tip. Rachel and I snickered as Frank struggled to get the pen to write.

Rachel's studying percentages in math, so we told her to figure the 15% tip on our bill.

Waitstaff out there will be pleased to know that she has also been taught that when calculating tips you start at 15% and round up to a nice number, at least to the next 50c mark.

Driving home, Rachel shot this picture of ... um...gas station/casino/grocery store/coffee drive-thru signs...

Hmm, looks like a comet aiming for a herd of glow-in-the-dark seahorses.

Thanks for joining us on our Super Family Fun Day!
We'll have to go on another one together soon.

PS: We actually took a LOT more pictures than this. To see the rest of them, along with commentary, you can visit our flickr Super Family Fun Day slide show for to see the rest. On that page, hover your mouse in the upper right and click Show Info for all the commentary.