J and K Adventures: Beach House Weekend May 25-28

The May trip to the beach house was eagerly anticipated. I had been working hard at home and at school and was feeling depleted. Even though we had been to the coast in April, and earlier in May, there is something about living at the ocean for however little time that is healing and relaxing. I reserved the Beach house for Friday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend. Lack of state funding for education provided me with another unpaid day off on Friday. Not that I’m complaining……

Jeff left on Tuesday for his 3-week trip to Detroit/Cleveland. We spent the week and weekend before he left getting things done around both homesteads. Max and I took off the camper and hooked up the boat and towed the boat to the lake and launched it and put it in the slip in preparation for summer fun to come. Jeff and Max and I loaded Max’s motorcycle into the truck and he took it in to get the rear tire replaced. And we did lots of yard work. Jeff cleaned, washed and packed to get ready to go. It was a veritable flurry of activity. Here are some pictures from spring around the farm.

Beach House weekend was fast approaching, and Max and I still had to put the camper back on the truck without Jeff’s expert help. I came home on Thursday in a pouring rainstorm that could only be described as torrential. It was a little (more than a little) discouraging. Neither Max nor I were eager to go get drenched. I was ready to concede defeat and work on it Friday morning, when the rain finally stopped. Max and I rushed out and got the job done in record time. He backed the truck up perfectly, we dropped it in and tightened everything up. Yay! The rain was beginning again when finished. Whew! We felt very proud.

So Friday I got a pretty late start (what with sleeping in and packing slow). I picked up Carol at around noon and we decided to take the long way (my favorite way) south through Drain and Elkton and Scottsburg to Reedsport. We followed the Umpqua while solving all the worlds problems with our superior knowledge and psychological insights. Ok—we gossiped! Anyway, time passed quickly and we were soon in Florence at the Fred Meyer picking up last minute supplies. Boy, were we glad to get to Dulcinea! I backed the truck up, we unloaded and off came our shirts. It was cloudy but warm and we danced around in our bras celebrating being alive in such a beautiful place. Carol got started on making a roast and I enjoyed a celebratory brew. So glad to be here!

We got ready to go to the beach, but there was none! It was high tide…..really high. So we hung out on the porch and enjoyed the sounds and smells of the ocean. We had dinner of pot roast, potatoes, carrots and ample amounts of chardonnay. Does life get any better? We were soon joined by Emily and Ruben, and Betsy and Robert. Everyone went down to the beach as the tide went out and we explored the rocky south end of the beach. Freddy nosed through the rocks, Carol scanned for agates and Em and Ru explored tide pools, and I just took deep breaths of moist, thick, sweet air and gave thanks.

Beach House in Bloom

Clover

I was exhausted, so after dessert and chatting, I was ready for bed. I put up the roof of the camper, made my bed and crawled in. I missed my TC. There was no sweetie to talk to, and no honey to cuddle with, and no body to climb over when I needed to pee in the middle of the night. Oh well…..we will be back together soon and our adventures together will continue.

After an extremely restful night, Carol woke me up at 8 with an urgent request for coffee. Luckily, I had remembered to pack some and she brought me back a cup to complete my wake-up. Em was on breakfast duty…..and such a luscious breakfast!

Then we all went to the beach so Freddy could swim and we could explore. It was lowest tide I can remember at Stonefield. No evidence of extraterrestrial life was evident. I kinda missed the uproar. We had fun following Tenmile Creek to the ocean after Freddy’s swim and getting our exercise with a quick walk down the beach. Emily created a maze for us to walk, the “Old Man of the Sea” observed us, Freddy dug in the sand and met friendly dogs and I found a rock for my butt and observed the whole scene time. The rest of the day was spent in various relaxing activities and positions.