Destination: Neskowin

We made arrangements last summer to go to the beach as a family of three. It was to be a celebration of Rolin's first birthday (July 24th), as well as our fifth wedding anniversary (July 26th). 

What's that? Our new baby is due July 27th? Yes, I know. Maybe, just for fun, we'll aim to have a third due July 25th. 

Anyway, we were going to go to Neskowin, Oregon, a little (very little) beach town (I don't know that I'd call it a town) between Lincoln City and Pacific City. Growing up, I went there with my family; it's home to some of my favorite memories. 

We had to cancel our vacation last summer when we found out we were moving to Arizona; our departure was set for about a week after we were scheduled to be at the beach. 

We were able to reschedule for this year, even though getting there was going to be much more complicated whilst living in Arizona than Washington. Luckily, we were able to travel to Washington, use a car we have in place there, stay with my parents, stay with Justin's grandma and utilize a lot of my parents beach gear and pantry items for our trip. 

Here are a few shots from the first day we arrived in Neskowin, just in time for a quick walk on the beach, dinner at the local cafe and a fantastic sunset. More beach posts to come!

Rolin's favorite part: collecting and throwing all the sticks

Left arrow: Rolin casting a spell HP style with another stick. Right arrows: Our condo. 

Introducing Rolin to the ocean

Cool cloud & beach shot

Excited about a seashell

Daddy & Rolly

Anyone need a pregnant lady to run in front of your camera as you prep to snap a shot of the scenery? I'm for hire, but only until mid-July. 

Digging and flinging sand

Nighty night, beach!

Sunset at the beach:

Easter

Here are some shots from Easter. 

To celebrate our risen Lord, we went to church, ate hockey pucks, hunted eggs and dined with some new friends in town (where there was also more egg hunting). 

Luckily, Rolin had been trained the week before, by his grandparents, to be an egg-hunting master so he had a handle on what to do when it came time for an egg hunt. 

Rolly really liked that the little chick would cheep when he held it in his palm. 

I don't have a clue where this poor little chick is now, come to think of it. 

"A whole chocolate bunny just for me? Don't mind if I do!"

"Um, do you have another chocolate bunny I can eat?"

Scouting out eggs to make a plan of attack.

Find an egg, open it. Find an egg, open it. 

"I'd look at the camera, but I think I just spotted another egg. Gotta go!"

More egg hunting at our friends' house. 

Justin was so excited about being a hunting helper, he couldn't keep his eyes open!

"Dad! I demand you open this!" 

"Mom! Enough with the pictures already!"

Grand Canyoning

The day after the Tuzigoot and Montezuma business, we drove into the Grand Canyon National Park. Planning a trip of your own? It should be noted that it's best to do a bit of research on food options before going to the park without a picnic lunch. 

While we thankfully ate a large breakfast, our arrival was poorly timed, specifically in regard to walking certain distances between available food sources, times we would like to be eating and when these food sources were open (things close in the afternoon, folks). 

However, as I said, thankfully we all ate a large breakfast, so everyone was in good shape. That, and I had packed snacks for Rolin, which also doubled as adult snacks toward the end of the day. 

Details, details.

Lee and Rolin walking to the park from the parking lot. 

Justin with his sweatshirt on. 

Justin with his sweatshirt off.

It was a nice day for a visit -- clear, temps in the low 70s, a weekday so we weren't trampled by weekenders.

Because this is my blog, so I can say what I want to say, while grand, I was expecting more grandeur. I mean, it is a fantastically huge, colorful, mystifying work of art in the surface of the earth, but I think my eyes had been spoiled ahead of arrival by photographers' edited pictures.

I think another reason for my (I don't want to say disappointment, it wasn't that) lack of awe was because I was on edge and slightly terrified of Rolin escaping and slipping and falling, whether it be on his own or while he was on someone's back in the carrier. I mean, just a week or two before we arrived, someone tragically slipped and fell near where we were walking! I can't say I really stopped much to absorb the majesty of the Grand Canyon.

Don't get me wrong, it is pretty awesome. A few times I imagined being a pioneer, riding along on my horse, wishing someone would invent mosquito repellent already, and randomly coming across a completely impassable, colorful, enormous hole in the ground that no one had ever seen. But, after a while, everything started looking the same. And we had a long way to walk before we got to the (closed) restaurant, which would have cost us about $65 per plate, and 9 p.m. would have been the earliest we could get a reservation.

Plus, eventually Rolin didn't want to be in the carrier anymore. He wanted to run free. He wanted to show other visitors at the Grand Canyon that, yes, it is possible to walk the trail and cry for about 45 minutes straight.

Walking the trail, pushing Grammy and Mama forward with his screaming. Is he a future drill sergeant? 

Can you see the veins popping out in my hand? Death grip, peeps. Death grip. 

Justin, me and B2T2. 

Grammy making friends with another squirrel. 

Lee and Karen.

The view from the Desert View Watch Tower, nearing sunset.

We'll definitely go again sometime. Maybe when our kids have babies of their own (like, have to be strapped-in-a-stroller, can't-yet-walk babies), so I'm not responsible for fearless teenagers who think they can jump between rocks or scamper out to teeter on a cliff edge. Their spouses, not their overprotective mother, will then be in charge of threatening them with bodily harm if they're being ridiculous daredevils. If my kids are parents of their own by the time we go again, maybe I'll take some time to sit and stare at the world wonder.

Grand Canyon in 2042, anyone?

Tuzigoot, Montezuma Castle & Montezuma Well

Justin's parents came to stay with us in April, during their spring break. Justin had been wanting to see the Grand Canyon since we arrived in Arizona, and we figured the Thompsons would like to see it too, so JT planned out a trip up north. 

Thanks to a day-trip recommendation from Sunset magazine, we stopped in Cottonwood for some pizza at a joint the that came highly recommended. Unfortunately, the joint wasn't open for lunch, but thankfully we had landed on a cute strip of old Cottonwood, where the streets are lined with cute cafes and shops.  

Turns out there is a lot more than a closed-for-lunch pizza place near Cottonwood. It's also where you'll find the Tuzigoot National Monument, an ancient condominium-like village of 110 rooms built by the Sinagua people around 1000 A.D. 

Sinagua is a term given to this group of people with uncertain origins. It's not a Native American tribe, bit rather more of a mystery. Sinagua is a term coined by a scientist in the 1900s around the time they discovered some of the dwellings in the area, such as Tuzigoot. I believe Sinagua is of Spanish origin, meaning without water(?).

Tuzigoot from the bottom 

Tuzigoot from the side (plus the in-laws and my kiddo)

Tuzigoot from the top

A nest with eggs near Tuzigoot

Rolin was given a Junior Ranger badge while visiting Tuzigoot. I think qualification is based purely on cuteness.

"Hi, Lizard!'

Always trying to escape. 

PS -- the hillside town of Jerome is in the background. We stopped there with my parents two months earlier, not knowing this cool historical site was nearby.

After Tuzigoot, we went to see the famous rock dwelling called Montezuma Castle. As you can see in the pic below, it's a housing structure built completely into the side of a rock cliff. It is much more than what you see on the outside; there are many rooms and hallways that go deeper into the rock. Now, looking again, please note that we're standing at the base of the cliff...there are no stairs up to the dwelling, just a rock wall between the ground and dwelling base, about 150 ft. up. The historians and signs on site suggested the inhabitants used many ladders to climb.

This was again a dwelling place of the Sinagua people, utilized from around 1100 to 1425, when it was completely deserted.

We also stopped at a place called Montezuma Well (the coolest of all three places!) The funny thing about Montezuma Well is that the other two sites are packed with tourists, require a fee, have gift shops and rangers and the works. Montezuma Well has none of that, and it's free for everyone! (Note: We were able to get everywhere for free because Lee used his national parks perk card you get as a senior, but still...)

Lee was a champ and carted Rolin around most of the day. 

The well is about 11 miles from the castle. It's basically a giant sinkhole that's filled with fresh water, but no one, still to this day, knows where exactly the water comes from (obviously under ground, but one of the signs noted that many divers with equipment and cameras have tried to put cameras down a supposed source, but the cameras are shoved back out before they make much progress).

The Sinagua people built a few small dwellings in the rock wall around the hole, but nothing as grand as Tuzigoot or the castle.

Here's the well. The two arrows are pointing to two doorways into cliff-side dwellings.

Better shot of the doorways.

This dwelling was built near the water level of the well, down a couple sets of stairways. We weren't allowed inside, but you can see on the right of the pic that the dwelling area goes deep inside the wall (where is is much cooler). 

The heat was getting to me by late afternoon.

The neat thing about the well is that the water escapes through a natural tunnel in the side of the rock (limestone?) and out through a small opening in the back of a hill, which the Sinagua people discovered and made use of for irrigation by routing the water through a series of man-made canals. This is otherwise a desert, folks. There is not a lot of water around, so the well was very sacred, for drinking and irrigating.

This is the point where the water exits the well and heads outside the hill where it was then (and now) routed through canals for irrigation.

The canals have been reinforced as of late, but follow the original route the Sinagua made. This is at the bottom of the backside of the well (it sits on a hill). 

Making my way down one of the stairways to the water. If anyone is looking for a pregnant lady to jump in front of a nice scenery shot, I'm for hire until mid-July. 

Lately, according to our phones...

Here's a collection of randomness, based on photos from our phones:

Adventures in feeding a toddler

Helping daddy build a small garden box

Deciding daddy needed a hug while he worked

Helping to get the soil nice and hydrated

Some of my new gal pals threw me a surprise baby "sprinkle." It was a total surprise and so sweet of them!

Rolin and his teddy helped me make Justin's birthday pie

Rolin was mad at me for continuing to (as gently as possible) tell people I will inflict bodily harm upon them if they allow Rolin to get too near the edge at the Grand Canyon. Therefore, he was carried often.

Wearing onion goggles, teehee

Playing with Grammy and Grandpa Thompson at the park

We hung around

Hung around some more

And continued hanging when we got home

Discovering Play-Doh

Checking out the train park with Grandpa L.J

Keeping an eye on the youths at the park

Eating mom's ice cream

Eating dad's ice cream

Just a regular day:

Wearing mom's shoes, dragging Pete the Sheep around, stomping on trains, yelling, "Oh, no!" for no reason, sharing our drank with friends...just a regular day around here!