Dan visits - and it's off to the beach

Mr Daniel Clarke visited us last month, much to everyone's delight. With your oldest friends it's as if no time has past since last you met - we found him as sharp and as easy-going as ever; Ethan was especially pleased to find a new chum to assist in building towers from blocks, and Rachel and I enjoyed the excuse to indulge in the best Portland has to offer (and all too often passes us by). This was Dan's first trip to the States, and his fresh perspective reminded me of the alien qualities of my mundane existence - the hot tap being reversed, and having to dial an area code even when you're inside the area, for example.

Mid-visit we decamped for the beach, a very leisurely journey down the Oregon Coast from Seaside to Pacific City over four days. If you're interested you can see some of the places we visited on this map.


Ethan runs along the beach at Seaside.


Ethan and Rachel at Seaside. My abject failure to focus this shot somehow gives it the air of an oil painting.


And here they are again at Manzanita. One of the most wonderful things about Oregon's beaches, beyond their sublime beauty, is the fact that you rarely have to share them with anyone else.


Ethan gazes out towards Cape Lookout, or "The Mosquito Coast," as we dubbed it after being eaten alive.


Some fellow beaching his kayak at dusk in Pacific City.




Surf's up the following morning. Wetsuits essential - 'tis a bit nippy. Not many people realize this, but the sea isn't warm enough to swim in unprotected until you get a couple of hundred miles south of San Francisco.


Thanks to Dan for this great photo of Ethan and I on Lake Oswego!