Sandcastle Days - Cannon Beach, OR - 2009

This is an annual event, but I haven't gone annually, though I would like to make it a regular 'thing.' Last year, it occurred to me in mid-June to see when it was so we could go. I had missed it by one week. I vowed not to let that happen this year, and have had this date on my radar for a least 6 months. Would the weather be good? Would it be good timing for our calendar? Would all the stars align? I checked the weather, asked my husband, and did a little last minute grocery shopping for snacks, picnic lunch on the beach, and grilling burgers for dinner before we headed home.



I always seem to love photos taken from behind. It seems to catch some kind of simplicity you don't get when the face it present.

Bonus! Low tide was 10:45 am (which I looked up before we left) and we arrived at 10 am. By the time we got to Haystack Rock, our timing was perfect for seeing starfish, and other creatures of the sea. Timing is everything when it comes to exploring tide pools.

Sea Stars in all different colors, shapes and sizes. Everywhere we went, we saw more and more.

The teams were still making their sand castles as we passed by the first time. Later in the day we'd walk the beach again and see the final results. Pretty cool to see it all in action.

There was everything from Dorothy and the Wizard of OZ to Sand Dollar Bail-Out. Funny themes, creative themes, you name it...

This picture doesn't do this one justice, but this is Crater Lake. Carefully crafted trees ( I watched the guy make them and was sure to try his technique later in the day...) the island in the middle, and even a funny chain/plug to imply draining or pulling the plug on Crater Lake. This picture makes it look like a hole with water, but there is detail if you look closely. Really neat!

We think this is the one that was declared the winner of the "Master" level. Mr. Potato Head. There was more to it than just this one castle, but I wanted to show the detail.



Oh, Evan carried his bucket for miles down the beach, looking at tide pools, looking at ALL the teams creating their sandcastles... "When are WE going to make OUR sandcastle?!" We sat down in an area that had already been dug which gave us lots of water to work out. I told Evan that when I sat down to make a sandcastle, I was SERIOUSLY going to make one! We had such fun creating and building, and then, I tried making those great little trees I had seen at the Crater Lake castle. VERY wet sand, but the fist fulls...let it drip out of your hand. Over and over and over again, and you have a really cool looking little tree. Evan got quite good at it too! One woman even stopped to take our picture and declared ours THE WINNER of the day!

My little smiling, sandcastle making, cutie pie of a kid! (Check out our forests!)

A great way of advertising your business...

And here's the rental. Pretty cute.

After building our castle, it was time to make the (maybe 2 mile) journey back across the beach, past Haystack Rock to our car at long last. Great day. No rain. So much fun. I had noticed a sign (inside a Honeybucket potty, of all places!) that mentioned a "Sandcastle Days After Glow Party" at a nearby park. Live music, face painting, crafts for kids, etc. Count us in. We were looking for a place to grill our burgers and have dinner. (We brought our camping grill and were the envy of the park!)

We walked most of the day in the ocean. There's something really great about sticking your toes in the ocean. I noticed that LOTS of people didn't. They had jeans and shoes. Then, there were lots of people that did walk in the ocean. I vowed to myself that I will opt to walk IN the ocean when given the chance. Hey, feet dry, the sand falls away. Walk in the ocean.

Evan got to paint sand dollars, make a photo frame of a sandcastle, make bubbles, play play dough, kick balls around, and more. We got to listen to a Steel Drum Band as we had dinner before heading home. I think the day was a close to perfect as you could get. Maybe 5 degrees warmer, but I was good with the way things were.

Nothing wraps up a nice day at the beach like ice cream. We 3 sat on the porch of "The Picnic Basket" and had our farewell treat. Look at all the fun we had for the price of gas, and $5.85 for ice cream! Fun on a Budget is my middle name!

We headed home around 6:30, stopped at a favorite stop on the way home (Camp 18 Restaurant) and Evan got to buy a Log Hauler truck with some special gift money I had in my wallet. I'm sure for him, this was the perfect ending to the perfect day. I'll give it a few weeks, but then I am going to find out when Sandcastle Days 2010 is. (WOW - 2010 - that number loks weird!) Gotta get that date on my planner!