Hydrangeas!

Today's hike was to The Knoll/God's Thumb.

We made the 3 mile loop in a little over an hour. A couple really steep sections, but only lasted a couple minutes each. Beautiful forest to a mountain meadow overlook.

Dan identified this plane as it flew over as a Piper Cub.

I love that he knows what every model of plane is!

Brunch at Nelscott Cafe -- so delicious. Then home to clean up.

We had a glass blowing lesson at Lincoln City Glass Center.

For $65 we had a private instructor for a 30 minute session 

and made a glass heart that we get to take home. 

(You can choose from several different projects and colors. I chose blue and green, of course.)

It was super fun and if I would have known how much we liked it, 

I'd have signed up for two lessons so we could make another project right after.

Afterward we bought a kite from Winddriven where they were happy to make recommendations and even offered to show us how to fly it. (We declined.)

We also found a small tide pool, but are going back to the 

lighthouse tomorrow to see if we have better luck.

We were hoping for fish 'n chips at Barnacle Bill's, but due to their labor shortage, they're only selling fresh raw fish and appetizers. So I had a shrimp cocktail and Dan had a crab cocktail and we both left happy.

This guy let me take a pic of his shirt. Clearly he and Dan are kindred spirits.

Thirty minute walk around The Connie Hansen Garden on a side street near the 101 going through town.

Open dawn to dusk and free and worth the time to stop to see gorgeous flowers and plants essentially willed as a park to the neighborhood when she died.

We found fish 'n chips at Pub's Diner and it hit the spot.

We've had great food here and relatively unassuming spots off the highway.

Checked out some bikes from the lodge to ride down the peninsula of homes in a private community across the road from where we're staying. It had more hills than we expected and Dan's bike only had one gear and my bike only had front brakes that worked. But it was a great time of night to take a ride and sit on the beach all by ourselves.

Pretty sure these homes were all built in the 70's and haven't been updated since. 

We decided the parents bought vacation homes back in the 70's, but their kids are all vacationing in Cannon Beach. 

When we got home we binge rewatched the last five episodes of Ted Lasso in preparation for the new season this weekend. And ate lots of cheese and blueberries.

This morning as we headed out, I told Dan I was taking pictures of every hydrangea bush

that I see. He was very accommodating. 

They are blooming EVERYWHERE up and down the Oregon coast 

in every hue of pink, purple and blue and even beautiful whites.