PACIFIC CITY, OREGON

From Newport to Pacific City, another 60 miles of scenic beauty; misty headlands, rocky shores, ocean waves, pine and fir covered hillsides made a pleasant drive as we push north.
We passed Defoe Bay river marina a colorful spot,  one of three small communities nestled into this almost deserted section of coast. Pacific City is a small community of about 900 people located on the Pacific where two rivers dump into the ocean. While some people consider it remote, others consider it their best kept secret. They come for the quiet, the whale watching and cool weather.
We found Pacific City Thousand Trails full of bunnies. They scoot when you try to catch a picture, but they are everywhere. We saw one giant black rabbit as big as a full sized dachshund. There are bear warning signs posted. The park is huge and roomy with access to the beach.
Steep and wooded, the beach trail is a pleasant hike. We smelled animal musk in a two spots along the trail leaving us to wonder if we might encounter a bear.
Our little cove had this rock point on our left-
…and this one on our right. A great climbing rock.
The bluff we hiked to the beach behind us had many small rocks at its base. This is agate country and we looked for agates  but didn’t find any. Its expected to rain a good bit while we are here. We have a decent signal with our cell phone/internet amplifier. Without it we wouldn’t be able to blog or make a phone call. We  enjoy the quiet retreat, but we like to have the ability to get on the computer and phone when needed.  We’ll be here for three days at this very enjoyable park.

THE CLAN GATHERS

Our family reunions tend to be long affairs, as much as we can put into a long weekend-plus. And, families can include lifelong friends as well as relatives, we've learned over the years.
Ken, his wife Laurie, three teens and two dogs left Las Vegas at  4 A.M. and arrived around three P.M. Thursday. Over 9 hours of driving with a couple of rest stops.

 Consider totally jet lagged Romain Chemiere, who flew from his native France to Las Vegas and arrived Wednesday. He slept most of the day and evening June 30th, only to be loaded into a car with my son's family for a long road trip yesterday. He is the son of Catherine (Carre) Chemiere. She is the AFS sister to my youngest daughter Virginia.
Romain will spend a month with  family members in the US.

Grandson Stewart was hep. He brought his uke and guitar, so we are in for a treat. He and his brother are both credible musicians.

Son Ken did most of the driving and was stifling yawns and struggling to stay awake.

  Makes you wonder if  dogs suffer jet lag? Probably not. They just seem to go with the flo. They do bark, however, but this pregnant doe browsed the weedy side yard for a snack when all was a bit quiet.

 Deer are pretty common visitors, but the night before, we determined we had a noisy, growling, grunting bear in the yard. Possibly two. Couldn't see  clearly in the dark, to be certain. A neighbor dog inspected the yard with his hackles up for several minutes in the morning. And, every dog in the neighborhood was sounding an alarm. They've been spotted nearby. Its the time of year before the wild blackberries ripen, my orchard isn't fruiting either. Its their hungriest time. They like the compost pile and other succulent plants. We just have to hope they don't like dogs for snacks.