A Winter Adventure

A winter adventure – quite by accident!

We had a little cold spell here in Portland, but the sky was clear and it looked like a nice few days to spend at the beach. After the holidays, it was nice to spend some quiet days together with absolutely nothing to do.  I was particularly excited because we finally had our new red awning and I was looking forward to see it up. We headed over to Nehalem Bay in Manzanita – a favorite winter camping spot for us!

We’re really enjoying our larger trailer, but, I’ll admit that I REALLY miss our Bambi. I can’t look at pictures of it without smiling and regretting a bit that we sold it. Don’t get me wrong – trips like the one we had at the beach this time make all that luxurious space seem like a smart trade, but when it comes to the cute factor, the Bambi definitely wins. I hope we run into the new owners one of these times! I hope they’re enjoying it as much as we did.

The weather at the beach was cold and WINDY! Sadly, we weren’t able to open the awning up for fear that it would rip right off the trailer. Todd tried for a minute, but he had to close it before I could even get my picture snapped. Too windy for an awning, also meant too windy for a campfire…thus, we REALLY appreciated all the extra space we had inside.

Our one attempt at a campfire during the week – put it out 20 minutes later

Although it was windy, the sun was shining and the beach was practically deserted. You can walk for miles along this particular stretch of beach, and often you won’t see another soul!

So cold that the sand was frozen

Would you believe it was about 25 degrees!

A small climb over the dunes to the beach. Just made it to sunset

Love the soft light against the mountains.

Manzanita is a cute little town. Great shops to explore and some wonderful places to eat. We also spent some time checking out the cute little town of Nehalem nearby. Quiet this time of year but worth a visit!

Lots of cute little stores in Nehalem to explore.

Nehalem

First day of the new year….

Directly adjacent to our campsite.

For us, the REAL adventure began early on our final morning. With the cold snap in Portland, we’d been watching the weather carefully because we had to pull back up over the coastal range, which can be tricky in bad weather. Saturday night, we went to bed confident that the drive home in the morning would not be a problem – no precipitation in the forecast. Woke up Sunday and checked Facebook and saw photos from friends of snow covered streets at home. YIKES!  We have never towed the 25ft through snow and we were not feeling prepared (although we did have chains if needed).  We don’t get enough snow here to warrant quick action from ODOT, so driving conditions can turn hazardous quickly. Needless to say, we were packed up and ready to roll within a half an hour. The early start afforded us a chance to beat traffic, so we were able to take it slow without any problem. The only scary part was going through the tunnels on highway 26 to Portland. We made it home safely thankfully!

Heading up and over the pass