A Day Trip to the Coast and Back: Part I

Joel and I had the opportunity to take a mini road trip this weekend and drive to Florence, OR and back. Florence is known for its beautiful sand dunes that are literally right on the beach. I was super excited because I thought we would get to spend the day taking some amazing photographs of ourselves to send out for our Christmas letters, and to have a day of relaxation... It didn't turn out quite like that, but oh well, life must go on!

Here are a few highlights I would like to share with you.....the first being how beautiful Oregon is in the fall time! The way we went to get to Florence was breathtaking most of the time...the way coming home, would have been just as beautiful or more so, except that we drove the last two hours (along the coast line) in the dark. For some reason we didn't plan an overnighter, but next time we will for sure! The second highlight was the time I was able to spend with Joel one-on-one. It seems like we never get "joel-and-lila time" much these days because we are so encompassed with work that we hardly have time to even find time to be lazy and watch a few shows here and there. Having a day where we were just able to be together without interruption was priceless. I love being able to do fun things with my sweetheart!

One of the places we stopped to get a geocache was at a wetland...there were tons of elk roaming about...it was so awesome! I reminded us of Idaho a bit, although we really miss seeing the moose....

You will notice that the last two sets of pictures have what appears to be a beaver swimming in the water....well don't think it is a beaver because it is not...it is a relative to the beaver however...that cute/ugly looking thing is called a nutria. They are all around here, and they look like a cross between a beaver and a large rat. I haven't been able to capture one swimming on camera, so I thought I would share these pictures with you. Trust me, they are ugly!!