East Coast - West Coast

I don't think it has ever happened to me that I have been on both East and West coasts in one week until this one. I left Charleston on Tuesday and flew to Portland on Friday, landing on the beach here today (Saturday.) Pretty darn good and not sure how I landed this lucky life.

Charleston is a post of its own - one I need some time to write - but this, this beach house on the Pacific (yep, ON the Pacific) with Collin and Annie (son and daughter-in-law of our dreams), Landon (son) and Landon's uber chill awesome friend Jed (Mr. Google starting his sabbatical with us here on the Pacific) is just fireworks of bliss for us. Especially Lee. I've never seen him so full of gratitude. I think there is something called the Stendahl effect that best describes it.

So, not a West Coast kind of gal, I had not made Portland and the coast a priority, but when it became clear that Collin and Annie (who live in Eugene and work a bit in Portland) were feeling dismissed (and rightly so) we bought our tickets and said, "Show us what you got."

Well, they rose to the occasion, got a beach house in Arch Cape (4 miles south of Cannon Beach and 8 miles north of Manzanita), bought a car full of groceries, gin, wine, Prosecco, raw cheese, gluten free crackers and picked fresh arugula and lettuce from their garden and packed the car.

After 24 hours in Portland and a divine Peruvian mean at Andina, then a hearty brunch at Tasty and Sons, we headed to the beach. I couldn't have imagined such a perfect place. It's clean! Beachy places can be so skanky dirty, ya know. This is so fresh, modernish, fireplace, awesome beyond explanation deck, and a really good kitchen.

But mostly, what's better than a husband rockin out to Dylan and Van Morrison and tearing up at the sunset sitting next to his sons. Big old cotton candy clouds of joy.

So, here are a few images from my day in Portland and my landing at the beach.

Thanks, pals Nick and Wendy Brown for encouraging this East coast girl to head West. www.brownink.com. Just fyi - there is, at this moment, a Bob Dylan sing-along on the deck. Need to go!

A front porch in Portland.

Darling "pop up" restaurant - getting ready for Saturday brunch.

This is a light bulb store window. Craziest damn thing.

This is another window at the light bulb store.

This is a slightly embarrassing store selling salt, chocolate, flowers and wine.
This is a store for rich people.

This is part of the "small house" movement in Portland. 

Self-explanatory.

Gorgeous - koi at the Japanese Garden.

Woven bamboo fence.

Japanese Maple and beautiful pebble garden.

Beach at Arch Cape. Oregon.

Off our deck - yep, those are Calla Lilies!
Arch Cape, Oregon.

Dylan sing along on the deck watching sunset. Really.