my groundhog day

DISCLAIMER-I may be giddy from exhaustion or over excitement...however that being said...I still think that in a week or two I will feel the same way.  Proceed...

Today was a good day. 

I woke up.  (albeit after a lousy night's sleep) 

I had French toast for breakfast, made with real (homemade courtesy of Megan) French Bread-dowsed in buttermilk syrup with a side of cheesy potatoes.  

I set off on a two-ish hour drive to the coast...

Cannon Beach.  

For more than two hours I frolicked in the waves...literally. Ask Megan...she might actually have a picture...not sure.  She is sneaky like that.  

(definition of frolic: Play and move about cheerfully, excitedly or energetically) 

Then I waded through the water and found some amazing tide pools and rocks COVERED in sea anemones, mollusks and starfish of every color.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  The waves rolling in were breath taking.  

Then I drove (actually I was the passenger) down the Pacific Coast Highway to Tillamook, OR. 

I saw some insanely breathtaking views.  

It was unreal.  

Once in Tillamook I checked out the cheese factory.

ate some ice cream. (PS Tillamook ice cream...kind of over rated...but their yogurt...FANTASTIC) 

almost lost my cell phone 

and best of all had some fantastic fish n' chips and chowder.  (If you are ever in Tillamook there is a fish shack across the street from the factory...THAT is really the place to go in Tillamook.)  

Then I rode back towards Portland driving through the Tillamook forrest.  

Surrounded by gorgeous trees on either side.  

Once back in Portland I met my friend Kim Clark for dinner and chatted for almost four hours.  

I had not seen Kim in more than TEN YEARS.  

Dinner ended, the chatting continued and then a drive back to Megan's house (where I am staying) during which Kim and I seemed to be transported back to our senior year of high school...cruising around Bountiful at night, with no particular place to go.  

So that was my day.  And can I just say...if there was a day that I had to relive over and over and over again...this might very well be that day.  This trip has been amazing...everyday the things I see are more beautiful and I think today was the culmination and to top that off I got to see a very dear friend.

I can't help but feel pure joy right now.  I am sincerely overwhelmed with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for my life and especially for this travel opportunity...ALL of my travel opportunities I've had (and will have) this year.

Today was a good day.

I suppose the only bummer was that in all my frolicking about in the waves my sweet little Canon camera got herself a bit waterlogged.  Hopefully a lovely rest in a bed of rice will do her a lot of good and the pictures I took will show themselves.

The pictures below were taken with my cell phone...not fantastic, but not horrible...besides, even the best camera could not do this experience justice.

Cannon Beach.  This is the other end of the beach from Haystack Rock.  I would HIGHLY recommend exploring this end.

Haystack Rock.  Beautiful, no doubt.  But I say a lot of haystack rocks on Rialto Beach in January.  Like I said above...the other end of the beach is where it's at.

Scenic overlook on the Pacific Coast Highway.  I could have sat up here all day.

View from the Pacific Coast Highway.
For a lot of my life I have dreamed of driving the Pacific Coast Highway.  I imagined it would be indescribable.  I was right...and that is just a small portion of the highway.