Just A Day at the Beach

I haven't given much of a run-down of our vacation at Orcas Island, but that will come...

This weekend, we hosted my brother, Bob, and his wife Jan for a visit. It started out as an ordinary visit. They came in on Friday evening, we had a meal together at my home, and did some catch-up chatting on our lives and such. We took a walk down the road to pick blackberries, and  had the opportunity to have our neighbor friends meet our guests. 

Saturday morning, we drove across town to Cornucopia for breakfast. We really enjoy their breakfasts, and claim this place to be one of our favorite breakfast spots in town. 

After a leisurely breakfast, we made our way to Florence for the day. The temperature in Eugene was to soar, so we headed for the cool weather. In Florence, the temperatures were in the 60's with some wind, so we didn't plan on swimming at Cleowax. Instead, we first walked around old town. We headed to a coffee shop, where Bob treated us to a coffee. We also had a "celebrity sighting," and I snapped a quick photo of one of the "stars" in our life.  After our foray in town, we then decided on heading to the South Jetty. We were dawdling as we arrived at the jetty.  It was quite windy, and we were getting set for a little walk to the beach, putting on jackets and such.  As we readied ourselves, Van had his scooter out, thinking maybe he could scooter in the gravel, when a small blue car came sliding in on the gravel near him, then peeling out as they left. I was a taken back a bit as I saw this as a stupid teenager being an unsafe driver, disregarding others, and endangering our son.

As we were looking in the direction that the car went, we noticed some smoke billowing from the dunes about a quarter mile away. There were a few of us that made the observation, stating the obvious, "That looks like a fire." It seemed so out of place, with black smoke billowing, and then we began seeing the giant flames.

After the incident with the gravel, and as we were watching the fire, another young man drove up, stating that those teenagers we had just seen, had sent a firework out of their car, having started the fire.  

I called 911 on my phone. The line was busy. When I was able to connect, the dispatcher asked if it was about the fire, and then hung up, after I said, "Yes," but before I said, "but..."  as I was also giving her information about the possible suspects. 

In the meantime, no fire fighters had arrive, and we as a group made a decision to drive out, rather than stay. I'm not convinced that was the wisest choice, but when we decided to go, we made it in the nick of time. The flames became bigger, and moved faster, and Paul made the "Better Go Now" move with the car, as we yelled for him to drive faster.  When we passed the fire which was to the right of us, we felt the heat of the fire through the car. Scary to say the least(In the picture you can see the fire had jumped the road).

With the adrenaline going, and me taking some Mama time to calm the children, we decided to go to the other side of the jetty to watch the fire. We all seemed a bit PTSD from the fire, but really were on to the next event. Uncle Bob set the swinging example, but didn't get a photo of him. It helped release some of the stress of our previous activity.

 

Again, hard to top that off, but we did end up at Mo's to eat chowder.
 

The temperature didn't climb as quickly as it did when we drove by the fire, but driving back into Eugene the thermometer rose at least 30 degrees. We were glad to be welcomed to an air-conditioned home. 

So, what do you do with visiting guests after you drive through a fire? 

Well, I served them a tasty, yet uneventful dinner. But the best part of the dinner was Aunt Jan's pie. My camera couldn't do the pie justice, hence no picture. That pie was yummy, yummy. We used the blackberries that we had picked on Friday. "We" as in I observed Jan as she made the pie. In my mind I helped her.

Sunday, we had our regular breakfast for guest fare-including bacon, and my "homemade" twisted pastries. Jan and I enjoyed our breakfast to the "pitter patter" of the rain on the patio. OK, it was loud pouring down rain that interrupted the quiet of our conversation. 

After breakfast, Bob, Jan, Evander and myself headed for Alton Baker for a tour of the park, and a chance for Evander to really ride his scooter. 

Now I wonder how I'm going to top the next guests' visit?