Flickr has been crashing constantly in Internet Explorer the last two days, forcing me to upload my photos and blog using Chrome. Josh thinks Flickr does this on purpose, since it’s owned by Google. Anyone else having this issue? Never mind that, here on glitterforall.com we are still looking at the Oregon trip pictures, yee hawr!

Our last full day on the Oregon coast, we decided to drive back north towards Manzanita and go to Oswald West State Park for the 5 mile hike. The hike starts out with a half-mile jaunt down to a little beach called the Short Sand Beach.

The Short Sand Beach.

We took the dogs off the leash and let them romp for a bit.

At this point we decided not to spend a lot of time on the beach–we figured we could do that after the hike. After the hike my feet were killing me, and it felt so good to stick them into the freezing ocean water.

Brave surfers, all wearing wetsuits, of course. There were a couple of hotties on the beach with their wetsuits peeled down, revealing tans that they couldn’t have possibly achieved on the Oregon coast.

Five miles was a longer hike than what we typically do on the weekend, but it wasn’t terribly steep. I’m not into steep hikes. Yet?

Hiking self-portrait, with sticky hair.

This man cannot resist a climbing opportunity!

The photo doesn’t adequately show just how NEON these orange mushrooms were.

They were so cool-looking! I love mushroom hunting.

Getting closer to the top…

And even closer. Once you get above the cloud/fog layer the view is gorgeous.

And voila! We made it. You have to jam your body through a dense network of foliage like the hedge maze from “Alice in Wonderland” to get there, but once you are finally on Cape Falcon, the view is worth it.

We sat down and had a snack of beef jerky and trail mix. Josh spilled the bottle of water we were sharing on my windbreaker, but I still love him.

We were sitting on the edge of a cliff, so it was necessary to hold the pets on the leash the entire time. I especially didn’t trust Maggie not to run down the cliff face. She has a habit of running towards water, without paying attention to safety. Labs!

Here’s a sloppy little video that I made during snack time. Note to self: quit making videos with food in your mouth, sheesh! Also: I need to adjust my Quicktime settings, because this video is pixelated like craaaazy. Sorry bout it.

Love the color of that ocean.

Beautiful.

Awkwardly holding the pets on the cliff edge. Trying to maintain glamour in high coastal winds is hard, friends!

I didn’t take any photos on the 2+ mile hike back down–too busy sweating. Suffice it to say, that cold ocean water finally did feel good after the walk. After we left Oswald West we popped back into Manzanita briefly for lunch and a few pictures–more about that tomorrow.

In current news…Maggie dog is limping less, so that is good. I was hoping her leg injury would resolve itself, to avoid another expensive visit to the vet. We went for another 20 mile bike ride yesterday, and not only was it easier the second time, but I have zero aches and pains today. Hooray for getting in shape! Also, we barbecued chicken with a basil marinade made from basil in our garden, and I made a fabulous blackberry cobbler last night using blackberries from our backyard. All in all, yesterday was pretty sweet.

Stay tuned for the final chapters of the Oregon trip, including…a visit with Jenn and Justin and Kissyfur! Yay!