Birthday hiking and beach adventures

Birthday hiking and beach adventures

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• 9.09.2014

My birthday was on a Monday this year, but that didn't stop me from having a super fun birthday celebration and feeling totally birthday-ed out and satisfied after a fun day with husband and family!

I wanted to do something special and different, and it was supposed to be HOT in the city (90+) and pretty nice at the coast (77). We thought about Sauvie Island, but in the end decided to go to our old fave, the Oregon coast near Seaside and Cannon Beach. It's an easy, beautiful drive and we love being near the ocean.

But I've also been wanting to get out and go hiking and exploring more, so we narrowed it down to a couple of hiking options on or near the coast. We ended up stopping at Saddle Mountain State Natural Area, which turned out to be an absolutely perfect 3-hour hike with amazing views and plenty of difficult spots to make it fun and challenging. Going places like this makes me think, gosh, I'm grateful to live near so much natural beauty. (As I shared on Instagram!)

Such a variety of scenery on that climb! We passed wildflowers, basalt rocks the size of houses, big valleys of grasses, beautiful evergreens... amazing!

It was quite a climb! The website and signs say it's 2.5 miles, but we tracked it - it was 5.86 round-trip! That and the 1,600' incline - we were practicing good single-leg squat form most of the way up! ;)

After our hiking adventure, we were very appreciative of a favorite low-key seafood place in Cannon Beach and some time sitting and relaxing on the beach. Post-hiking ankle dirt and all.

But the coast was actually warm enough for us to spend some time with our toes in the water! I love playing in the waves, wish we could do it more here in Oregon. Made me miss warm beaches!

Then we headed back inland, to my parents' house for a delicious meal with them and husband's family - and I totally forgot to take any pictures, so I'll just have to remember it.

What a wonderful birthday day!