Bandon Day Trip

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I took the kids to Bandon in mid-January not only to get out of town, but to enjoy a sunny day on the coast. I apologize if it seems as if there's a lot of ocean pictures, but it's still really new and exciting for us so we're snapping pictures like tourists every time we go to the coast. You'll forgive me. I know you will. :) I know that pictures can't and don't do justice to being there in person. You'll have to take my word for it that it was a beautiful, beautiful day. We checked out a new spot in Bandon and stumbled upon an awesome stretch of beach at low tide with lots of little tide pools to check out. It was complete coincidence as I hadn't checked the tide schedule at all before we left. Molly hung out in the Ergo quite a bit and Alanna stayed within 18 inches of my side for a majority of our time at the beach. She is quite nervous around the ocean after her first two encounters with the power of the waves. :( Mom fail. The tide pools were a first for us; we saw some great sea anemone in several different spots! At one point, we stepped out onto a medium-sized rock to check out a tide pool when a sneaker wave caught us by surprise. The water rose quite a bit and blocked us on the rock for a few minutes. I panicked for a bit thinking that I would probably have to walk in the water and carry the kids back to the sand, but the water receeded enough for us to jump over it. At most I would have gotten wet up to my calves, so nothing too serious. There's a reason why there are several signs at beach access points giving warning to sneaker waves! Rookies. We're total ocean rookies.

Of course, a trip to Bandon would not be complete without a stop at Cranberry Sweets to sample all kinds of tasty goodies. We bought some salt water taffy for Matt since it's one of his favorites. We also stopped into the toy store for a bit before checking out another beach. A few people were walking on the beach pretty hunched over staring at the sand as if they were looking for something specific. There was a section of smallish pebbles in front of where we had set up, so after a bit, the kids and I wandered over to the pebbles and just mimicked what we saw other people doing. We stared at the rocks as if we knew what we were looking for. I had heard from a friend that Bandon is a good place to find agates, so I figured that people were indeed looking for agates. Well, we might have had some success if I actually knew what an agate looks like!! Wait - I did take Geology 101 at NDSU, but unfortunately 'Rocks for Jocks', a term coined by my fellow alumni father, did not serve me well. Oh well. When in Rome, right!?!? Or rather, when in Bandon!!