Heavy New Year

Well, I can't say I'm sad to see 2010 go.  I can say that I thought I'd feel better about 2011.  We went to the coast for a quick weekend jaunt.  We drove through the beautiful coastal range in Oregon on our way to Seaside.  We stopped at Stub Stewart State Park so Ben could potentially do some mountain biking.  He ended up taking a few photos, instead.  Even though the elevation was low - around 1000 feet, there was still enough snow on the ground to deter Ben from biking a likely technical and definitely unfamiliar trail. There were some lovely trees in the morning light to photograph. 

We ate lunch at Norma's Oceanside Restaurant, and that evening, we went to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock of Goonies fame.  It was windy and cold on the beach, but we were there at low tide, so it was really nice to walk around on the beach and see the rocks where they come up out of the ground instead of surrounded by water. 

Saturday, we headed back to Cannon Beach, this time to Ecola State Park so Ben could take a few photos.  I took a few, too, but only one or two turned out.  It was really windy and cold, and Bubba and I didn't want to stay out there for too long.

After that, we drove down 101 to Tillamook, stopping at almost every lookout and state rec area on the way.

It was a lovely drive, and we ended up in room 111 on 1/1/11, but overall, Tillamook was a bit disappointing to me.  In fact, to be honest, the whole weekend was a little depressing.  I had left 2010 thinking that closing that year would make me feel better about this one, but really, although I didn't end up taking Bubba to the emergency room yesterday (like I did on 1/1/10), at least when we got home from the ER a year ago, there were 4 of us.  Together.  A family.  Today, when we got home from our weekend trip, I had to call #3 to tell her about what 1, 2, and 4 did this weekend.  The whole time we were gone, I had a bit of an empty feeling in my heart, and tears were close to falling from my eyes.  It was a wonderful time, and there was much fun to be had.  I guess I just hope that we can do it again in a few months.  Whole.