Summer is here!

Jenn, Camille, Karen, and I kayaking the Ridgefield Wildlife Reserve.  Eagles, hawks, and herons guided us down the river.  It was a wonderful return to the water for me and a scary, but lovely, introduction to kayaking for the other three. 

I wish more things were as colorful as kayaks.

The local managers of the last corner store shared the location of this fantastic swimming hole with us. 

Karen, the scout leader :-)

Natanya's rules of adventuring: 1. There is no plan.  2.  When you have the impulse to explore a particular area, trust that feeling and follow it down the path.  3.  When you have a need, speak up and get it met (food, toilet, water, rest, alone time, etc.)  4.  Trust that it will be fantastic. 

This particular Portland adventure ended at the coast on a very windy day.  Though it was warm, the wind made it feel quite chilly and surprisingly chaotic with sand flying at you from all sides and untended objects sailing away. 

It made for fun pictures, though.

We took a nap, carefully tucked below my sarong to protect our skin from sandblasting.  Our beach blanket was hardly visible upon waking and Karen's hat was nowhere to be found.  We hiked for a good 1/2 mile down and back searching for her beach hat only to find it pinned against a piece of driftwood about 12 feet from where we were sleeping.

Fun in the wind!

The moss sitting nicely over my ear was the table's centerpiece, but I thought it needed some love.  Though it was nice to get out of the wind temporarily, the restaurant staff did not like us and we were treated very rudely from the moment we entered. (I'm sure the moss didn't help...)

July 4th with hundreds of others along the east side of the Willamette River's Morrison Bridge. 

My dad sponsors a mile of Oregon coastline which he affectionately refers to as "my mile."  So here we are off to walk his mile checking for any changes. 

Ooh!  I just studied and fell in love with bones back home and here I've found a pelvic bone (nearly the size of a human's) and a long bone.  I'm on the case...

That is a mammal's vertebra.

Based on size, type, and layout of this fascinating find, I postulate that a sea lion died here. 

Dad was not nearly as excited by the bones as I was so while I excavated, he carried on down the beach.

His mile is in a unique spot with the bay on one side of the dune above and ocean on the other.  So here we've got estuary grasses and reeds, lots of freshwater plants, and ocean winds plus the dozens of wildlife species this area supports.

Karen and I adventuring again...this time, we're off into the mud and buzzing bees.

Truly holistic medicine

Bee!

Oaks Bottom at Sunset

This Purple Loose-strife is gorgeous and very, very invasive -- hence, the fields of purple.  (This is the same purple Karen and I are within in the pics above.)

Oaks Bottom full moon