Truth About Life: Part One!

Things I am FAIRLY certain are true:
Where Blue Hydrangeas happily bloom, Shangri-La is right around the corner.

Blue Hydrangeas grow wild in Netarts, Oregon (aka Shangri-La.)

There's this thing. It's called a resume.

I have one. In fact! I have several.

These resumes seem to work fairly well ~ for tiresome jobs such as being a strategic planner (la dee dah...) or a marketing consultant (zzzzzzzzzz!)

My last 'travel for work' experience, however, was getting paid to garden. (Hey!)

Netarts, Oregon is my secret escape every September. People think it rains all the time in Oregon. and they're right 11 months out of the year. It does not, however, rain in September.

Getting paid to garden didn't exactly work out as planned:

• I pulled a weed; the house fell down.
• I didn't get paid.
• Had I gotten paid it wouldn't have mattered. I did the sad math and discovered I would have had to work a half year to earn the weekly salary of a marketing consultant.

Which got me thinking about when daughter L and I moved to Utah. I was driving a U-Haul and listening to a cassette tape entitled: Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow.

I was so excited. I kept thinking: How much money??? When's it gonna get here???

Look off to that coastline and you can see secret cabin #9

We all know the end to that story, don't we?

So I do not, as yet, have a 'gardening resume.' But stranger things have happened. I remain undaunted, unpaid, though not the slightest bit unhappy.

There was a grand upside to hitting rock bottom. After I dropped Bad Dog off at home I continued west to the glorious coast of Oregon. Where Hydrangeas bloom a delicious blue [as opposed to radioactive pink in my alkaline soil.]

Where the sea air is fresh, clean and filled with promise.

And, all is right with the world...

* Hidden Object Search! Get out the magnifying glass and look close at this photo. You can find me hoisting a glass of wine in one of my favorite vacation spots: Happy Camp Hideaway, Cabin #9, Netarts, Oregon Coast

Decompressing @ Happy Camp Hideaway

After a wild & woolly time at the Tillamook County Fair, the silence of Netarts Bay beckoned. I discovered this sweet, little place several years ago when I visited a friend in Oregon.
If you're a flower lover, you'll be in 7th Heaven in this lovely spot along the Pacific Ocean. Gorgeous blossoms happily flourish without any assistance of the human kind.
The really surprising thing is that if you ask the locals about the wildflowers, most will say, "Oh, I don't know what they are. I never noticed them before."
Calla Lilies grow wild in this magical spot.
Where we stay: It doesn't get any better than the dirt cheap digs at Happy Camp Hideaway (Cabin 9.)
What we march toward every evening:
For the most amazing meals imaginable, hike the beach to Rosanna's in Oceanside, Oregon. With any luck, the tide will be out ~ so you won't drown on the beach walk home!

Happy Camp Hideaway is real gem along the Oregon coast. Affordable, eclectic cabins are inches away from the ocean. Cabin 9 is the best. Cabin 7 is darling. Cabin 2 is haunted!

* Bruce and Theresa own the joint. Tell them Kate sent you and maybe, just maybe, they'll give me a deal the next time I show up!

* For more pictures of Happy Camp click here.

Happy Camp Hideaway

Cabin #9
Happy Camp

Happy Camp Hideaway is a real gem along the Oregon coast. Eclectic little (reasonably-priced) cabins are tucked into a small bay just outside of Netarts, OR.

They even allow dogs!

There is absolutely nothing to do in Netarts and that's the whole point.

Don your comfy clothes and wander the beach toward tiny little town of Oceanside. (About 2 miles.)

Along the way you'll discover the sand dollar beach. 'Tis a vactioner tradition to collect as many of these dollars as the tide drags in... With any luck, you'll find a few in pristine condition.

Once you reach civilization (Oceanside) have a spectacular lunch at Rosanna's.

And, then mosey your way back to Happy Camp to watch the setting sun.

Scavenger Hunt:
40-odd paces past the 'big white hotel' in a grove of trees lies a secret staircase that rises from the beach. An ancient log does it's best to point you in the right direction though, in recent years, high tides have jostled it's position.

Climb the scary stairs to find food, company and best of all, a good selection of local wines at the one, the only, Josie's Market.

* Tell them 'Kate' sent you. It won't get you a deal but it might get me a freelance project. I've been trying for years to get them to build a better website! :)