When we moved to Oregon in 2006 (yes, that means this November will be seven already…where does the time go?), we sorta, kinda started this tradition of heading to the coast for one of the days of Memorial Day weekend.

Of course there’s only one guarantee about our day at the beach at the end of May: it will be cold, windy and overcast – if we are lucky. It’s kind of a joke about the crummy Memorial Day weather in Oregon, except not really because it’s basically true that it’s NEVER nice. Case in point: This year we kicked off May with at least two weeks of lovely weather. I mean, we were getting sunburned at Ian’s Saturday baseball games. But the week of Memorial Day arrives and what do we get? Clouds, rain and downright chilly weather. Sadly, it’s been known to continue this way through June until July 4 hits, which all Portlanders know is the true start of summer. Until that date, all bets are off.

As usual, I digress. One of the trillion fabulous things about the Oregon coast is that it doesn’t have to be sunny weather for it to one of the best places on earth, in my humble opinion. You see, my experience on the east coast was that beaches are something to be enjoyed all lathered up in a bathing suit with the latest issue of Cosmo in your hands, but here – it’s about enjoying the amazing beauty of the coast regardless of the weather. No bathing suit required. I love that!

So in the “sorta, kinda” Burpo family Memorial Day weekend tradition, we set out this morning (okay, fine – it was really like 11:30 by the time we got ourselves together) for the beach. The destination: the three capes scenic drive. The first stop was to be Cape Meares, until we learned that the road was closed due to sliding. Long overdue for lunch, we headed on to Cape Lookout and found it surprisingly quiet, at least in the day use area. The campground portion was probably another story.

A picnic table by the ocean preceded an easy, lovely “hike” through an old growth forest with the waves crashing along the beach in the distance. Then, we headed straight down to the beach for a stroll where Elena was thrilled by shells and we all chased some waves.

After the beach, we headed back to Cape Meares on a road we were actually allowed to drive on. There we made our way down to the lighthouse for a quick tour and then back up for a look at the octopus tree. (It was kind of fascinating, I must admit.)

We were back in town in time to pick up something to grill and have a nice evening at home. The weekend has been great already, and it’s only Saturday.