Makin memories......those were the days my friends we thought they'd never end.....

My youngest son and I went on a roadtrip together.. quality time with his mother. You know, the things that are on the top of a 15 year olds list of things to do.




When you are on holidays... the time is not important !



The cottage by the sea that we would all like to have as a getaway !



We were heading to Cannon Beach in Oregon from British Columbia. The roadtrip started out great, got through the border early and headed down the highway for about 3 1/2 hours.

We stopped along the way to shoot a few photos'. This one is called Big Tree - Little Parker. Which is funny because up close, Parker is actually a pretty big kid for 15.

So here's what happened. We stop to pick up some shorts for Parker at a shoppe 3 hours down the highway. At Volcom of course, and when we go to buy them, guess what I don't have? My visa. Yup. A serious Julie moment. I almost had an anxiety attack right there in the store. I had some cash to pay for the shorts and gas and some lunch but the problem was that I truly needed my Visa to book into the hotel. So...... after a few "I can't friggin beleive I did this".... moments, my wonderful son smiled and made it not that big of a deal. We had to turn around and drive all the way back to Canada... 3 hours again to find it sitting on my table where I had left it. We joked about how many times we had driven by the Tacoma dome and decided to set out the next morning at 5 AM to get back down to where we were suppose to be. Yup. That's quite the son who would still get back in the car with his mother and go all the way back down again! Truly a moment.

We finally get down to Oregon - where our destination was Cannon Beach. Beautiful. Sun came out. We walked the seaside community and booked into the first place we could find that had a vacancy. We were both completely releived to be relaxing. Here's where we stayed.


Later in the day we went for a walk to the beach and it is a magnificent place to look at..


Sand dollars on Cannon Beach. We're rich! If only we could spend them.


Misty landscape is just so beautiful. Surfers heading out to catch some waves. The water was really cool but they didn't seem to mind at all. Wetsuits adorned and dog in tow....

Heading down to the beach just before sunset. A lovely quiet time.

This is the landmark there. It's called Haystack Rock, at 235 feet high, is the third largest coastal monolith in the world.
Local artists " A delicate Balance" Which came first? Embodies lifes' precariousness.....


Then we headed towards Seattle set on hitting Safeco Field for a baseball game in a couple of days. We stopped in Seaside for the day, and had Sushi on the beach. Caught a little sunshine on our bodies ( although Parker kept his hoody on the whole time) and walked the streets and window shopped. We found a fantastic vintage store called Garbo's (www.garbovintage.com)
I bought that red dress there and the owner let me use her hat and hold the sign for a photo shoot. I liked her. She had spunk. Parker tried on these white Sinatra shoes and I was proud of him for embracing the "odd in life". Don't you just love those hairy legs. These boys grow up so fast.


I forgot to mention the candy shoppe in Cannon Beach. Not just for kids! There was some really good stuff in there. Homemade crunchie bars, and salt water taffy. Bins and bins of jelly beans and a kitchen where they were making candy apples right on site.

I loved this sign.... who don't we know that hasn't pulled too many beans or picked the wrong color? Or watched as someones's child was left to thier own enjoyment! WEll, at this store you can buy those mixed beans at a discount.


So we headed on and had to spend the nite in Astoria because of a terrible accident that closed the highway. We found a cheap little old motel that was clean enough and bunked in for the nite. The next morning we drove to Seattle and watched the Mariners play. It was free Ichiro t-shirt day for the first fans through the doors and I guess we were some of the lucky ones.




Parker said he couldn't wait to play again and so inspiration won out. Yeah! He got some new stuff to head back to school with and we really enjoyed our time together.

Parker did mention driving home that we would once again pass the Tacoma dome and I laughed. What an accomlishment. Truly. I drove all that way by myself. Part of it twice. Car didn't have any problems, and we had some fun along the way.
I listened to Parker's music through the radio and I even liked a lot of it. Go figure.

So that's the end of summer I guess. The wind is blowing in the Fall season pretty quickly and the breeze is not quite as warm. The leaves are slowly changing but really so are we. Parker is playing Fall Baseball and I'm glad to see him smiling. Soon we will be moving and more changes are to come. I am thankful for that trip. We both needed it.