summer vacation at the beach!

Last week was the summer shutdown for my place of work, and so we took off for the Oregon beach as we have done for several years now.  This year we went almost to California and spent the week in Gold Beach, OR at the Turtle Rock RV Resort which is on Hunter Creek.  It was a nice place, with an easy walk under the 101 out to the beach, and the "creek" is more like a small river that's more than wide and deep (and calm!) enough for swimming, even when it was windy and the waves in the ocean were crazy.  Lots of pictures were taken as you might imagine...here is a selection in no particular order.

I always have to have a posed photo, and the large rockpile between the creek and the beach worked out nicely for that purpose this year.

Our friends who have Martok's littermate Sirius came to join us for our last day/night, and the little boys had a great time wrestling and playing biteyface for hours.  I particularly like this lucky shot I got of them chewing on each others faces!

On July 4 we went for a long (5.5 mile) hike up Humbug Mountain, as it was so windy that going to the beach was not fun for anyone.  Martok did really well, although he was definitely tired by the time we were done!  I managed to get this shot of all three of them while we were on our way back down - I didn't move them into this pose or anything, just caught their attention and took a few frames quickly.

While we were on the hike up the mountain, we passed by a small stream which Jadzia promptly used as a cooling bath for her hot self.

Jadzia swimming in the creek by the beach.

Martok running about to fetch his ball right on the edge of the waves.  He didn't have any problem with them, and almost swam a bit during the first day or two, but after the wind picked up on our third day and the waves got bigger he wasn't too interested.  That's fine, he's still rather little after all!

Cold, wet, and freshly bathed puppies are awfully pathetic unless you turn them into a burrito with a towel and snuggle them.  The girls weren't pleased at being left out, though, as you can see in the background of the photo.

We took a great jetboat trip up the Rogue River one day, where we saw all kinds of birds (cormorants, vultures, bald eagles, and more!) and had a lot of fun swirling in the rapids.  I took one of my spindles with me to spin while waiting to reboard after a bathroom break.

Very windy...you can see Ezri's coat blowing in the wind!  Martok's short little puppy coat is pretty much unaffected, though.

As always, Ezri loved swimming in the ocean and had a great time even when she had to fight the waves.  Such a strong and smart girl!

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Of course, there was a small thread of sadness throughout the week as we took our first vacation without Curzon.  Going to the beach was one of his very favorite things, and he would stick his head out the window as soon as he smelled the salt air and would start dancing around in the backseat until we were there and he could race into the ocean.  I couldn't quite bear to leave him behind, so we took the small cherry box that holds his cremains along with his collar and brought them with us, where they rested in the niche in the wall for the duration of our trip.  I considered taking them out to the beach to take a photo, but ultimately decided against doing so as I don't really want photos of that, I'd rather remember him as he was on the beach himself last year - full of life and cheer after healing from that surgery.  One of my favorite photos of him from the beach last year is below to round off this entry on a happy note.

Such a happy boy to be playing in the cold ocean!  The temperature and waves never bothered him, he was more than willing to fling himself into the ocean after a ball or the suggestion of one...at the slightest provocation (or excuse), really!