Escaping the Summer Heat at Ecola State Park

July 10, 2012

I know I really can’t complain much about the West Coast heat considering my friends and family back East have been melting in a muggy heat wave – some even doing so without power due to some crazy summer storms. The mugginess is one thing I do not miss. AT ALL. There really is nothing worse than showering, feeling fresh and clean, and then walking outside to be enveloped by a wall of steamy air. For those of you unfamiliar with mugginess, it’s like a natural sauna you can’t escape if you want to be outdoors. Or like walking around a heated indoor pool without the chlorine smell. Your skin feels sticky and if you have any semblance of curl in your hair, it will immediately spring to life amplifying your previously sleek hair to at a minimum, three times the size it was when you left your house. (Obviously, I have fond memories of being on the St. Matt’s swim team where I spent countless hours at Lincoln’s indoor pool for practice and Albert Morris across from Archbishop Ryan H.S. for meets and clearly skip the sauna whenever I am lucky enough to be in a spa.)

My point is, I hate to be hot. So when I heard Sunday’s forecast here in Portland was calling for high 80s / low 90s), I knew we had to come up with a plan that saved Kenny and I from sweltering out front while the kids played outside. It’s a “drier” heat here – but it’s still heat.

We decided to head to the beach. We’ve been to Cannon Beach a few times, so we decided to go a few minutes north to Ecola State Park and Indian Beach. I’ll share some more pictures from our day there over the next few days, but, in this post, I wanted to show you just how effective our plan to escape the heat was. Literally, there was a point as we were driving through Oregon’s Coast Range where you could almost visibly see the temperature drop. Gone were the sunny blue skies and in were grayish / blue-ish / foggy skies. We didn’t look at the temperature gauge at this point, however, when we arrived at Ecola State Park – we took notice and cracked up:

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59 degrees at the beach in July. For us East Coasters, that’s like a visit to Ocean City in early November! Good thing I packed long sleeves for everyone, because we definitely achieved our goal of finding something “cool” to do. My word. Good news is, it didn’t damper our fun and we had an amazing time.

Once I saw how cold it was on the coast, I decided to entertain myself on the way home and document the temperature change on our trip back to Portland. I also realized two things: 1) that we really need to dust our console in the car, and 2) just how jealous you were all going to be when you got a load of the music Kenny and I listen to in the car. That’s right: Kids Place Live on SiriusXM. Woo hoooooo!

Anyway, all told, there was a 34 degree difference between our house and the Oregon Coast. Isn’t that crazy?

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Finally, here’s a little something extra, so you, too, can experience the Hamster Dance in 2012 like Kenny and I:

 

 

 

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