Sandcastle Day
at Cannon Beach, Oregon was fabulous. How could it not be with
54 fabulous red (and a couple of pink) hatters?
THE
HISTORY OF SANDCASTLE DAY from
the Cannon
Beach website.
"When
a tsunami washed out the bridge into Cannon Beach in 1964, residents
were relatively isolated until a new bridge was built. That
very spring, families from around the community gathered for a
sandcastle contest to entertain their children. Each year
since then, the event has attracted visitors and has grown to become
one of the largest sand building contests on the West Coast.
This unique
event draws sandcastle enthusiasts from around the world. From
casual spectators, to sand dabblers, to competitive teams; everybody
shares in the fun of this unique art form. Through the morning
of the contest hundreds of sand sculptures, castles, and drawings
are hand constructed from the "singing sands" on Cannon
Beach's shore. After the awards are presented, everybody
enjoys the creations until the tide rolls in and takes the castles
away."
We met the motor coach
at 9:30 AM in Beaverton and were delighted to discover that our
driver, Robin, not only had a great personality, but he was very, very
handsome. The bus was extremely comfortable and had a restroom
located in the back. Is that great or what? The service
was also excellent when I called the charter bus office, MTR Western,
to reserve the motor coach, and the price was definitely reasonable
for our group. I would definitely hire MTR Western
again. (www.mtrwestern.com)
The 1-½ hour drive was
such fun as we played our kazoos and sang happy birthday to about six
gals who were celebrating the month of June. Queen Jill (me)
found a Bingo website where she was able to create her own bingo
cards. It was easy to do, and I made cards for everyone.
We played two games and prizes were given to the bingo winners.
I created bingo words that were themed for red hatters, but you could
also make cards with the theme of birthday party, anniversay, or
whatever. (Click
here to visit the bingo card website.)
The weather for our
trip was slightly rainy, but with lots of sun breaks to make it a
perfect day. When we disembarked the coach, we were free to
shop, go see the sand castles, or have lunch. No rules!
About 44 of us had reservations at the wonderful Morris' Fireside
Restaurant in the middle of town. Other gals either brown
bagged it or ate elsewhere. The food by Chef Brian was
delicious, and service by Joanne was impeccable, all of which
just added to the perfection of the day.
Not everyone went to
see the sand castles since they were located about a half-mile away,
plus you could only see them if you went down to the beach and trekked
your way to them. Fortunately, Dawn Cutting did see them
and sent me her photos. Thank you, Dawn.
Some of us visited a
local boutique, Sabra J's Attic, which carried red hat
items. Thank you, Diane, the owner, and her assistant, Jan, for
putting up purple and red balloons to help identify their store.
During our lunch at the Fireside Restaurant, Jan stopped by and
brought us the balloons to decorate our luncheon room and handed out
bags of potpourri beads to take home.
We left Cannon Beach
around 3:30 PM and returned to Beaverton. What a GREAT
day! (Click this link to see photos
from last year's Sandcastle Day.)