Happy 4th of July!

We hope you enjoyed your holiday as much as we enjoyed ours. We kept it local today, concentrating on this middle part of the Oregon coast. Our first stop was dune buggying through Oregon Dunes. They are not little dunes that separate a parking lot from a beach, we are talking dunes that go on for miles through forests down to the beach. The whole recreation area is ATV paths. We went through narrow paths through pine forests to open rolling dunes down to the ocean. I think the kids (the adults too) favorite part was when we went straight down the sides of large dunes. We may be at the coast, but it was not beach weather. It was quite chilly on the ride, due in part to the wind, but we were all in long pants and sweatshirts. The clear blue sky only enhanced the scenery.  After getting wind blown, we moved on to the bumper boats, go karts and mini-golf. I don't mean to brag, ok yes I do, I am the champion by 9 strokes. We had lunch in Old Town Florence, which is a quaint seaside town (well, actually its on a river, but its close to the ocean and looks like it could be seaside).  It was all decked out for the 4th - American flags lined the streets and there was a festival going on - a really celebratory atmosphere.After lunch, we drove up the coast to the sea lion caves.  There were hundreds of them in the cave - it was an awesome sight. What did we learn about the sea lions today - they smell really bad. We also went to an observation deck overlooking some rocks where another hundred were lying. It was interesting to watch them ride the waves as they came ashore. We came back to the hotel, relaxed, swam and watched the fireworks from our room. We had the windows open (remember - no AC) so you could really hear the booms and it didn't bother any of our kids - that is a first. They were being launched across the river from us so it was an impressive sight to see the reflection of the explosions on the water. The best part about the fireworks - no traffic afterwards! California here we come! We'll keep you posted.