Perfection

Last Thursday I posted the above photo on Instagram with the caption, "This is what a perfect day looks like." Yes, I finally got my beach ride!!!

I had planned to go to the beach with Kate on Wednesday and take a lesson from Julie on Thursday, but ended up having to work one more day after my co-worker came back from vacation sick with the flu.  Beach ride or lesson on my remaining free day? Sorry Julie; beach ride wins! After working two weeks straight, driving hither and thither to pick up Brian from school and from soccer games, and coming down with Brian's cold, my determination wavered a bit, but I "cowgirled up" and am SO glad I did.

I had to be home by 3:00 for my son's soccer game, so Lance and I headed out at 8:00 to pick up Kate and Dinah. We had an uneventful trip to our secret parking spot in Lincoln City, and unloaded in perfect weather. Since Kate hasn't been able to ride in weeks because of construction at their place, she wanted to lead Dinah down the path a bit to see how she reacted.

Obviously she was terrified of the distant crashing surf. ;-)  Time to saddle up and hit the sand!

The tide was coming in so there wasn't a nice expanse of firm sand to play on, but there were some lovely puddles to play in, perfect for ponies who still don't trust those waves. All four of us had great fun walking, trotting and cantering through them.

I didn't capture any of the high-stepping action, but we did shoot a bit of video of each other towards the end of our ride:




First we rode to the north end of the beach, then back south past our access trail to Chinook Winds Casino to see the flags they had erected for their "Celebration of Honor." It made a lovely backdrop for parting shots:

On the way back, Kate and I reminisced about 25 years of beach riding together. Years ago, it wasn't a beach ride unless you stopped for strawberry shortcake on the way home. The original place lost its location when Spirit Mountain Casino was built. The second location (which I thought was the best; you could get a brownie instead of a biscuit under the strawberries and cream – YUM) sadly went out of business. The third location to offer strawberry shortcake was a produce stand  on the edge of a small town which has also gone out of business; we never stopped there because they really didn't have sufficient parking for a truck and trailer (and Kate was taking a detour from saddle horses into miniature horse territory). Then Kate mentioned that she thought a new produce stand close to home offered strawberry shortcake – and they have PLENTY of parking. Sure enough, they do!

It was the perfect ending to a perfect beach ride. :-9