Camp Manzanita, Oregon Coast

My generous mother treated our family to a weekend away at the coast. It was a creative way to thank us for boarding her chickens when she recently moved. A restful retreat was just what the Nurse Practitioner ordered.

We booked the same darling beach cottage that we’d enjoyed nearly a decade prior, as a young family of four, and found our original entry in Camp Manzanita‘s guest book.

Manzanita’s a quaint coastal town that requires a long drive from the valley no matter which route you take to get there. Because of that, we rarely make it. Still, it’s ripe with family history as my mom spent the best parts of her childhood on these very beaches.

We were blessed to finally meet an aunt who was adopted across the country at birth. She looks just like us, particularly resembling our late grandmother.

My mom briefly lived in this house as a child, which my great-grandparents owned in the 60’s & 70’s in addition to two rows of dainty cottage rentals behind it. Only the main house and the unit directly behind it remain today. My grandmother ran the beauty shop directly across the street.

Aunt Beth pointed us to an awesome local crab shack for lunch on the way home. 

Of course, we also stopped at the Tillamook Creamery for ice cream and cheese curds.  

Thanks, Nana, for the lovely escape to the Oregon coast.