When I was younger, New Years was a time for grownups to get together, wear fancy clothes drink and laugh too much.  or was it laugh and drink too much?  Anyway, as I got older,  I could hardly wait to be big enough to do the same. When I WAS “of age,” my actual New Years Eve Party experience wasn’t all that great. It looked like it should have been way more fun than it was.  That was true of many things that I thought would be so wonderful, when I was looking at them from a small child’s eyes. I found that many were anti-climactic.

When I was small, time seemed much slower and I felt there was a superabundance of it to accomplish all the things I wanted to do.  Now, looking back and forward at the same time brings me the realization that, just like the year, I have an expiration date. Darn. This year is different for me and from talking to my friends, they agree.  It feels like the stakes are higher and we seem to have less time to make a difference, both in our personal lives and to give back to the community. Those of us Baby Boomers who got caught in the slamming jaws of the economic change are determined to create a Plan B that will turn into our Plan A.

What are the options? What is the solution? The good news is that there are still many options, but most don’t include getting a job somewhere that will pay enough to replace the lost value of savings and retirement accounts. If you can, and that’s what you want,  then great. Many people have been struggling with thinking outside of the box, driven by fear and concern for their future. Great idea, but many have found that by doing that, they end up in the totally “No Box Zone” and that can be dangerous.

“Out of the box thinking” means to stop being rigid. Start asking questions. get creative. Look at things in a new way. Take new actions.  Change what needs to be changed. It does not mean that you shouldn’t be in a box at all. I made that mistake and found myself wandering about with no focus, no direction, just trying to make something work.  My thinking was free, unrestrained and ended up being very unproductive and stressed.

I eventually had to choose a box and it became my “box of choice.”  This box has to do with structure, foundation,  focus on goals, plans, start dates and end dates. My new box is MUCH larger and  has windows and a door. I can look out and leave at any time, but I am here to use it to help me with achievement.  Time is of the essence. It always has been, but for me, it is especially true as I get older.

Choosing and creating a home-based business is a viable option for many people. It is not for everyone and requires work and dedication. The upside is that there can be little investment up front and if chosen and planned properly, supporting  it can be fairly reasonable. If you have absolutely no money to start, please reconsider. If you have money and would rather spend it on depreciating assets, like new cars, clothes, trips, etc and as a result say that you have no money to start a business, please take careful inventory about your true motivation and desire.

Here’s the thing: This year, take your  sense of urgency and decision that “this year is going to be different” and really run with it. Past January, past February.. all the way. How many will do that?  Only a handful of people will get past January, and give up by July totally. Ever notice that January gym memberships soar? The place is packed. Check back in the middle of February. Much less crowded.

I have had that first blush of a New Year  clean slate for many of them and I have made progress each year, but was it my BEST? Was it enough? As I sit here now, facing my second year as a non-Realtor, I am satisfied with my last year’s performance, but have really ramped up my sense of urgency to this year, 2012.

(quick note. This blog needed major restoring after it was hacked and polluted. This particular post was actually posted last July, 2011 and the meeting I attended was before that. I am involved with a company that I love and that is not the subject of this post.)

Went to a MLM marketing meeting a couple of months ago and was overcome with the mediocrity of the message.  So I thought I’d share a few ideas of what to look for if you are searching for a Network Marketing Company. Not all meetings are created equal. This one was 3 hours long, as loud as a sports event and it seemed more geared to the people already involved in it rather than the people being introduced to it for the first time.

First of all, I really like Network Marketing – or Multi level Marketing (MLM), as it is often called. Many people call it “that pyramid thing“, but I’ve got news for them. Any company structure that has more than a few people in it  IS a “pyramid thing” – only most employees don’t have any way to progress  up the company ladder or even to pass up someone at a higher rank.

In a regular company, you have your president, or CEO, then Vice-President/s, then the rest of the employees. The format: one or two on top, the large number of people on the bottom. Pyramid.

Because of the economic changes, more and more people are looking for ways to make money and help others at the same time. There are many opportunities out there, but the sheer numbers of companies can be overwhelming and trying to sort through them and find an effective, credible one  can be mind-numbing.

Words of advice of things to avoid when choosing a Network Marketing company are as follows:

1) Don’t join a company just because you know someone who  joined last week.  Get really clear as to why you want to join “this” particular company and what your expectations are.

2). Do your research on which companies and products are reputable and which you’d like to represent.

3).  Always, always, read through the terms of service. Most people do not and sometimes there are clauses in there where the company can usurp all your hard work.

4).   Take your time in your evaluation. Having your own business, no matter what kind of business you have, is not a sprint. It is a marathon.

5).  Avoid start up companies. I know this one from experience. They are the ones that have the most hype, the most potential opportunity, but the most risk. Over 90% of these start-up companies do not make it to their fifth year. Why waste time? Yes, the ones that do could be a big hit – but if you put work into building an organization of people that trust you, why risk your credibility in building something on an unseasoned foundation?

6).  You can search on Google for MLM reviews and find several websites devoted to helping sort out the MLM or network marketing plethora of companies. The best review site I’ve found is right here.  Lots of information on MLM company trends, gains and losses, etc.

7).  Probably one of the most important aspects that will determine your success is to choose someone who can help you get where you want to go. If you choose a top producer, make sure they have systems in place and the time to help you develop into a leader and  top producer as well. Many people sign up with their neighbor or friend who just got started and who may not have the knowledge to help you.

8).  You no longer have to chase family and friends to become successful. If you practice Attraction Marketing you will find that you can build a business and not alienate your friends and family.

9).  Know up front that this is a business. It will take work, time and dedication – BUT, like Jim Rohn says, “You work on your job to make a living and you work in your spare time to make your fortune.”

Feel free to contact me with any questions..

It’s been quite awhile since my last post. Lots on my mind but not much pouring out on paper.  Last night, I was checking on the weather channel for the weekend outlook,  and instead, I saw the earthquake unfolding in Japan.

Mesmerized, I watched as reporters described the devastation with increasing details. Video clips of walls of mud pushing hundreds of vehicles inland – most, very likely, still with passengers. My heart and the hearts of the global family caught in my chest in a synchronized ache. There is no way to understand the scope of this phenomenon by watching safely from one’s own warm home thousands of miles away.

Tsunami warnings for the countries touching the Pacific Ocean immediately went out and people watched uneasily through the night, tracking the 500 + MPH speed of the waves.

This morning, I called my daughter to see if she’d heard anything about it. She said she had not and reminded me that she didn’t have TV.  “Oh,” I said, forgetting that she had cut herself off from the American advertisers and stupid sitcoms.   She does have  a top notch big screen TV with 3 terabytes of storage for a gazillion movies.  A terabyte is a number that reminds me of the national debt.  So huge as to be past my comprehension.  She spends quite a bit of time watching many movies and old versions of her fave shows.

She thinks this is better than TV.  I’m not so sure.  If the world is relatively predictable and our leaders and citizens are rather trustworthy, well,  it would make sense  that even though there were ups and downs,  living isolated from the “bad news” dished up daily could make sense.  After all, aren’t we supposed to follow our bliss and ignore the bad stuff?

I’m not so sure.  It seems that the tide has changed and many people are no longer content to live oblivious  of their environment.  Like they say,  people who don’t take care of their liberty don’t really deserve to have it – and the liberty that we have left is nothing like what we had 10 years ago.  But, I digress.

Stuff happens in the world.  Much of it is amazingly wonderful and  much of that goes unnoticed, even when the great stuff is our own.

The times, they are a-changing. Make sure you are not caught just looking at the ground or just up to the end of your own nose.

Under the media’s consistent stories that all is improving; that the worst is over; and things are getting better, there is an undercurrent of unrest.  We want to believe them.  There are signs between the clouds that there are  improvements in some things.  One of the issues has to do with how accurate are the systems in place to really accurately measure things like unemployment or housing sales? At the same time,  Bernanke is getting ready to try QEIII (Quantitative Easing III)  – after all, QE I did not work and it appears that  QE II won’t work either. Three’s the charm??  

All this adds to the national debt. Any time you spend more than you make, you are unbalanced. That’s just basic economics, pure and simple. The belief that you can spend your way to solvency is by definition, unbalanced. Therefore, the trust and belief many people still have that the government knows what they’re doing and can spend it’s way to solvency is totally illogical.

The last time the national debt was under control was with the Clinton administration. Really.

“Clinton and the Budget Surplus

The Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 led to a push for a balanced budget as part of the Republican Contract with America campaign, continuing deficit reductions by President Clinton consistent with his 1992 campaign promise. Despite political conflicts with President Clinton, the Legislature and the Chief Executive reduced the deficit.

At this time, Americans viewed reducing the deficit one of the most important public policy objectives.^[15] In March 1995, a Balanced Budget Amendment passed the House of Representatives and came within one vote of passing the Senate.^[15]

Out of office, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called for continued payments toward the debt with a view to paying it off entirely. Ross Perot’s1996 presidential bid was in part evidence of the declining significance of the deficit, and hence the Balanced Budget Amendment, as an issue.^{[citation needed]} less effective

In his final State of the Union, President Clinton said the United States should continue to balance its books and pay off the debt entirely.

~ Wikipedia,  under the Balanced Budget Amendment,  http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_Budget_Amendment

So, what’s happening today with the budget? Did you know that on Feb. 17, 2011, the national debt stands at

The estimated population of the United States is 310,050,550
so each citizen’s share of this debt is $45,585.73.

The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$4.14 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!

~This information above is taken directly from the US National Debt Clock

So, what happened? Did you know that there is no balanced budget amendment for the US government, yet they have been proposed several times but not passed all the way? Did you know that all states except for Vermont has such an amendment? Jeesh, seems like every family SHOULD have a balanced budget… meaning that you shouldn’t spend more than you earn.That’s what you teach your kids, isn’t it?

Over the last few decades, the people of the United States have been lulled into believing that their former hard work ethic and save now was not necessary. The belief changed to following the example of modern day leaders, that being, spend, spend, spend, pay back the minimum payment (if you can) and things would be fine. Look where that has gotten us.

We are still a country that has had generations of families on Welfare. Can you imagine living a life where you are not expected to do anything but take? Never have to pay anything back – ever – not you or your parents or your children.

Perhaps that works OK in a society that is healthy and where most of the people are working regularly. But in times where the official unemployment is around 10% and the unofficial numbers are probably MUCH higher, the ship we are on called the United States is sinking and there’s not enough of us able to scoop water out fast enough to keep us afloat. What does this mean to you?

The citizens are just a small part of the problem; not the major one, by any stretch. People are waking up out of a trusting apathy to their future financial stability in tatters. The debt keeps climbing, moment by moment. The huge banking and financial institutions where most of our dollars have gone, are infested with uncontrollable greed. These banks and insurance companies have become the power behind the government: the black hole of the global economies – continuing to siphon dollars out of the citizenry and using the monies to continue to feather their bloated nests.

What is the solution? I don’t honestly know - other than to pay attention to what is happening around you and figure out ways to increase your self-sufficiency.

• Explore other sources of your news besides the major networks.
• Don’t believe everything you hear.
• Do you own fact checking. If people are telling you a particular piece of legislation is good or bad, go get a copy and read the darn thing.
• See for yourself.
• The out of control national debt is just a symptom of the global illness.
• To be aware is to have options.
• Grow as much as your own food as possible

Would love to have your comments on this one.

Vegetable Garden

This year is especially important to many back yard urban farmers. The economy is not straightening out and many people are feeling the pinch of uncertainty and more limited resources. Self-sufficiency is good. Being prepared is good. Getting better acquainted with the cycle of the seasons and growing things, well, that is really good. These days, gardening just makes good sense. I love to grow things and play in the dirt. The smell of the soil; the feel of water-soaked knees; mucking about  finding “homes” for all the seeds and plants.  It takes quite a bit of time, but it is well-spent, certainly.

This time of year is devoted to planning my garden while I used to take paper and pen and sketch everything out with the dimensions, what goes where, etc. Plenty of catalogs are full of wonderful ideas and I look online as well as through various magazines and old books I have that show how to grow a proper garden.  However, this method can take quite awhile to do and I don’t have lots of free time to spend.

I did find a tool that is helping me and may work for you, too.  It’s called “Plan Garden” and there is a 45 day free trial on it. I signed up to see how it could help and I’m really excited to be using it. You can make a “virtual garden” and easily move things around before actually doing the work.

There are sections to put in the dates and what you plant, the harvest dates, it even has a section to tell you what to plant and when.. depending on the zone you live in.  There is a section where some people can sign up to have an “open” garden so you can look at their plans and check out their ideas. If you want your garden plans to be private, you have that option as well.

Now, before you get started actually doing the work to start your garden , you’ll want to figure out how much space you have and what kinds of things you want to grow. There are plenty of resources available to help with that, but be prepared to spend a bit of time as there are MANY varieties of each kind of vegetable and it’s good to know some of the specific characteristics that will be the best fit for your area and taste.

Will you want an herb garden? It might be good to have it rather close to your kitchen door so you can dash out and grab some as you cook.

Take into consideration soil preparation, tools you’ll need, whether you’re going to buy nursery stock and where to get good healthy plants vs. growing from seed.

When you can create your first salad or steamed dish with food from your own garden, well, there’s such a feeling of satisfaction that you’re getting the best quality of produce possible and you grew it yourself. Have fun.

Working From Home

When I first began to learn about internet marketing, I made many mistakes  that ended up eating a lot of time and money. The time part, I’ll never get back. This article is about things that didn’t work and things that did and how to avoid the ones that didn’t.

What exactly IS internet marketing and how does it work?

Basically, internet or online marketing is no different than any other type of marketing. It’s location and structure happen online, although it can also blend nicely with marketing from a physical business location as well.

Below is a list of some of the branches of Internet Marketing.  You don’t have to know all of them to be successful.

Some Types of Internet Marketing:

• Article marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Blogging
• Buying and selling websites
• Buying and selling domain names
• Classified advertising
  
• Consulting
• Creating your own product and selling it
• Free-lance writing
• Website designing
• Website creation

The questions you may be asking now are:

• how to do this and
• will it really work and
• how long will it take and
  
• can I do it without much money to invest?

The answers are yes, yes, yes and yes. Whew!

What I did that didn’t work:

I tackled internet marketing like a starving person and I wanted to learn it ALL before I got started. HA!

I read everything I could get my hands on not understanding that the internet is so huge that there is no way to learn it all.

I ended up buying program after program that promised fast money by next weekend. At the time, that sounded like a great business plan. After all, I needed the money by next weekend!! I was the perfect unfulfilled Opportunity Seeker.

I was so green that some of these programs may have been great, but I didn’t know the first thing about how to even use them.  Getting burned out and overwhelmed came with it and my dear husband wondered what happened to his usually cheerful, laid-back wife and would she ever come out from that office?

I was scared that I was already too late in getting online and with all the competition, was there really room for one more?

I downloaded many free e-Books and videos that were sure to teach me “the way” – if I’d only take the time to learn what was in them.

When I did read or study, I was looking for VALUE and the search seemed endless. I wondered if I’d EVER reach my goals.

Where was that SECRET SAUCE, anyway that  some of the gurus were promising? It seemed to be just out of reach.

What I did that worked:

I slowed down. Way down. I stopped beating myself up for my lack of quick results and realized I was just doing what some of the gurus wanted. What the gurus wanted was for me to STAY an Opportunity Seeker and not develop into a Strategic Entrepreneur. Huge difference. Huge.

I realized there IS NO SECRET SAUCE.

Here is a list of tools that helped:

1). The Warrior Forum is the larges internet marketing forum on the internet. With many topics full of helpful information, you can spend days there and still just scratch the surface. The site is free, BUT they have an option for the Private War Room for $37. The membership is good for 20 years. Yes, 20 YEARS. It is one of the best investments I have made.

2). Internet Marketing Report Card (IMReport Card) is another way to do quick due diligence if you find yourself tempted to purchase something from a guru. There are hundreds of testimonials and rankings from people’s personal  experience.

Which leads me to my next two big things.

3). Chris Farrell’s Membership site was a life changer for me. He was voted number 1 on IMReport Card for the best Internet Marketing Service. I took the test drive and then joined up. It was the best practical investment I have made, to date. It was because of his membership site I was able to learn how to set up my own website, blog, write eBook content and do some of the technical things necessary to create my business. He has hundreds of videos that show you step by step how to build your web business as well as a lively forum with lots of help.

I got clear with what I wanted and realized that probably 80% of this process was in developing the correct mindset. That meant that no matter how many programs I bought and implemented, if my belief was not correct, I couldn’t expect permanent changes.

4). So, how do I fix my mind? Great question. I started with taking the  Personal Power II 30 Day Challenge by Tony Robbins. My review of each day is on my blog  and I found that I began to think and feel differently as I changed my definitions of success, money, self, spirituality, health, etc.

Next, I stopped buying stuff – at least that was the plan. Honestly though, I did cut down to just purchasing a couple of things and made myself read the course or use the thing before I purchased another one.

I learned that internet marketing is a marathon and not a sprint. It is a real business and has to be treated as such. There are, however ways to work smarter and not harder using systems.

They can either be developed on your own (usually slow and frustrating – unless you have experience in that department) OR you can learn from someone who has started where you are and has a gift of teaching you how to get where you want to go.

]]> http://www.debbauer.com/internet-marketing/top-4-tools-to-help-get-started-in-internet-marketing//feed 0 http://www.debbauer.com/internet-marketing/top-4-tools-to-help-get-started-in-internet-marketing/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/debbauer/ORCG/~3/Y9lL0KcxhnQ/ http://www.debbauer.com/gardening/are-are-heirloom-seeds-better-than-hybrid-seeds/#comments Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:59:30 +0000 admin http://www.debbauer.com/?p=371 Hybrid vs. Heirloom Garden Seeds

The most economical way to begin your garden is to plant from seeds. Growing vegetables and herbs has many more options and choices than growing your garden from nursery stock. Therefore, the question becomes which kinds of food plants do you wish to grow?

Hungry?

Other considerations are the amount of space you do have available for a garden – Is it in the sun or shade? What about availability of water? What kind of soil do you have?

Seed Varieties for the Family Garden

When you’re considering seed varieties, the most common and available garden seeds are hybrids. These are seeds that have been cross-pollinated with the idea of producing offspring with stronger characteristics than either of the parents. For example, there might be a mix of a strong, but low-yielding plant with a more fragile plant that produces a heavy crop of beans.

On the other hand, Heirloom seeds, were developed through open pollination. In most cases, seeds were taken from the most desirable plants, held back to be planted the following year. Over time, new varieties were developed by choosing the plants that best represented the characteristics that the grower wanted. These remarkable varieties have been grown for years and some of these seed varieties can be traced back hundreds or even thousands of years.

Currently the controversial GM (genetically modified) seeds are only available to commercial farmers in bulk, so is a non-issue to the hobby gardener. It is not out of the realm of possibility that a purchased seed packet could have been polinated accidently by a GM plant, it is very unlikely. Therefore, the “Non-GM” labels don’t certify that this accidental pollination hasn’t occurred. It does state that the seed producer is not selling GM seeds to you.

Pros and Cons of Using Heirloom Seeds

It was only a few years ago that Heirloom vegetables were beginning to become available in restaurants and higher priced grocery stores. Now, they are becoming extremely popular and there are some great reasons to use them in your garden. Although they tend to be more expensive than hybrid seeds, if handled correctly, there is no need to purchase them again. By saving back the seeds from one or two mature plants for the following years, you can be assured of consistent quality and characteristics of that particular seed. Stored properly, seeds that you harvest can be viable for many years to come, in most cases. By holding back more seeds than you need each year, you can allow for unexpected occurances such as inclement weather, birds or insect damage. You’ll be glad to have the extra seeds and trading seeds with others to diversify your food selection without any further investment in seeds.

If you love diversity and richness of flavors, heirloom vegetable seeds will be an excellent choice as they tend to be more flavorful than their hybrid counterparts. Green Zebra tomatoes go from slightly tart to full blown sugarful when ripened just and extra day. Black Krim, purple potatoes, yellow beets, round Parisian carrots have unique flavors and for the dedicated “foody” out there, eating what many consider “gourmet” produce is great for the pocket-book. The down side is that they do tend to bruise more easily and store for shorter periods of time. In addition, their yields tend to be lower as well. So, comparing them to the higher yield hybrid varieties there are some pros and cons.

Because of the lower yields, you’ll need more space in your garden, if you want to be able to produce all your family’s fruits and veggies. Growing zone information is not always available for the heirloom varieties, so you might want to ask around before investing a lot into the seeds. Some local gardeners or organic farmers may have experience and can help you.

Pros and Cons of Using Hybrid Seeds

Hybrids are very reliable growers and can be counted upon to produce large yields and many of them are fairly disease resistant, since that is one reason they were developed in the first place. They will look pretty much like the package – or the vegetables you find in the grocery stores and taste better, most likely, but not different. It may take a bit of time to figure out what heirloom plants will grow best in location where you are, so even if you wanted to produce nothing but heirloom plants, it is good to plant a few of the hybrid as a “backup” plan. Have fun and prepare to find some new favorites along the way.

One thing to note is that you CAN save the seeds from the hybrid plants. The offspring though, will most likely be very different from the parents. Sometimes it will grow, sometimes it won’t grow at all and sometimes it will look entirely different or simply be inferior. For example, there may be tomato volunteers from a plot that had produced huge slicing fruit the year before, but the volunteers will produce cherry tomatoes. Go figure!

A couple of other things that you need to consider. The overall hardiness and resistance varies quite a bit among hybrid plants. Some have been developed to resist pests, others with the understanding that the farmers would use pesticides. If you see “Hardy” on the label, it means that they can usually handle more cold weather than others. Hybrids almost always require a lot more water than the heirloom varieties. With the water, there can be a heavy fruit production. Without enough water, the plants usually die. However, heirlooms can get along with less water throughout their production, but if there is drought conditions, they are more apt to survive.

Reviving the Victory Garden Mentality

For most Americans,  growing vegetables is a lost art. In the 1930s and 1940s, there were Victory Gardens everywhere. As part of the World War II effort, people were urged to plant vegetables so they would at least be well-fed. This was also a time when the general population had really not been away from their farm roots very long, so a return to raising vegetables was not that difficult. Here we are where many of us have never even BEEN to a farm, let alone raised anything substantial.

Growing vegetables is not only worthwhile, but it is becoming more and more vital that we include self-sufficiency in our changing life-style. Whether or not you plant hybrid or heirloom or both; whether you plant on several acres, or  your own yard;  a community garden, or just a few herbs and tomatoes in containers on your balcony, any food  you can produce yourself will feed your spirit as well as your body.

More, soon…

When we arrived early afternoon, we were hungry and soon chose  “Baked Alaska”, a great restaurant on the Columbia River where we ate well while in view of four huge ships lying offshore with diving ducks and seagulls wheeling close to shore.

The Blackened Albacore Tuna appetizer was fabulous and of course, we ended the meal with Baked Alaska.  Gooey warm chocolate brownie with scoop of vanilla ice cream brought flaming to the table made a memorable sweet impression!

But, I digress.

We had planned on going to the Astoria Column after lunch, but by the time we finished eating,  a thick fog was covering the top of the Cockscomb Hill and by the time we drove to the top, the visibility was a mere few feet. Great time to go for a view!  However, not to be deterred, my son and daughter-in-law started the climb up the metal spiral stairs. Of course, I followed and unfortunately found myself huffing and puffing waaayyy before the top.  Darn. Those 165 steps kicked my rear.  The  Astoria Column stands 595 ft tall and is the final crowning monument in a series of 12 monuments that were built between St. Paul, Minnesota,  and Astoria, Oregon in the early 1900′s.

These 12 markers were the the project of Ralph Budd, president of the Midwest-based Great Northern Railroad. It was in 1925 when he announced that it was time to “properly salute Astoria’s explorers and early settlers for their critical role in the United States’ stretch to the Pacific Coast, “ with the help of businessmen and scholars. So, he did.

The column sits at the top of Coxcomb Hill and is covered in 14 images in a bas-relief technique called sgraffito (skrafe-to). It has been restored several times over the years to try and preserve the paint and carvings. Although this technique works well in the Mediterranean areas, the harsh wind and rain in Astoria caused deterioration in just a few short years, so water-proofing was installed to prevent further damage.

When I emerged to the top of the column and stepped out into the cold, pine infused air, the clouds were being swept away right in front of us and the views to the ground far below, out to sea and across to the mountains opened up with the muted grays and greens of winter here. We stood together watching, as though a huge broom took great scoops of clouds out of the way.

Within a few minutes, though, the clouds seemed to circle around and slide the view window closed.

After we left the top of the hill, we stopped at the RiverSea Art Gallery, which was ranked the top gallery stop in Astoria, with good reason. Although there are many local artists represented, from jewelery makers to sculpters,  and photographers to painters, the displays catch the eye and tease with color, shape and unexpected juxtaposition. We had a great time there before leaving to head to Fort Clatsop, the final stop of Lewis and Clark’s journey.

Courtesy of Wikimedia - Fort Clatsop replica, nearing completion in 1955

We arrived at Fort Clatsop (about a 10 minute drive from Astoria) right before a tour was scheduled to visit the fort where re-enactment players (Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea and her baby plus others – there had been 33 of them that winter that stayed in the fort way back when) were there answering questions from the public (us) about their winter there, their diet (they were done with salmon and clearly longed for elk or some kind of un-salmon), fears, experience and how eager they were to get back home.  It was fun to hear their views from their “time warp.”

By the time we finished there, we just had enough time to scoot down to Gearhart another 15 minutes south. I love that beach there as it is usually vacant, as it was that evening. We got there at low tide and were able to find 10 unbroken sand dollars! My son and daughter-in-law were thrilled and so was I. It seems that the last few times I’ve gone to the coast, I haven’t found a single perfectly round sand dollar. What a treat!

By the time the sun had set, we were done with our adventure and headed home. Each town along the coast has it’s own character and history, in addition to offering shops to explore and nature to take in.  Can hardly wait to return!