Our Summer Vacation

We took a fabulous family yurt-camping vacation at the Oregon Coast for the Fourth of July. Here are some selected photos of our adventures! Above is the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We took the tour and climbed to the top!

Julius celebrated his 13th birthday on our first night there. We picked up a chocolate cake and he enjoyed it with his squirrel collection. So, now I can say, "I have two teenagers."

Camp breakfasts are the best with Chuck around!

Our friends Chad and Anna (Chad being the bass player for Dartgun) came down and camped for two nights with their two cute little puppies. Here's Julius petting them:

And here's Chadwick:
We walked a lot - there are lovely trails in the woods all around the campground, and long walks through the dunes to get to the beach.









Our favorite spot was this bench that sits on top of a hill overlooking the park:









On the Glorious Fourth, we hung out with some of Chuck's old friends from high school, one of whom lives in a private beach community just down the road from the campground. We also watched fireworks on the beach that night.



These pictures are from the private beach. It was a very misty, moisty day.

Our friend Mark and his son Traver, after reeling in the kite:

View from Chris's beach house:

Chris and Mark barbecuing while Chuck grins insanely:



I hope people in the neighborhood liked our groovy car!











We had a wonderful time!

Check out my pictures from last year's summer yurt adventure if you like - click here.

Photos from the Beach, Good Morning America, and other news

Here are a few photos from our recent anniversary trip to the Oregon Coast. We had such a nice time - the weather was warm, sunny, and gorgeous. It was a very much-needed vacation - something we haven't done since our honeymoon 13 years ago.

In other news:

• I have added some of my spring line items to my Etsy shop - including new bowls and cuffs. Click over and have a look!
• I received a wholesale order from Frock - my Basic Black cuffs are now available there. Check out this awesome boutique at 1429 NE Alberta in Portland.
• The band played a fun inauguration party Tuesday night at Backspace here in PDX. If you haven't heard our tunes yet, have a listen on myspace: http://myspace.com/dartgun or http://myspace.com/andthevignettes. We were supposed to play a show last night up in Longview, WA but cancelled because Chuck got sick. Next show: Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Know, 2026 NE Alberta.
• One of my Feng Shui Mirrors made from an upcycled vinyl 45 rpm record (this purple one from Trillium's shop on World of Good by eBay) was actually seen on Good Morning America! They did a "Just one Thing" segment on eco-friendly decoration tips for the Obama girls' rooms in the White House, and included my little mirror. Here's a link to the video. You can't see it that well, but it's there! Here are a couple of screen shots:

Pretty cool, huh?

Eye Pop Art has also recently been featured by Artsy Rubbish and Green Living on Squidoo.

Christine's Oregon Coast Travel Journal

Naturally, I took more than 400 photos during our recent family vacation to the Oregon Coast. Here are just a few of my favorites!

For starters, the Velvet Elvis is a staple. The first thing we always do when checking into our yurt is to hang Elvis in the front window. So if you ever see Elvis at an Oregon state park, you can be pretty sure the Claringbold family is staying there! A little history: our very first Christmas together (1991), Chuck and I both bought each other Velvet Elvis hangings. It was a big surprise! The one I got for him was pink with a younger King on it, and that one has since been lost, but the one he bought me still remains and lives in our camping equipment just for this reason.
We had gorgeous weather, blue skies, and sunshine. Is that a clipper ship on the horizon?
It was relaxing! Naps were actually taken!
We walked in the woods. I took a zillion marco pictures of wildflowers, wanting to save all the beautiful colors for future inspiration.

We went to the amazing Oregon Coast Aquarium and were simply enchanted by the huge variety of fabulous creatures there...


...especially the Oddwater exhibit...

...and the Passages of the Deep, where you walk through acrylic tunnels and watch fish, sharks, and rays swimming all around and over your head... so cool!
This picture has its own caption:
We had campfires and cocoa and good food. We also got a lot of reading done. Tangereen scored a cool Star Trek book at a local thrift store, where I also found an awesome psychedelic coffee cup for my collection!

We explored tide pools too.
We checked out a big old bus that was for sale. Chuck was so excited, he totally wants to buy an old school bus for the band.
Besides all this, we also played lots of baseball, spent hours at a huge antique mall, and what trip to the beach would be complete without lunch at Mo's?

I have to say, I think this was the most fun and relaxing family vacation we've had in a very long time. Now that I'm home, I'm trying to get back to work, so I'm making a new batch of Mandala Record Bowls for the upcoming Recycled Arts Festival (June 28 & 29 at Esther Short Park in Vancouver - see you there!).