"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive." Anaïs Nin


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Monday, August 27, 2012

Annie's Cottage, A Perfect Vacation Destination

Special note to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Travelers: Annie is fluent in ASL. You will be able to communicate beautifully with her.

This weekend, Annie's Cottage on the Southern Oregon Coast was mentioned in  business section of the local newspaper as one of the Best of the South Coast choices for vacation rentals. Enjoy the lovely video created by one of their previous guests, along with a few of our own photos we took around the cottage and along the coast.
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We spent a lovely couple of weeks along the Southern Oregon Coast this summer. Our stay in the Coos Bay area could not have been more enjoyable! Annie's Cottage is the loveliest place I've ever stayed, and I've stayed in many places in my years of traveling. I do not say this lightly.

  Check out this video created by a previous guest of Annie's Cottage. There are more photos below the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLvOv6tOzKU
Annie's Cottage is pet friendly AND people friendly. If you're looking for a vacation where you can visit the Redwood Forest and the Trees of Mystery, go windsurfing at Floras Lake, whale watching along the Pacific, visiting the Oregon Coast Aquarium and the Sea Lion Caves and be able to have a cozy place to come "home" to at the end of the day, Annie's Cottage is the place to be. There is so much to do and see within a scenic drive from the cottage.








This was one of my favorite places to sit in the garden.

This is the loveliest view I've ever seen from a kitchen sink























http://anniescottage.org/id5.html
The upstairs had its own huge bathroom, complete with a six foot Jacuzzi. What a wonderful way to relax after romping on the beach. There is a writing nook off to the side of the sleeping area, and across the room, a lovely nook with a view of the bay, and beyond that, the sea. It was our Bear's favorite place in the house. There was a telescope for watching the birds at play in the yard or flying over the bay, or for watching the stars in the night sky.

Downstairs, there are bunk beds off the main living area and a family table nearby for games or coloring or whatever other projects one may take up. There were games up in a closet in the kitchen, along with a soccer ball that my son and grandson took out into the big back yard and kicked around.

When you enter the cottage, the kitchen is to the left, and the dining area is to the right. The kitchen cupboards had pretty much all of the basic culinary supplies we needed.  There was tea and coffee on the counter waiting to be brewed waiting for us when we arrived early that first morning, some packets of oatmeal and even popcorn for the movies, and basic spices.

Shopping for groceries was easy with everything  within minutes. If you are there on Tuesdays, be sure to catch the Farmer's Market downtown Coos Bay for the freshest veggies at the best prices. There were organic veggies and frozen free range naturally raised poultry available. Artist peddled their wares and an added bonus were the street musicians performing. Now, I've digressed from the kitchen to the market. Let's get back to Annie's Cottage...

In the living area, there was a nice assortment of DVD movies, cable, free WIFI, local travel books and a few books of classic plays. Paul is a thespian and has been involved with the local theater group for many years. I think I read somewhere that Paul and Annie often read from the books with each other. How sweet is that? The coffee table was interesting, it can raise up to the height you prefer. We discovered this near the end of our visit. Of course, the coffee table was barely visible under our laptops, camera equipment and cell phones. It looked more like an office while we were there, but it felt like "home". We watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics while uploading our photos from our cameras and journaling/blogging about the day's festivities. It so happened that was the day we ventured to the county fair with our hosts, Annie and Paul. Here's a post about that  County Fair

Annie and Brody loved those caramel apples at the fair!


Annie's photo won an award at the fair! http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2174100


Be sure to stop by Annie's blipfoto page: http://www.blipfoto.com/anniescottage
She has many lovely photos and thoughts to share.

http://anniescottage.org/id5.html

What to do while staying at Annie's Cottage? Here's a few places we went and things we did:





We spent a lot of time at Beautiful Bandon By the Sea



















We spent time in the Forests along the bluffs near Shore Acres and also the Redwood Forest



Sunset Bay was just a few miles up the road. Fabulous Husband wrote love notes in the sand. Bear simply wrote, "I rock". Check out his rockin' attitude.






We spent an evening in Newport, home of the Oregon Coast Aquarium, The Undersea Gardens, Ripley's Believe It Or Not and of course, world famous Mo's Seafood Restaurant where we enjoyed a lovely dinner with a view of the bay. Here is a huge sea lion that was lounging on the dock below us.


Fabulous Husband commented many times throughout our stay about how friendly everyone is along the coast. Our eight year old son did not want to leave. He enjoyed Annie's Cottage, the wonderful big back yard, the beaches and the marvelous mild weather that allows us to get out and do things without getting too hot or too cold.

But...mostly, it is the people, even the strangers are so courteous, friendly, open and warm that make us feel welcomed.

I enjoyed feeling the fog on my skin, watching the sun set into the surf, the smells of the sea and the woods. I've enjoyed all the lovely shades of greens in the leaves and the forests, as well as all the hues of the blues, greens and grays of the sea. It was so good to be back "home" for a visit in the area I grew up.

More vacation posts and photos here:

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-garden-view-from-kitchen-sink.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/07/todays-photo-and-asl-sign-lighthouse.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/07/octopus-is-word-photo-and-video-of-day.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/07/county-fair-and-sign-for-carnival.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/07/todays-photo-and-asl-sign-is-sea-lion.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/08/photo-of-fabulous-husband-and.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/08/todays-photo-and-asl-sign-is-sunset.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-asl-sign-and-video-today-is.html

http://xpressivehandz.blogspot.com/2012/08/starfish-anemones-caves-beach-and-sea.html



11 comments:

  1. wow, absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

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    Replies
    1. Karen, how did I miss your comment? Thank you for taking time to browse the post and commenting.

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  2. Beautiful. I thought if its ok to ask a question here about cameras that I thought your husband would be able to answer.

    As you know from reading my blog, I would rather invest my money in a Nikon digital SLR camera. I have been loking at Nikon D3200 and D3100.

    Both of these mention they are great. Difference is price. Is it worth me geting D3200 model, or would D3100 be good enough?

    I am ater taking photos of wildlife that could be up to a football length size of a pitch away. I am looking into something that I can enlarge too like a canvas size picture on a wall if i am really impressed with my photos. As well as close up shots.

    Nikon has alsways been something that has caught my eye because its something that would suit me as a beginner in SLR, but also that i can manually change with experince too.

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  3. Hi, Liz,

    I'll show this to Fabulous Husband and get back with you on this. I've enjoyed looking at your photos. :-) I no nothing about cameras, except, aim and click. :-) Have a lovely day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Sony cybershot is my current camera, but looking at additional digital SLR. Always wanted one. I know once with practice and patience i could get some great shots of foxes in my neighbourhood as well as other things.

      Enjoy your day too.

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    2. Just want to let you know i shall be getting the Nikon D3200 next month after making my mind up. I shall share some photos as I practice using it I'm sure. I do have another query which I am sure your husband can help me with, but I will email that one.

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  4. Good morning, Liz,

    I sent a message asking Fabulous Husband to come address your questions. He's not always at a computer. He's been working out in the field this week. I asked him to come check out your questions when he's done. :-) He's working tonight, too, but he will be home tomorrow night.

    Have a lovely day, Liz.

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  5. Hi, Liz,

    Gary sent some links to check out in an email I forwarded to you. I hope I had the correct address. I had a couple of different ones with your name on them. Also, check out The Fro Knows Photo on FaceBook.

    Have a wonderful weekend!

    Joyce

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes I got it thank you. I only have that email you sent it to. (My personal one) and the one I use for my deaf blog.

      Third email which i have never used to contact you on is the one I use for my business.

      I have had a quick loo and all seems very helpful, but will take a proper look tomorrow.

      Thank you.

      Delete
    2. Ooops. Just noticed my mistype. Meant to type look, but see I typed loo. *blush*

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    3. Hahahahah, Liz! I didn't notice, but then, it doesn't mean the same thing here as it does on your side of the pond, anyway. :-) Cute typo!

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