Brothers’ Weekend

When my siblings and I were young, I remember going to the Oregon coast occasionally. As I recall, Alan would make little double-pontooned cars dubbed “skeeters”, and we would dash through the shallow water with them towed by a string while they skimmed over sand and surf. There weren’t any skeeters this time, but last weekend we brothers had a chance to go back to the coast for a brief getaway.

Lighthouse at Yaquina Head

Kerry first proposed the idea of a “brothers’ weekend” near the end of last winter. Months later, and with a change of venue from mountains to sea, Jeff, Alan, Kerry and I spent a couple of nights in a cabin in Lincoln City. Richard wasn’t able to make it, unfortunately. It was a couple of days of both boyish and grown-up fun.

Kerry at the Oregon Coast Aquarium

During the day, we spent some time on a sandy beach near Road’s End Recreation Area, braved the slimy boulders to see tidepools at Boiler Bay, visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium, went in lighthouses at Yaquina Bay and Yaquina Head, and ate Moe’s famous clam chowder on the brink of the Devil’s Punchbowl. At night we watched movies, drank Henry Weinhard’s root beer and ate prodigious amounts of popcorn.

Alan and Jeff on the beach

On the boyish end of the scale, we built a big sandcastle just south of Cascade Head. At the grown-up end, we could enjoy things at a liesurely pace, like the photography display and “Passages of the Deep” at the aquarium. It was a great time to reconnect with the “boys” in the family — especially for me since I see them so much less frequently than they see each other — and to remember that aside from being my brothers, what a fun bunch of guys they are to hang out with.