I spent my birthday this year with the family at Manzanita Beach on the Oregon Coast. That morning I headed out on my own to walk and photograph along the Nehalem River Dike Trail, just a few miles from where we were staying. It was mostly beautiful, with some “interesting” features. The trail was between the river and a water processing plant, lending an air of low tide and sewage. And the swarm of feeding swallows coincided with a swarm of fleeing mosquitoes. Still, it was a lovely outing, part of a lovely coast trip.