2019 Lincoln City Kite Festival
This outing was originally scheduled for June, 2018.  But we had to cancel - someone fell off the roof.  We postponed it until October 2018, but we had a honeymooning couple paying us a visit, so that took precedence.  Well, we finally made it, a year late. 

On the way, we stopped by the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area.  They were out basking in the sunshine and munching on the belly deep grass.

Roosevelt elk in velvet with a hitchhiker aboard.


This red winged blackbird was defending the nest.  He kept flying at a crow who was scrounging for food tourists dropped in the parking lot.


Cocodrie at the hotel moments after we arrived.
You would think she had been driving instead of sleeping the whole way.
Cocodrie had never been to the ocean.  Her first experience meeting the waves happened Friday evening.  We walked out to the surf.  Her attitude can be summed up as:  "Water!  Oh, yuck, it's salty.  Hey, it's unpredictable.  Hey it's coming at me!  I'm outa here!"

Notice the hind legs - both are airborne.
Down the beach, someone was flying a kite.  Just one, ordinary kite.  Cocodrie barked for five minutes at this strange thing in the sky.  We were worried.  What is she going to do when she sees dozens and dozens of kites in the sky? Will we be asked to leave?
Saturday morning we headed to the festival.  Before we even got close to the event, we could see the sky filled with huge flying objects.  Most are not really kites, but HUGE wind socks.  Takes a serious wind to lift these guys. And they have to be firmly anchored to the ground.



Cocodrie didn't even notice all those kites.  She was totally absorbed by all the people and all the other dogs.  "Wow!  What a great place!"

All of the kite flyers synchronize their maneuvers to music.  Often there are two, three or four kites at one time.  It's like watching a kite ballet in the sky.  Most of the kites are quad kites, which have four control lines.  Add the stiff breeze blowing off the ocean and it takes a lot of skill to handle these kites.


Three of the four kites flown by the Island Quad flyers. 


This is 6 kites connected to each other, flown by one guy.
That is a lot of wind resistance up there. 


This is the guy flying the half-dozen kites.  He has to lean way back to hold those kites in place.
His name is Conner Doran.  He flew indoor kites on America's Got Talent in 2008, making him the most famous kite flyer.  
Click here to see.


The kites come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.


At lunch time, Cocodrie always gets a rawhide.
Eating it in the sand would have been miserable. So we changed the plan.
Dianne is holding it as Cocodrie chews.  The red "tablecloth" below her head is Cocodrie's bandana.
 
The crowd gets to participate in the running of the bolls.  That is pronounced "bulls."  People run a race pulling a large, parachute-like kite. Between the sand and the wind resistance on these huge kites, it is not easy.  But the participants seemed to enjoy it.  There were a number of face-plants when the wind or sand won. 

You have to use your imagination here:  The air is filled with Herb Alpert's "The Lonely Bull" to add to the festive atmosphere.
This year was something we had never seen before.  Two kites were tethered together with one long tail.  Made for quite a dramatic fly and emphasized the grace and beauty of the event.. 


Attaching the tail to the kites.

First kite lifts off.

The tail really emphasized the graceful movements of the kites.



Check out our YouTube video of the tethered kites' entire performance, including music.   Click here.
The area where the participants fly their kites was roped off.  Everyone gathered around this field to watch the pros fly their kites.  But as you can see, there are lots of people flying kites in the background.  LOTS and lots of kites everywhere you look.




The Island Quad team returns. 
Notice the shadows of the kites in the sand.

This was a custom designed, handmade kite that's 10 feet tall.
It didn't dance -- just for display.

Cocodrie fell in love with the lady sitting beside us who was petting her.
Cocodrie finally got up and plopped in the lady's lap.  That's a first.  She's never done that with us!
The lady loved it.
Saturday evening, we ate supper at Fathoms, the restaurant of the Inn at Spanish Head.  At that location the street is so high  above the beach that when you enter the building you are on the 9th floor.  The restaurant is on the 10th floor.  The ground floor is at beach level.   The view from our table was fabulous.

Okay, we stole (borrowed?) this picture from their website.
But we are advertising their place!

Not lifted from their website.  This was our view.

We were higher than the gulls, who kept swooping past the window to land on the roof. 

Sunday morning we did a little sightseeing before returning to the festival.  Went to the Connie Hansen Garden and wandered around before heading back to watch kites.


Kites come in all kinds of designs.
There was a group fly with all 19 of the festival participants.  These people do not regularly fly together and they did some amazing synchronized flying.  The performance got off to a shaky start.  A visitor flew his or her kite too close to the official field and got tangled with a couple of the flyers.  There was a few minutes pause as the kites were untangled before the performance restarted.


19 quad kites means 76 strings to keep from getting tangled!
When there was no interloper, they did just fine!


Pretty impressive for a group of people who do not ordinarily fly together.

Follow the leader!

Those kites that don't belong are in the background, not really interfering.

Another person joined the crowd of people flying their own kite.
Way to go, Nancy!

It requires serious concentration to keep from crashing into the sand, someone else's kite, or worst of all, somebody.
By the way, she's wearing a jacket because the temperature was in the low 60s and the wind was whipping.
Not what people who are not from around here think of as a day at the beach.

The ocean right next to the flying field.
So  many kites, we almost forgot to look at the scenery!

Sunday evening's view from our hotel room window. 
Harbor seals hanging out together, resting after a long day fishing.

Monday morning they were still sunning themselves.

Lincoln City artwork across the street from our hotel.

One crab did not have such a good day.
Gull's breakfast.

We packed up the car and began the drive home, slowly.
The pullouts kept pulling us off the road.
 
So many photographic moments.

The ocean is tireless.
 
 
This white crowned sparrow fussed at us for disturbing his peace.

A couple seals taking a rest.
 

At Cape Perpetua, we drove to the top and walked out to see the rock shelter built by the CCC.
 
 
Cocodrie posing at the base of a strangely shaped tree.

Nancy enjoying the perfect lunch spot.
Cocodrie is eating her rawhide right inside the door (no sand there).
 

View from the rock shelter.
See the two beach walkers? They give you a sense of scale.
 

The road home, along the spectacular Oregon coast. 
You can compare this kite festival to the one we attended in 2008.  Click here.