a vacation on the coast? yes, please!

Our summer has been a blur, mostly of life around home. Rob's boss actually encouraged him to take a week off, and I managed to get a week off at the same time. It was tricky though - this is the busiest time of year for my job, and there were a few hurdles to jump before I got the all clear. I spent the better part of the week just preceding our vacation cutting and folding yardage of very high-tech fabric. On the floor of the living room (SO glad we don't have a dog). With scissors.

Then I got my head out of my rear and remembered my rotary cutter and self-healing mat. My back still hurt by the time I was done, but what did I care?! We were going on vacation! A working-remotely vacation for me, but still!

The working-remotely point had ruled out Canada to meet Rob's family (towns too small to have internet access, and my passport isn't quite in order) and camping, and Chicago was just too far to drive in the time allotted. We settled on a coast that was reachable via a stopover in Spokane, as it was a non-extended-family vacation, Blake had never been to the ocean before, and it would be a wholly new experience for the three of us to have as a family. Plus, I know folks in Astoria. Great, wonderful, generous folks who might know where we could stay (they insisted on their spare rooms), and know what to do when we got there (the nuggets of Astoria!).

All I had to do was gas up the car, pack some bags and a cooler, and make sure we knew how to get where we were going.

Sunday, August 22

We got to Spokane in time to catch up with the local Bedfords. We love them lots and lots, and Blake and Jasmine played their hearts out.

Monday, August 23

We left bright and early, but not before getting coffee and donuts at two favorite places: The Serving Station and Donut Parade. While down by Donut Parade, we drove by Rob's old house, as it's mere yards away. The new owners have sanded and painted! It's now a bland beige that is much less noteworthy than the old powder blue, and we admitted it looked much nicer, then high-fived that we no longer own it. I didn't care to be obnoxious (at that moment, anyway), so I didn't get a picture.

Behold, the intrepid spider-killers with their trusty weapons! Jasmine and Blake REVEL in each other's company.

The drive to Astoria was warm and lovely, and as we drove further west, I noticed the vast difference between gardening in Montana vs. gardening in Oregon. In MT, I have to coax and wheedle each plant out of the ground, then into bloom/fruiting. Out of necessity, I pamper and coddle my tiny garden, to make up for the fact that the weather likes to slap it around. In OR, you have to beat back the flora with a machete and flame-thrower, or it will find the spare key to your house, sneak in one night, and smother you in your sleep in order to have free access to the beer in your fridge.

At one point, we were in the passing lane, moving around a semi, when a woman with California plates flew up beside us, then cut us off - we were all going about 75 MPH - with about a foot between her rear bumper and the front of our car. I lost my shit, shook my fist and yelled at her, and wanted desperately to ram her car repeatedly for her aggressive and hostile driving that threatened my small child's safety... It made sense at the time. Rob was mostly bemused by me, and Dad later told me that if you don't drive like a total asshole in California, you can't get anywhere because everyone else is already an asshole and won't let you in. He then mentioned that the Italians make Californians look like pansies.

I think I shall travel by Tube if/when we visit Italy.

Oh happy sign! We FELT welcome. My heart rate had subsided by this point.

The mighty Columbia: all us landlubbers were suitably awed by the sheer size of the ships. On a river. It was amazing. Blake approved.

We met Barney and Marcia (aka Grammie Perrine) at Astoria Nugget #1: the Baked Alaska, where Lane used to work when she lived out here. We got a little caught up on life, enjoyed the beer and scenery, and I got to remember how much I enjoy them. We settled in at their place, and Blake proceeded to exhaust their very old, very blind dog by reminding him how much fun it was to be a puppy and feel playful.

Tuesday, August 24

We lingered over a pot of coffee and fresh fruit while watching Goonies in preparation for the rest of the day. Marcia came along to point out Astoria Nugget #2: the Goonies house that's in danger of being razed in the movie.

Astoria Nugget #3: the sea lions down on the dock, which you can hear from quite a ways off.

They jockey for position and push each other around, loudly and constantly. Don't stay at the hotel down on the river - you won't sleep!

Another thumbs-up pic. It's becoming a theme. These old wooden boats are part of a display we didn't linger over. They are housed in the old tuna cannery, which is now home to other businesses, including Astoria Nugget #4:

Lane asked me to visit here and drink a coffee on the pier for her.
So we did, very self-sacrificially.

A brief moment of calm as our child proceeded to alarm all the ladies around us with how exuberantly he played on the pier. They were convinced he was going to fall in. I wasn't convinced he didn't deserve it, but reined him in for the sake of their hearts.

Astoria Nugget #5: The Column. It's painted and carved concrete, with a tight spiral staircase inside. We bought a few balsa airplanes in the gift shop and flew the planes down to Grammie Perrine. One plane, anyway. The other went off into the deep woods, and Blake was dismayed that I had no intention of going out to find it.

We dropped Marcia off at the house and meandered on down to Cannon Beach for our first time IN the water. Blake fell asleep just as we pulled into town, so we drove into Ecola State Park for a brief detour to permit as much rest as possible. We all took a little hike on the scenic walk, then went down to the beach. It was basically empty. Guess no one wants to pay $5 to access a small park, but the way I saw it, we had a mostly private beach to ourselves! AWESOME.

Next installment: sand, beach, tidal pools, sand, kite-flying, the wreck of the Peter Iredale, sand, vacation discipline, sand. We're still getting sand out of the car and Blake's ears.