Are you still with me? A week long vacation in pictures and words is longer than I thought!
At the end of the week, we decided to revisit our favorites. And Seaside was the favorite. Not a favorite? The song the taffy guy sings at the corner. "If you want candy...,"he sings it all day and it gets crammed in your head like so much taffy in your teeth.
Seaside, Oregon is very much a seaside town. Like the Santa's, Cruz and Monica it has a carnival like atmosphere with rides and arcades and salt water taffy. Durning our last adventure, everyone rode the bumper cars. This time: tilt-a-whirl:
I know I look like I'm smiling, but I think it's more like the smile you smile when you've resigned yourself to death.
Our next stop was the arcade. Grandma bought everyone a $5 game card and they went bananas. John claims he "had to dance," on Dance Dance Revolution because Hartwell put money in and left. Sure John, just like Grandma had to steer the pirate ship for Max and Beckett.
Since this jaunt was also to celebrate Max's birthday, he got to choose one more activity. He chose paddle boats. And if I never sit in another paddle boat again, it will be too soon.
The Paddle Boat Guy warned us that with the wind and the current we would be paddling upstream and we all still stupidly paid the $35 for an hour. We look sort of happy in the photo because we were laughing at how hard it was to paddle upstream with sore legs. (The Astoria Column does not mess around).
Five minutes later we were out and PaddleBoatGuy offered to let us use the bumper boats since we were so bad at paddling. So he made it up to Max, who was happy to drive the bumper boats instead. Max and Grace did pretty well, while poor 6 year-old Hartwell had trouble steering and cried the whole time.
It was a helluva day at sea, sir!
After the Seaside happiness, we wanted to go to Hug Point one more time and frolic and play the Oregon way.
I should mention the boys both got new tie-dye shirts...
I guess that's why they call it Hug Point.
If I had to guess, I'd say it's a rain dance:
The boys finally found the squirt guns in Grandma's beach bag.
Ambush!
And one last photo of the adorable gateway to the sea:
The next morning we drove into Portland to spend some time before our flight. Hartwell will never pass up a bathroom or a drinking fountain. And Oregon water is tasty enough for me not to freak out when he puts his face in it. Not the bathroom, the drinking fountain.
But the real reason we came to Portland:
Voodoo Doughnut. Where the "magic is in the hole" and "good things come in pink boxes." You know, for kids!
The line was super long and wrapped around all Disney-style. But we all happily waited, knowing that the sugar would be delivered soon.
Finally, someone who understands my kitchen color choices!
Menu and color inspiration:
The Voodoo Doughnut:
We may have over ordered. That's two layers.
This and the merry-go-round were the highlights:
I don't know
how my dad can look so grumpy holding a box of doughnuts:
After the sugar rush, we walked through the Portland Saturday Market. I wish I had more spending money. I saw too many things I wanted.
The boys loved these headband situations. We were at this booth awhile.
We had a great time and were busy planning our next trip on the flight home. Did you know you can rent
yurts?
A lot of the things we did, I realize now, could be done in Southern California. The beach, the market, tasty local food, arcades and tilt-a-whirls. So while we had fun crabbing and exploring the temperate rain forests and doing silly touristy things away from home, this trip reminded me that I should do more silly touristy things nearby. Like go to the beach more. And ride on the tilt-a-whirl. And drive an hour to eat a delicious doughnut.
