Day Two: April 21

We woke up at 8:30 AM, which isn't like us. Apparently, closing the wooden blinds doesn't shut out much light.  I noticed that we actually have curtains which close, but too late.  The breakfast is available between 8 and 10:30 AM, which suits our schedule. We enjoyed our breakfast of oatmeal or granola, berries, juice and coffee (bypassing the hard-boiled eggs, bagels and English muffins) while looking across the inlet at the pasture that was expecting the elk herd "any day now".  Well, that day was today!  You can't see them without binoculars, but this is where they were grazing (the view on the right is looking south across the inlet):

On the main street (which is actually the highway going through town, so we were happy we didn't have a front-of-the-building room), we visited a bead shop (run by the owners of the hotel), a fabric shop and an antique mall.  At the antique mall, we purchased Grimm's Fairy Tales (I love the TV series) and a rooster platter.  I saw a Barbie doll, wearing the strapless black evening gown (I think she's an anniversary edition of some sort); that took me back to when I was 12 and, when my younger sister and I asked for a Barbie doll, I was told "I was too old for dolls".

We planned our day around a drive to see the ocean. I enjoyed the tree growing little trees, on the right.

 We started by driving south to Tillamook, home of the Tillamook Cheese Factory, visited by the Fidgeons-minus-Matt some years ago. We passed it by so we could find some coffee and ended up at the Dragonfly Sisters (where we were taught where to park by someone sitting outside).   I saw a billboard advertising "fractional ownership"; interesting twist on "time share".

We stopped in Bay City because we saw a sign for $1 foot long pepperoni sticks, which we purchased along with jerky, nuts, after taking advantage of a multitude of free samples.  Luckily we did stop, since it closed at 5 PM.

I saw a sign for The Pancake House (voted the People's Choice Best Breakfast) so we went there for lunch. It seems the standard for best breakfast is somewhat low.  The weather, on the other hand, was wonderful: 70 degrees while we were eating.  We saw people in shorts and men with no shirts.

We then drove about 5 miles up-up-up to see a lighthouse at Mears, but it required hiking which I was not up for. Back to sea level, where we found a very rocky beach:

If I thought a hike was going to be hard, it was probably nothing compared to walking on those rocks.  I should have put my foot in the picture because the size of those rocks is not apparent.

By the time we got back to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, processing had stopped so we just saw them cleaning up.  We sent a Cheese Video for $1 (directed at the children) and ate small ice cream cones (strawberry and huckleberry).

 I bought a mug.

South to Pacific City to find more ocean.  We found a very sandy one, with $45 for 1/2 hour horse rides (which we did not do).  We had to walk over a big dune with very deep sand to get to the ocean, but we enjoyed meeting Riley the chihuahua.

We drove back to Tillamook for gas and on to Garibaldi for a seafood restaurant Matt had noticed. It turned out it was actually in Bay City so we drove south again to find the restaurant closed.  Back North to Rockaway Beach for dinner at Grumpy's Cafe, and ended up having a fried fish dinner.  No diet.  Back at the hotel, with lights out at 11 pm after a very busy and enjoyable day.

Day 3: April 22

I woke up at 8 am but I didn't want to get up so I gave Matt first turn in the shower. That tub is so deep I feel I could float in it. After we checked out, I took Matt back to the Antique Mall and rescued Barbie.  I can't believe it took me this long to finally get my own.

Leaving Wheeler at 11 am, we decided to go to Seaside for lunch and had a hard time finding a parking spot.  The tourist street was crawling with, well, tourists, so we found a spot on a side street.  We enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch and walked across the street to a donut shop that caught my eye (I know, diet).  Matt noticed a shaving kit in a leather shop next door so we went in to purchase that, along with a fake leather Betty Boop purse for the upcoming Austin trip. I saw a purse with a longhorn on it but thought that is the sort of thing you purchase in Texas.

 We stopped at Cannon Beach for more ocean. In the parking lot, there was an unusual site which caused us to long for the Caped Crusader.





We took a different route home, driving over the Astoria Bridge.  The view on the left is before we got on the bridge, and that on the right is at its highest point.

We drove 101 through Aberdeen, stopping north of Olympia for $1 sodas.  Since the view from Aberdeen to Olympia is trees, highway, more trees, no pictures were taken.  Matt commented that in Oregon, at least, there are small towns to break up the trees.  So, no more pictures until we got home at 5:53 pm.