Michael and I decided to head to the beach for a few days of fun and relaxation to celebrate 6 (!) married years together. Our respective bosses took pity on us and granted us each 2 workdays off (Friday, October 1 and the following Monday, October 4), which allowed us the luxury of a four day weekend free from work worries / obligations.
We booked a room at the Surftides hotel in Lincoln City--complete with ocean-front view and jacuzzi tub. On a trip to Seattle several years ago to view the motocross races, we stayed in a room with a jacuzzi tub quite by accident. If I remember right, it was the only room available in an otherwise booked-up motel and we got it for the price of a standard room. We both enjoyed the tub more than we thought we would and ever since that stay, we had hoped to get to experience it again on a future vacation.
It was nice to take our time leaving on Friday. Michael headed out to do his sperm test (finally!) while I finished packing and getting the house and pets ready for our departure. I knew Chloe would do fine with extra food and water, but being a dog, Flynn would need more hands-on care. I reserved him a spot at the Laurel Acres kennel in Hillsboro, where he stayed when we went to Spokane in June. He didn't put up too much of a fuss when we dropped him off, but I still felt guilty that we couldn't take him with us . . . but the hotel didn't allow pets and Flynn is so neurotic that even if we found a pet-friendly hotel, we wouldn't have been able to leave him alone for any length of time.
We hit the road about 12:30pm and went to Lincoln City via Newburg and McMinnville. We hadn't had lunch before we left so our first stop upon arriving at the coast was Mo's restaurant. Michael had chowder, fish and chips while I had grilled cod. I'm not normally a seafood eater, but I know fish is good for me and I figured I would try branching out a bit--after all, we were at the beach and when in Rome . . . :) It was surprisingly good, although I could have done without the "cabbage salad" appetizer, which was covered in shrimp--again, not my favorite, but I did eat most of it.
We checked in at our hotel at 4p.m. and spent some time checking out our room and our view. I think we were both a tiny bit disappointed at how dated and shabby the furnishings were (think late 80's, early 90's), but the view more than made up for it. We were a stone's throw from the water and had a large sliding glass door that opened onto our own little patio complete with two plastic lawn chairs. The jacuzzi tub sat beneath another spacious window that overlooked the water, so basically, the fourth wall of our room was made of glass and faced the ocean. Lovely. The last time we stayed at the beach was about 3 years ago when we rented a room in a cute little bed and breakfast in Seaside. I loved everything about it except the fact that we could not see (or hear) the ocean from our room. In my mind, if I am staying at the beach, I want to
know I am at the beach every possible moment. Give me a view and the sound of the rolling waves! That is exactly what I got this weekend and I loved every moment of it.
After we settled in to our room, we headed over to the factory outlet stores and did a little shopping. Michael was in dire need of some new cold weather clothes, and the Columbia outlet hooked him right up with some pullover fleeces and a new jacket. I found a couple of nice shirts at the Gap as well as a hat. We had really stumbled upon the best time for shopping because the whole outlet mall was practically deserted. Our anniversary gifts to each other (besides the trip itself), were kites. Michael had forgotten his at home, and I had never owned one, so we decided he needed a new red and yellow stunt kite and the purple and teal one should go home with me. We hoped there would be enough wind to fly them over the weekend.
We wrapped up the evening with a stop at the local Dairy Queen. I decided to go off of my special diet for our anniversary weekend and was very happy to indulge in my favorite DQ treat--the Butterfinger Blizzard. You can be sure I savored every flavorful, sugary spoonful. :) Michael opted for the banana cream pie which came complete with its own dollop of Cool Whip. It was a wonderful start to our anniversary weekend.
The next day dawned a bit overcast, but quickly burned off to reveal sunny skies. We had breakfast at the Hilltop restaurant which was reminiscent of a Shari's or a Denny's except that it had a gluten-free menu. I ordered a gluten-free breakfast (complete with the first toast I have had in a very long while) and felt less guilty about being off of my diet for the weekend.
We got back to our hotel and took the kites out on the beach. Michael taught me to fly my kite and we spent a couple of wonderful hours taking turns flying it. I loved the feel of the kite tugging at the lines I held--it felt like I was holding a bird as it soared. I was pretty impressed by Michael's kite-flying ability--the boy definitely has skills. I teased him that it must come from all of those hours of playing video games. His eye-hand coordination is much more practiced than mine. He almost taught me to make the kite do a full loop; I did it once, then couldn't repeat it. But I enjoyed handing the reins over to him and watching him make the kite dip and soar with only the slightest movements of his hands.
It was nice to relax in our room in the afternoon, and we both ended up napping. We had the patio door open and the combination of the soothing sounds of the ocean and the warm sun bathing our room was more than enough to invite sleep. It felt so delicious to realize that I had absolutely nothing else to do and could close my eyes and slumber away. When I awoke awhile later, I felt how needed that rest was and how much better I felt since arriving at Lincoln City. This mini-vacation was shaping up to be more than just an anniversary celebration. It was helping me let go and just be.
We headed to the Roadhouse for our anniversary dinner later that evening. I had seen a notice in the local paper that there was to be live blues music and I thought it would be fun to check it out. We got a cozy table in the back where we could hear the music just fine and we spent a couple of hours sipping wine (me) and beer (Michael) and having a not-so-politically correct debate as to whether or not the lead singer (who had an amazing set of lungs and could sing lower than Michael) was a really light-skinned black woman or a white lady. I did not think a white woman could sing like B.B. King (which this woman could), but Michael insisted she was white. We never did find out for sure but we both definitely appreciated her voice and the guitar skills of her band.
Sadly, Dairy Queen was closed when we headed back to our motel around 11:00pm, but we decided we'd make up for it the next day.
I had time for one more jacuzzi tub bath the next morning before we had to check out; I took 4 total over the course of three days and kept dreaming of the day when I will have my own tub to luxuriate in every day if I choose.
Neither of us wanted to go home and end our lovely vacation, so we grabbed some breakfast and then headed back to the outlet mall for some last-minute shopping. Then it was back to the beach to fly our kites one more time . . . there wasn't as much wind as there had been the day before, so Michael was the only one who actually got any flying time in. I dive-bombed the kite a few times into the sand before deciding to call it quits. I did enjoy basking in the sun while Michael displayed his superior kite-flying skills in the low wind. He was so good that a gentleman with a very expensive-looking camera stopped to photograph the kite as Michael made it swoop and soar against the blue sky.
Once the kite had been put away for good, we headed down the beach to check out some rocks just off the shore to see if there might be anything in the tide pools. We didn't see much but got some good pictures of the waves and a couple of thrilling moments when the rocks we were standing on became surrounded by the incoming tide.
Our last stop before heading out of town was . . . the Dairy Queen! We had a completely unhealthy (but delicious!) dinner of chicken burgers, fries and one more tasty ice cream treat then hit the road for home and a night back sleeping in our own bed.
Even though we didn't want to admit the weekend was over, we were both happy that we'd taken the next day off from work, so we had Monday to ease back into reality--which included collecting Flynn from the kennel, giving him a much-needed bath, doing laundry, going to the grocery store, and for me--going to my first yoga class in a year and a half at the little studio near our house.
It was a fitting end to a wonderfully long weekend and a great anniversary celebration.
