Oregon and Washington Trip- Day 6

Wednesday July 28, 2016

The next morning we got up early. We finished up the laundry, cleaned the beach house, packed the car and got on the road to continue North. 

Our first stop was Ecola State Park. We pulled over at a lookout. There was a misty fog in the air over the ocean. It was beautiful. It didn't last long. The sun came out and burned it off. 

Then we followed a very narrow windy road to get to Indian Beach. It was totally worth paying the park fee and driving that far off the road. The beach was beautiful. It was kind of like a hidden gem. There were locals and surfers there.  We didn't pack to play on the beach and we needed to get back on the road. In hindsight I would have stayed and let the kids swim at this beach. It was insanely beautiful. 

We walked around for a minute then got back in the car to head North. 

We stopped for a break at Seaside. We parked downtown. We found an old fashioned taffy shop on the way to the beach and bought a bag of salt water taffy. They had 170 different flavors. It was fun to go through and pick unique flavors. 

For lunch we ate at Tsunami Sandwiches. They were so good. We took our lunch and ate on the boardwalk overlooking Seaside beach. 

The beach was crazy crowded. It was fun to see but I'm glad we didn't end up staying there. Too many people. 

We let the kids walk around in the sand for a minute to get a break from the car. On the way back to parking we stopped and got ice-cream. Next door to the ice-cream shop there was a place called house of mirrors that the kids played around in. It was good that they got out some of their energy before getting back in the car. 

Our next stop was Fort Clastsop to see the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park. 

I was blown away by this forrest. The trees were so tall and everything was so green. It was beautiful. 

The walkway to the fort was gorgeous. 

The fort was fun. The kids got to do a bunch of hands on activities. They tried on costumes, used old tools, and played in the houses. 

We got to see the black powder rifle demo. The voulenteer told a scary bear hunting story before he fired his gun. The kids were way into it. 

He let the kids get close and look at the rifle. I was surprised how loud the rifle was. 

Then it was back on the road again. 

We spent a lot of time in the car this day. The kids were champs!

When we got to Astoria we ran into some BAD traffic. We decided to pull over and get some dinner and try to wait it out a bit. 

We were getting really sick of Subway. We had eaten there several times already this trip but it was the only option. 

Once the traffic cleared up we got back on the road. We had to cross the Astoria Meglar bridge that crosses the Colombia river at it's mouth. The bridge is 4.1 miles long. When we would stop the bridge would shake. It was an eerie feeling being spanned over the Colombia river. 

We were excited when we could finally see Mt Rainier in the distance. 

We booked a  room at Hampton Inn Suites in Tacoma Washington. Brad had been watching a movie during the drive. When we announced we were there he looked out the window at the shops and restaurants surrounding the hotel. There were a couple of Chinese restaurants. He immediately said "Holy Cow. Are we in China?" He was dead serious. Randy and I got a good laugh about that one. 

Oregon and Washington trip- Part 5

Tuesday July 27th 2015

Our plan for this day was to go crabbing. Ann and Paul White recommended we do it. They took their boys the year before and loved it. 

We went to Kelly's at Brighton Marina.

They send you out on a boat with crab traps and bait. Then when you get back they cook up your crabs you catch right on the beach.  

The marina was pretty stinky. Claire was gagging on the smell We were all laughing at her. You could rent life jackets from the marina. Claire said there was no way she was going to wear the "stinky" ones. She was glad we had out own. 

They gave us quick instructions on the dock. The basic directions were throw the baited baskets in the water then circle the area and pick them up in order. By the time you made it around again the basket should be filled with crabs. 

Nate and Jenni rented a boat too. 

Then we were off. 

H kept saying "Yay...we are going cab hunting" So cute!

Once Randy approached the trap I had to quickly set the trap by pulling it straight up. I got soaked. 

We could only keep the big males. We had to throw everything else back. 

We were catching crabs like crazy. This was seriously so much fun. I didn't want it to end. 

We put Claire in charge of the camera/gopro and the numbers and order of the trap buoys. W had bouy #29, 71,87. She did such a good job narrating the Gopro and keeping track of the order. 

We were trapping really close to Nate and Jenni's boat. Nate was having a hard time by himself. Jenni couldn't help because she was holding a baby. We threw Brad into Nate's boat to help. It worked out a lot better for them. 

We probably caught at least 100 crabs.

At two hours we had to take the boat and traps back. I was not ready. I could have done this all day. It was seriously so much fun. I got a high from yanking up the traps to see it full of crabs. 

After returning the boat they checked our crabs. We brought back three of them. We could only keep 2 of them. One of the males was just a little bit too small. 

The kids played giant Jenga while we waited our turn to cook our crabs. 

We got to watch as she cleaned cracked and steamed our crabs. 

Once they were cooked she cracked them open and had us taste the broth just under the shell. It tasted just like melted butter. It was to die for. So fresh and amazing. 

We also ordered a pound of steamed clams. I loved the crab but I hated the clams. 

We ate our crabs right on the marina deck. There were seals all around below begging for the leftovers. 

After crab fishing we went back to the beach house to shower and clean up, We were wet and stinky from crab bait. 

After eating lunch we went to Garabaldi ship harbor yard. We walked around the docks and saw huge fishing boats. We got lucky and ran into a couple that had just pulled into harbor. They just finished up diving for clams. They talked to the kids about what they do. The kids were totally entertained by their stories. They gave each of the kids some rocks they had found while diving. They called them treasures. It was pretty awesome. 

We also got to watch a boat unload huge tuna. They had to use a crane to pick up the big fish. 

After the Harbor we went to Three Graces Tide Pools in Garibaldi. 

It was really windy but the tide pools here were really awesome. The kids caught a bunch of crabs and collected them in one of the smaller pools. 

They had quite the collection. 

While we were there, we saw teenagers who were walking all over the pools crushing everything under their feet. It was really upsetting to the kids. They had learned how to respect the living things in the pools. We hated watching them be so disrespectful. 

Walking back to the car. 

For dinner we went to Main Street Pizza in Tillamook. I ordered a salad bar. The kids went crazy with the salad. They begged for more. The pizza was really good but we were getting sick of greasy restaurant food so the salad tasted good and fresh. 

After dinner we walked out to the Garibaldi pier to watch the sunset. The kids brought their binoculars with them. 

There were several seals swimming around the pier. There were also local fisherman crab trapping. 

After the sunset we hurried back to the beachhouse so we could fly kites. It was the perfect windy day for kites. 

Another great day.