coastal goodness

Seaside is great! A little touristy, but lots of sandy beach, a long boardwalk, cute shops, good food, and tons of quiet streets with cozy little cottages to adore.

We were given two nights at a beachside hotel for attending a promotional spiel for a timeshare-like vacation home this summer and we finally got repaid for those three hours spent trying to seem interested (but not too interested) in shelling out $17,000 for life-long vacation fanciness. Like we could do that even if we wanted to. Anywho...

We walked a lot, enjoyed breakfast for lunch at the famous Pig'n Pancake, napped on our comfy hotel bed, and watched some movies from the old school Universal Video (where our membership will now be on file for life), and took a trip to the outlet mall to visit Legs Hanes Bali Playtex. Doesn't everyone shop for socks and underwear on their romantic getaways? I generally stay as far away as possible from outlet malls, but my sister, Rose, used to work at Legs Hanes Bali Playtex and got me lots of good underwear for a low low price and it seemed to be the right time to, ahem, update my collection. On a side note, I liked calling Rose at worked while she was employed there: "Legs Hanes Bali Playtex this is Rose."

Some more of Seaside:

The evening view from our hotel balcony.

The next morning. Ahhh...sunshine!

We decided to head home by way of Astoria, which is not on the way at all, but which we discovered wasn't too far from where we were. Astoria is at the northwest corner of Oregon where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific. Cross the bridge north and you're in Washington! Astoria also happens to be where much of The Goonies was filmed. We've visited Cannon Beach several times, where the pirate ship comes out of the big rocks at the end, but Astoria is the town where the movie is set and the first part takes place. We saw a few of the buildings featured in the movie (like the county jail and the old Flavel House museum), but next time we'll have to take the full Goonies Tour!

A great little coffee shop downtown:

There are lots of great old victorian homes in this hilly town:

This street is much steeper than it looks (notice the stairs on the ride side). We stood here for a bit to enjoy the view and catch our breath!

Back downtown:

The Columbia...almost to the ocean!

The Astoria Column, the highest point in the area, I do believe:

Looking southish, toward home:

Looking westish, toward the ocean:

Two rainy days on the coast and one sunny. Not too shabby.