Tripped Up

Okay, it's more than a week after the fact, but I finally dug through my latest vacation photos from my latest vacation. Prepare to be bored spitless...

September 24 - Departure
At an inhumanly early hour, I crawled out of bed to begin yet another ill-advised trek to Somewhere Else. The destination: Seaside, Oregon, a little tourist trap of a town on the northern Oregon coast. I'd considered just going to Ocean Shores for this jaunt (much closer, generally cheaper), but the weather looked iffy, and to be frank there isn't a whole heck of a lot to do in Ocean Shores in iffy weather. So, Seaside it was. Accompanying me were my mother, my sister, and my aunt. (Defrayed the room cost, if nothing else, plus I didn't have to do most of the driving, which is a definite plus when you're a non-morning person leaving the house before 6 AM.)

(Rock and) Roll On, Columbia
*Shudder* Any Washingtonian who suffered through public schools can cringe along in memory of that song. We could've gone the "usual" way, through Portland before cutting over to the coast, but none of us like to drive the Portland I-5 bridge. So we planned to jog over to cut across at Astoria. Well, we missed the turn we'd intended to take, and wound up tracking along the Columbia River (dividing line between Washington and Oregon, for the Pacific Northwest geographically challenged), which had us backtracking north a bit but got us there in the end.
Along the way, we had to stop a few times to stretch. (That, and the SUV we were in was more cramped than we'd imagined on a trip this long; it defies logic that one can have less legroom in a gas-guzzling behemoth than in a Corolla, but I digress.) It was at one of these rest points that I snapped the preceding photos - and, yes, they were at the same place, which proves just how accurate road signs really are.

A Sign of Things to Come
Not the most auspicious way to start a vacation. If I were exceptionally superstitious, I would've taken this sign as a, well, sign.

The Feathered Flasher and the Bridge to Oregon
That could be a title in a very strange fiction series... While stretching at the aforementioned nitch (our last stop on the Washington side of the Columbia, at least until we came home), I snapped several pics of a flashy cormorant who seemed to enjoy posing for the camera. The second picture should be self-explanatory; I still like that bridge better than the Portland one.

The Wind and the Rock
We couldn't check into our room until 4, and we hit Seaside not long after noon, so after grabbing breakfast/lunch we figured we'd poke on down the coast to Cannon Beach for a bit to photograph possibly the most photographed rock on the Oregon coast (Haystack Rock, and its companions, the oh-so-cleverly-named Needles.) Did I mention before that the weather looked "iffy?" The first photo shows (I hope) the ambient wind, which was, in layman's terms, "strong enough to make you feel you might not make it back to the car." The second shows a fairly generic shot of the aforementioned rock.

Rivertide: A Room with a View (and a View of a Room)
We went a bit upscale for this trip, compared to our usual fare. (If you ever read my trip report of our stay at the Beachwood Resort near Ocean Shores, also known as the giant wolf spider sanctuary, you'll have an idea of our "usual" fare.) For two nights, we stayed at the Rivertide, a hotel that doubles as a vacation condo. In a split from our usual luck, we wound up in what would be termed a "luxury" suite; even though we'd only paid for "mountain view," we actually had a fairly good view of the river, which was supposed to cost extra. Being only three blocks from the ocean, we could see the Pacific, too, but not in what one would call a postcard panorama. Not to worry: the Rivertide features a "crow's nest" viewing area on the roof, where the views were better (and the wind windier.) I snapped the last photo from the crow's nest, looking back and down at our room.
Anyway, back to the room. The beds were great, but the windows were unaccountably drafty. We never did figure out how to get the fake fireplace working, though it looked broken when we got there so that may have been the problem. Though they claimed they had some sort of wireless internet, the Little Black Critter failed to pick up a signal. We were right across the street from a Holiday Inn Express which probably offered it, but the wind was chilly enough that I didn't want to prop open a window to see if I could pick anything up. (The room was also screwy about cell phone signals; one area near the kitchen gave us very weird messages about our subscriptions having expired.) So, all in all, it was a nice place to visit, but I'd be hard pressed to want to plunk down five hundred grand for it.

Scenic Seaside Streets
If you'll forgive me for jumbling chronological order, having shot these on different days... Since the weather was, as mentioned previously, "iffy," we spent a fair bit of time wandering Seaside's streets doing what tourists do best: shopping and taking photos.

The Carousel in the Mall
One of Seaside's attractions was a small shopping mall containing an indoor carousel, which saw a fair bit of business on drizzly, windy days.

See the Seaside Aquarium!
One of those attractions that time forgot, Seaside features a small yet popular aquarium, where you can see fish (including a shy and exceptionally bored Giant Pacific Octopus - not pictured), look at marine specimens, and even pay to feed a tank of harbor seals, if you don't mind getting splashed and getting raw fish all over your hands. (We passed on that...)

Lewis & Clark
Seaside's big claim to fame is being at (or near enough) the end of Lewis & Clark's belatedly-famous expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Hence the statue.

Flashback soda fountain (with Special Guest)
Yep, we had treats there. Mom and her sister had to get a photo with the King, too, because we're tourists and that's why he was there.

Night lights and Morning View
The first one ought to be self-explanatory; the hotel across the river had wonderfully bright and tacky neon lights. The second ones ought to be self-explanatory, too. The Great Blue Heron was in hiding when I had my camera out, and startled me by flying across the river in a spectacular shot I missed - calling as he flew, the first time I've ever heard a heron's voice - before landing on the banks. Curse him...

Counterchanged Clouds and the Light in the Fog
On the last day of our trip, after checkout, we went back down to Cannon Beach, where I shot a bunch more photos of the requisite rocks (which I'll spare you.) Of the two I am sharing, I found the clouds in the first one very intriguing. The second one is just more Fun with Zoom Lenses. Not long after our beach time, while we were eating lunch, the fog moved in; such was the way of the vacation.

South Bend Memorial to the Soldier of the Fallen Reindeer
On the way back home, we took the route we'd intended to take the first time, and found it much more meandering and therefore much less direct than we'd thought it would be. Along the way, we stopped in the speck of a town known as South Bend. A small waterside park featured a sculpture honoring a local war hero which some past tourist or local wiseacre thought needed some embellishing.

All in all, I have to say I enjoyed my little Seaside getaway. It wasn't without its problems - the car was cramped, Mom's new shoes gave her no end of grief, my aunt suffered the start of a prolonged attack of what turned out to be a massive gallstone, my sister broke her favorite sunglasses - but it wasn't all bad. I'd certainly consider going back there, at any rate. Maybe I will, but not before my budget recovers. And not unless we take another car.