35th Birthday Sewing Retreat

It has been one of those crazy years.

My grandma died January 28, 2013 so there is a whole family drama with the siblings not agreeing.

In the meantime, my brother and his 2 kids are moving in with me.

Amongst all of this stuff, I planned on a trip to the Oregon Coast (suppose to be with a travel partner but that did not come about) that included many great things that I missed doing as a kid with my grandparents.

Astoria Column

Day one: traveled to Astoria, that takes about 6 hours from Walla Walla, WA.  Stopped by Multnomah Falls, enjoyed the lack of tourists, and it was not raining for once.  I found a great buy on Groupon for hotel room on the pier at Astoria for $60, included breakfast too.

View from Room

Day two: Weather was overcast with potential rain.  I visited the Astoria column, had a great view of the ships coming in to dock, the bridge, and the valley surrounding Astoria.  Visited the Goonies house, jail, field, etc.

Ft. Clatsop

Boardwalk @ Ft. Clatsop

Next, Fort Clatsop, about 10 miles south of Astoria.  I remember visiting this place with my grandparents but didn't remember the boardwalk or canoe launch.  It's $3 per person, but I managed to get in for free since they guy who had the money was not available, so I made a donation.  The fort burned down a couple of years ago by arson and they rebuilt it, so it looks really new for a historical exhibit.

Haystack Rock

Next, Seaside & Cannon Beach, you know, where Haystack rock is, and the Goonies kids were rescued.  :-)  I love the Goonies!  Anyhow, by this time, it's raining and windy, so I took some pictures from various points near Cannon Beach.  On the weekends, this area is inundated with tourists like you wouldn't believe.  There is no parking for 5 blocks from the Seaside promenade or Haystack Rock.  I wandered my way to find the Cannon Beach Historical Museum, this is a new and free thing to check out.  They had a very well done exhibits that are small, but effective.  The back room is for a rotating exhibit, this month was featuring a local quilter.  I was over the moon!  I also made a donation.  :-)

Cheese Factory

Next stop is Tillamook Cheese Factory to get my lactose on.  The waffle cones are intoxicating!!!  If you go before 3:30pm, you can see actual factory workers wrapping huge blocks of cheese and stuff.  This is definitely a tourist destination, stand in line for hours to try the yummy ice cream and sample some cheese.  I am lactose intolerant so I sampled some cheese, checked out the souvenir shop, and looked around at the quilt blocks outside the building.  Tillamook has these large quilt blocks painted on buildings around town, it was nice.  I visited a bright pink fabric store that was too overpriced for fabric that I know are not current.  *sigh*  I did spend $1.80 on a fat quarter of quilters lame.  :-)

Finally, I made my way to Lincoln City, my final destination for the next few days.  I pretty much unloaded, had some wine, and crashed.

Jellyfish

Day three: Visited the Lincoln City Cultural Arts Center and Farmer's Market which I bought some yummy chipotle peanut brittle and then I visited the tide pools & enjoyed the sunset.  Since the tourists were gone, the heated pool was all mine!  I started working on my purple & lime green quilting project.  I do not have cable at home but super excited to get caught up on the "Walking Dead."

Shark Tunnel

Day four: Happy Birthday to me!!!  Travelled to the Newport Aquarium for my free admission, souvenir pennies, and free souvenir picture.  Best birthday experience I've had in a long time.  The new feature for me is the shark tunnel.  I even touched some weird stuff in the kids petting pool.

Sea Otter

Next door is the Rogue Brewery!  I sampled some dark beers and the bartender gave me a free tasting on the house too.  Of course, all the ones I liked are not available in bottles for them to sell to me.  Boooooo!  I highly recommend the double chocolate stout!

Beer Sampler

Now it's about lunch time, I visited the Devil's Punchbowl and had a nice lunch in the sun.

Devil's Punchbowl

Next, visit the Tanger Outlet Mall.  I manged to get a whole outfit for $10.  Score!  By the time I made it back to the condo, it was starting to cloud up and no fancy sunset.  No tourists at the heat pool again!  I sewed some more on my purple & lime quilt.  I also started packing some items for tomorrow's departure.

Day five: travelled back to Walla Walla, pretty uneventful.  A friend of mine was in town for work and we hanged out.  My brother and the two kids moved in and enjoyed some sick kids.

Best picture!