I Don't Want Sand In My Vans! My Visit to Seaside, OR (Revisited)

A couple of weekends ago, Daughter and I invited one of her friends, V to take a last-minute trip to the Oregon Coast for Spring Break. Of course, we took OM too. He goes nuts over the ocean. We went to Seaside, OR specifically. A place that will always have a special place in my heart, fond memories growing up to visit my uncle/2nd dad. I was so blessed to be able to take us on this trip and I am grateful that things seemed to change for me overnight. From going to rock bottom to rock bottom, to almost instantly being able to float above water and breathe for a little bit.

Although nothing went as planned on this trip, the only word I can use to describe it is: PERFECT, well almost.

As we get to the hotel, I find out I made my reservation for May, instead of April.... that's what I get for not double-checking before booking. Unfortunately, it was Spring Break for everyone, it seemed, so we couldn't get the accommodations that we were hoping for. After multiple calls to different places, praying for openings, we ended up booking the original hotel the first night & were able to find another hotel that had a bigger bed the other two nights. (NO rooms with 2 beds, so poor Daughter got squished in the middle.) Yes, I was very disappointed that I didn't get a whole bed to myself. I like my space! The first night, the three of us ended up having to squeeze into a Queen-sized bed. Needless to say, NONE of us got very much sleep the first night, but I was just so grateful for a place for all of us to sleep.

For our first breakfast, we ate at Pig 'N Pancake. After perusing the menu MANY times, I finally decided on the biscuits and gravy. YUM! I also ended up eating Daughter's blueberry pancakes the second morning, which were even yummier with Blue Heron's raspberry syrup. (OM liked it too because he got in the garbage & ate V's crab omelet, with the last of the blueberry pancake that I couldn't eat.) Let's just say, our WHOLE party enjoyed our food from Pig 'N Pancake.

The night we arrived, I had reached out to a dear friend in hopes of being able to meet up over the weekend, even if for a short period. Luckily for me, she was free the next day. In the morning, after stuffing ourselves silly at Pig 'N Pancake, we hit the road to Tillamook, OR. I was planning to hit the Tillamook Cheese Factory, as well as Blue Heron after our visit, but once we saw the long ass line at TCF, we decided it wasn't worth it. It normally would be, but after a crappy night of sleep, we weren't feeling it.

However, Blue Heron was the place I was looking forward to going to more anyway, mainly because of the petting zoo. It was a choice we all ended up appreciating. After taking our time with the animals, dinking around the store, & of course feeding the animals, (Be Careful: The big Goat will eat your whole bag) I decided to try wine tasting, even though I've cut back on drinking for various reasons. (Fuck fibro!)

I sat down next to a couple of wonderful Colorado ladies, who were celebrating both of their birthdays on this trip. I enjoyed conversation with them sooo much & we seemed to become fast friends. I wanted to surprise them with a birthday gift that they could share, so I feigned interest in their favorite wine choice, pretending I was going to try it. They ended up preferring a a Walla Walla, WA red (with a funny name that I can't remember) and I knew that it was destined, since it was local to me. I went to return my flight from the tasting & bought the ladies a bottle, hoping to make their trip a little better. I got hugs from both of them & we ended up adding each other on FB. Hi Ladies!

I felt good, I was grateful that I had the means to do so & I was pleased to pass on the happiness from my black heart.

After Blue Heron, we visited my friend. I was so excited to see her because we hadn't seen each other in years, but we'd kept tabs on one another. It was as if no time passed and she greeted me the same cheery way that she did the day we first met when we liked each other instantly. We shared an amazing turkey, artichoke dip sandwich that I picked up from Blue Heron. It made me fat kid happy & I was content to be spending a beautiful day with amazing people.

We didn't want our time to be cut short, so I tagged along on her photo shoot of a beautiful mother/daughter duo. My friend, Andrea did my makeup (I didn't plan on seeing people & I knew she and her family could care less if I wore it) because not only does she do photos with Golden Hour Images, but she does makeup as well. She's fucking good at both.

Holy shit, my beautiful friend continuously left me in awe during the shoot & continues to daily. No wonder her business is growing as quickly as she is, she is amazing & her photos are proof. Each shot had love when she pushed the camera button. I am so excited to see what the future brings for her. I wish I could have recorded everything the mom said while standing with me watching her daughter's natural beauty & sass come alive, as Andrea documented it. The mom was so grateful for Andrea's amazing prices & personality that happy tears occasionally flowed.

I think the biggest surprise for everybody, was when Andrea unexpectedly pulled "dad" (who was minding his own business with his drone, completely unaware & unprepared) into the shoot with his little girl for the last bit of the shoot. She even offered "big brother" to join in on the fun, which he very shyly and politely declined. Throughout the whole photo shoot, Andrea was showing us sneak peeks, making everyone involved more confident that she was going to get them some kick-ass pictures. I can fan girl over this phenomenal lady for a long time, that's a fact.

I was sad to leave Andrea & her family, after enjoying the rest of the evening chilling at their house, eating tasty pizza from Main Street Pizza Co. We ended up getting to our hotel quite late, only to find frazzled staff who were lacking housekeepers, so people who don't normally clean rooms, like management & front desk ended up helping clean every room for what sounded like ungrateful people, as we heard our whole stay how we were the nicest customers being thanked multiple times, even though in my mind, we were just showing basic politeness that everyone should show.

Those people deserve an award! Wanting to do something nice, I snuck into the front desk area & gave the employees a card thanking them for their hard work & included money for them to enjoy a semi-decent dinner on me.

Our second day was spent exploring Seaside, but I started my exploration a little later, needing some alone time with my book "Identical Lies" by PNW local, Honey Perkel. The book is inspired by a secret study in NYC in the '60s that was trying to determine if twins raised separately were influenced more by "nature or nurture." I am still reading this book, but it was an excellent choice! I have to read at least 4 chapters anytime I pick it up. I was pleasantly surprised when I got back to the hotel room, to read "Enjoy the journey!" and the author's signature.

Journey, a word that I heard a few times by different people in different circumstances on that trip, making me feel like I was supposed to take it and I'm meant to continue with my life journey.

The businesses were all fun to visit and shop, however, the ones that stood out in my mind, for their own reasons were, in no particular order:

• Five Star Henna where the girls got beautiful henna tattoos. I accidentally messed up V's so I offered to pay for them to fix it. They declined the payment, but fixed the tattoo and gave her a couple of tubes with the henna goo to take home. We also all got chills with how accurate each of our readings was with Gail. A. Having been disappointed with readings before, I went in a little skeptical. Within the first five minutes, she erased my doubts. Within the first 10 minutes, she had me crying from a stranger seeing what even my closest loved ones didn't see. She knew that I worked hard to get myself out of my dark places. I understood why the lady who had a reading in front of us said it was the best reading she's had. I was given guidance to life and career moves that I will hopefully follow to success.

• The Aquarium, because of the crazy seals that you can feed. Beware of the splash zone! Also, they have interesting sea creatures, as well as a touch tank that allows you to touch some of them.

• Cottage & Castle Antiques is owned by an elderly couple, the wife picking the mellow music daily, and her quiet & polite husband waiting to help you find your treasure.

• Beach Books for their calming atmosphere, with local authors displayed, and friendly staff. Plus, they always give you a free pen when you buy a journal, which I did. I like free stuff, the few pens in my purse from my trip are proof.

• Angelina's Pizzeria & Cafe for the best pizza & breadsticks I've had in a while.

• Mo's for their delicious food and view, with outstanding staff serving making a great experience for everyone.

• Fairweather House and Gallery where they feature many local artists & where I bought LYD's tote featuring art from Robin Montero.

The evening of our second day, while walking on the beach, V unintentionally came up with the title for this blog article making an exasperated comment about not wanting sand in her Vans. It pretty much made me laugh all weekend, as I fondly remembered it.

Eventually, we found the source of the random bubbles we kept seeing throughout the day. Children and adults gravitated to pop the monstrous bubbles & to watch them go down like a puff of smoke. I even saw a Beautiful amber boxer pup joining in on the fun of bubble popping, an activity for all ages & species apparently. Two guys, playing upbeat music, standing on sand hills by the walking path were holding two fishing poles with a weight connecting the two lines, as they dipped them into 5-gallon buckets of their mysterious bubble/smoke mixture. I stood back at first, but after saying to nobody in particular, "I need to get in on these bubbles," I ran down the stairs to hopefully pop an escaped bubble that the kids hadn't caught yet. I didn't want to interrupt their fun. We stayed there for quite a while, just being in the moment of bubbles. My favorite part was when Daughter was chasing a ginormous bubble that ended up being too high, (like I was a lot of the weekend) so she threw a flip-flop up at it, successfully popping it. I looked up and saw a person standing patiently, watching, waiting to pop that bubble, only to have their dreams shattered by a quirky teenager, just having fun. It's okay, they got their share of bubble popping and they didn't seem to mind.

The last-minute trip that had all plans go awry, seemed to be just what I needed and it ended up being perfect. I kept myself from stressing about broken plans and just enjoyed the moment, every moment, something I plan to do more.

Just because things don't go as planned, doesn't mean that the new plans can't be just as fun, or even better than the original. Keep calm, be kind, & enjoy what you can because life is short.

🖤💋💨