Craig had a week with nil on his schedule, so we planned a quick trip to visit the lillywhite 5 in Salem and visit the coast. It was a lot of fun, but so much to do in such a short trip. We drove up Wednesday and stayed the night at Lindseys in Salem. Thursday morning we drove down to Newport/Depoe Bay. We went to the whale watching center, which July happens to be the worst time to go, and Yaquina head lighthouse, before heading to the Newport "Oregon Coast" Aquarium. (FYI there is also a newport aquarium in kentucky so don't purchase tickets online from there seemingly identical website like I did)
We spent Thursday night back at Lindsey's and then spent friday morning driving up to Seaside. We found a great place to park the 5th wheel and had lunch and headed to the beach. It was such a lovely day. The previous day was a drag, cold, rainy and foggy. The kids loved the beach and Craig got to try out his stunt kite we got in Newport. Derek accompanied us in the evening as we then traveled to the Astoria KOA Kampground where we camped the next 2 nights. Saturday we went to the Astoria Column where we threw plane gliders off the top. We ate lunch at the Bowpicker. It was the #1 restaurant on all the online reviews and Craig and Derek just about threw a toddler tantrum because we didn't get to go for dinner the previous night. After lunch we headed over the bridge to Long Beach Washington, to see the Sand Castle competition. We drove home Sunday, where we were rudely welcomed by a very long and busy MONDAY back at work and laundry. It was fun and we need to do it more often.
