A "Goofy" Trip

In Lance's words, Mark and I just returned from a "goofy" trip. I'll agree--it WAS goofy and somewhat spontaneous. I talked for a couple of weeks of taking the 3 youngest kids to Newport, Oregon for our 3-day mid-winter break. At one point Lance even thought he could take a couple of days off from work and accompany us. Well, most of the kids took sick and I thought we'd have to shelve the trip; however, Mark said he wanted to go "no matter what." Monday morning came and I still waffled. I did laundry and went grocery shopping, and when I returned, Mark had his bag all packed and had found a suitcase for me to use. So, against my better judgment, Mark and I set out for Oregon at 1:30 Monday afternoon.

The 5.5 hour drive turned into a 6.5 hour drive due to accident-related traffic delays in 2 spots along our route. I questioned my sanity and rationale for taking this "goofy" trip several times during the drive. Mark just sat in the back of the car and watched movie after movie, oblivoius to my internal struggle. We arrived at Days Inn in Newport at 8:00 pm and enjoyed a good night's sleep.

Yesterday we set out early. Since our "hotel" provided only a carb-and-gluten-laden continental breakfast, we found a little cafe and had a nice meal (mine consisted of a ham and cheese omelet, hashbrowns and tomato juice; Mark's consisted of root beer--not his typical breakfast drink, sausages, bacon and pancakes. He didn't even taste the pancakes). We went to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse and walked around the lighthouse and down to the water. We saw 2 bald eagles and several sea otters. It was cold, windy and rainy, but we enjoyed ourselves and took lots of pictures. Next we went to the old Newport Bayfront, explored some souvenir shops, and tried to gain admittance to the Undersea Gardens. Since it was the "off season," the Gardens were closed. Our final destination was the Oregon Coast Aquarium--the main attraction and reason for our trip. It's a nice little aquarium, and Mark enjoyed every bit of it. He especially liked seeing the wolf eels, sea otters and sharks, and enjoyed touching some of the creatures in the tide pools.

We left for home at 1:30. We stopped in Woodburn at the outlet mall and arrived home around 8:00. We enjoyed our "goofy" trip, but I doubt I'll take another one like it any time soon.