Since many of us in the Informatics program graduated this past week, we decided that we wanted to take a little trip. After talking about where we can go on a limited budget, we decided on Cannon Beach, Oregon. Anthony and Trevor did the leg work to look at hotels and to find a place for us to stay during our weekend vacation. Once their laborious decision was made, they decided on The Inn at Cannon Beach and we were off.
We left on Friday to make the trek from Seattle to our vacation spot. First, Jamie and I had to go get David from his place up in Lynwood. After that, it was off to I-5 and to meet the Seattle traffic. But, really, it wasn’t that bad. Yes, there were the occasional slowdowns, but it really moved quite smoothly.
After arriving in Cannon Beach, it was dark and we were tired from the car ride down there. So, not much really happened that night.
On Saturday, we were up early. Like 7:30am early. I don’t know if it was the fact that I was sleeping on an air mattress on the floor, or something else. But, after we all got ready, it was off to breakfast in town. The food was great and it was a nice way to start the day. After that, we tolled around town to just check it out.
There were a bunch of nice little stores and shops, but since it was raining and pretty windy out, so we didn’t spend a lot of time in town. Back at the room we regrouped and tried to decide what to do next.
We headed to the beach, but it was crazy windy. Really, it was out of control. The wind was really strong. As you can see from the picture, Kathryn can fly because of it. The strong wind kicking up dust in our faces kind of took away from the experience of being on the beach, but it was still nice to be on the beach and to be near the water.
Later that night we just cut loose and relaxed. But, before we did that I had a run in with the local Sheriff. To sum it up, they thought I was shoplifting a case of beer. But, to their surprise, I had just purchased the beer and all of us in the car were older than 21. But, specifically, they wanted to card Dan, who happens to be 23. Needless to say it was strange, but it was just pretty much them thinking I was stealing beer for minors. Oh, well. They do their job and I’ll go back and enjoy the beer. Once we did get back, we all had a pretty good time. There was a little drama, but nothing to seriously dampen the mood for everybody. That night was actually on of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. Cards, drinks, chatting… yup. Good stuff.
Then, on Sunday, we got to actually sleep in a little bit and Trevor bought us doughnuts. Mighty tasty to have one for breakfast. I’m sure it’s the sugar content in them that makes them so good. After getting all of our ducks in a row we headed to Ecola State Park.
When we got to the park it was just pretty miserable out, from a weather point of view. But, being the adventurous people that we are, we stayed in the park. We walked to the edge of this grassy knoll and we took some pictures. However, that was not enough for Anthony, Tho, Darrin, and me. We decided to head down to the water to see what we thought was a cave. But, it ended up not being much of a cave at all.
The trip down the hill was quite the interesting adventure, but we made it one piece. It was difficult to get footing on the way up and down, but it was nice to get all of the way down there. After we got done messing around on the rock beach we decided to head back up. Doing this was much more difficult since the wing was picking up and we were just getting wetter and wetter was time went on. On the way back up I stubbed my finger and I now have a blood blister.
Once we got back up the weather was just owning us. It felt like freezing rain or hail. I really couldn’t decide. But, it hurt really bad and it was not something to look forward to after climbing back up the hill. After we made it to the parking lot, we headed to the bathroom to wash all of the mud off of us. Then it was back to the hotel to dry off and head out to lunch.
After lunch, it was hanging out a little bit, then it was back to the beach. We only decided to head back to the beach because the sun finally came out. It was still windy, but not as bad as the night before. So, we figured that we should take advantage of it while it was out. It was a little chilly out on the beach, but it was still nice to be out there when the sun was out.
Now we are all back at the hotel after going bowling and we are preparing for the home trip tomorrow.
Overall, it was a good break away from Seattle. Yes, I wish that the weather was a little nicer, but we were all in good company so that made up for the poor weather. Maybe, some day, I’ll come back when it is a little warmer and with better weather (hopefully). But, now it is time to wind down and get ready for life back in Seattle.