I am very fond of and drawn to amber. I have a few pieces of really beautiful amber jewelry. This, however is not amber. It's a gross jelly fish that I thought looked like a huge piece of amber so I had to take a picture of it. Then I had to poke it with my toe.
So, Saturday in Newport, Oregon with my parents, aka The Grandparents, was just what I needed. The beach can be rejuvenating, especially when the weather is nice, rather than crappy. It was nice the day we were there. For the past two days (as I write this on Wednesday night), my parents have endured stormy weather and at the end of the week they head down Highway 101 to stay at a B&B near San Francisco. Yesterday morning on the news, they showed people desperately stacking sand bags in Marin County. Should be just a lovely drive and visit.
However, last Saturday in Newport, while brisk, was sunny and dry. It took awhile to get our food at Mo's Annex, but as usual, the line was out the door. There were a bunch of sailboats doing something outside, but our waiter wasn't sure what the occasion was, and up the road in Lincoln City was the Kite Festival, which is great fun to watch. I watched about 90 seconds of it. The first half of that was on my frantic walk to the restroom at one of the beaches and the second half was a more relaxed viewing as I returned to our car. There is really no good place to pee between Dallas and Lincoln City. Ah, to wear Depends. Or have a bladder bigger than a walnut.
After eating our entrees at Mo's, it was time for dessert. Sam had ice cream with whipped cream (it's a sundae with no sauce and not nuts), everyone else had marion berry cobbler a la mode, and I had half a slice of peanut butter cream pie (and my mom had a bite of the other half and my dad finished it off and then I felt righteous and holy for not making a complete pig of myself).
Miranda wanted to go watch the sea lions afterward, and honestly, everyone else did, too. Mick, being completely contentious, made the statement that, "the only good sea lion is a dead sea lion", but we all ignored him. I think he just doesn't want to give up his claim to Alaska Neanderthal Commercial Fisherman status.
The sea lions so obviously adore the sun and are so comical and entertaining to observe. I could watch them for hours. Really, there is a bar right there.
Unfortunately, what this picture can't show you is just how incredibly large these creatures are. Think Volkswagen Bug. Huge. And LOUD. LOUD content and LOUDER cranky. And very engrossing.
Sam and Miranda went across from me to watch the sea lions in a less-crowded space. I was shoulder-to-shoulder with other wildlife fans. I just had to take this picture because they are so uncooperative these days that this may be the only frontal view of them I'll catch. Being October, the area wasn't as crowded as in the peak summer season, but still, lots of people like to hang out down on the bay front, especially to watch the sea lions sun themselves. This spot is right next door to the Undersea Gardens (and the bar I mentioned). Note: that little object in Sam's hand is Bunny-Frog, a chewed-up (thanks, Zeus) stuffed animal who MUST go EVERYWHERE with her. It's the latest in a long line of MUSTS.
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