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[chesawritingstuff]

Seaside Day 5

The worst of my cold and sore throat was done by today so I was feeling pretty good physically this day. We got ready fairly early so we could grab some All-Star Coffee before we made our way to the beach. It was another beautiful day, which gave me some hope that things were going to turn out well. We each got our drinks and Gabby and Anne got some mcdonalds before we made our way southward to Seaside. The girl who did our drinks this day was one of the better ones and all our drinks looked all fancy with the artistic way she drizzled the sauces along the sides of the cup and atop the whipped cream. I don’t normally take photos of my food or drinks but for this one I did. =P 

I’ve been pretty bad at picking my drinks though these last few times I’d been here. I got another one that I had not tried before and it tasted good but just wasn’t what I was wanting. This had a lot of caramel and that’s more of David’s thing than mine. But the white chocolate tasted good, it softened the saltiness of the caramel. 

Gabby lent me a pair of her glasses that she had stored in the car. They were a little loose on me but they did the job =D My nose isn’t long or big enough for most glasses so they end up slipping down my face, that or I have to tilt my head back and walk which just makes me look stuck up lol Thankfully these weren’t as bad as that. I’m glad that we all remembered sunglasses today because the sun was right in front of us for most of the trip. 

To get from Bremerton to Seaside takes about 3 hours and 25 minutes so this isn’t a short drive. It wasn’t that long into the drive, maybe halfway in that the surroundings started to look familiar to me. There was a bunch of logging towns that I was certain we’d passed when Dave was driving us on the way to the AirBnB but I shook it off thinking I must be connecting things that just looked similar. 

It wasn’t until we got to the Oregon seaside that I was like oh crap... I think we’ve been here before. I was afraid to tell Gabby because she wasn’t in the best of moods that day either. Its because she had been working crazy hours before the vacation and with all we’d been doing that week she didn’t have enough time to catch up on sleep and rest. Plus all the driving she’d been doing which is why she was tired and cranky. 

I didn’t realize at first that we were at the same beach we’d gone to with Dave at first because we’d parked right beside the aquarium that Gabby wanted to take us too. The Aquarium and the beach with the Lewis and Clark Monument is only a fifteen minute walk from each other or six minutes by car. T____T I still feel bad about this. But we did do a lot of things we didn’t have time to when we first came here so it wasn’t a complete waste. Like the aquarium I mentioned, that was a first for me. 

Gabby’s been here before with her mom and this aquarium is famous for the harbor seals. Their website reads - The Seaside Aquarium is a small privately owned aquarium. A family of harbor seals awaits you at the front entrance, which you can feed. Food may be purchased after paid admission. Inside we 35 glass front tanks, which feature marine life found along the Oregon Coast. For the more adventurous, we have two touch tanks. Gently touch the sticky tentacles of a sea anemone or let a little hermit crab scurry around on your hand.

It was still fairly busy when we came so we had to wait in line to buy our tickets. The harbor seals were just to our left and above us was a display of an orca with its sharp pointy teeth. We went through the exhibit before checking out the seals. This is the smallest aquarium I’ve ever been to and its located at the end of a dead end street right on the beach. There were a dozen aquarium displays showcasing the various sea life like sea urchins, Octopi, and a variety of different fish species. They also have a touch tank that was popular with the children and another bigger open tank with a giant octopus inside. 

It didn’t take us long to get through all the cases and were back in front to buy trays of fish for 2 dollars so we could feed the seals. From what I was reading online there is a lot of debate about the welfare of the sea lions in here and their small living conditions. I won’t go into detail about that because it is too sad so I’ll just focus on what we did. As soon as we walked up with our trays of food the seals began to get loud and were splashing the water and barking to get our attention. I tried to throw the fish I had to the ones that were near the back because I’m more partial to the weaker, quieter ones because I worry they don’t get to eat a lot due to their more vocal and more assertive brethren. 

It didn’t take long to get through the fish and we were leaving to let the next group go up and have their turn to feed the seals. I’m glad there was a wash station because my hands smelled bad from handling fish. I don’t like the feel or touch of meat, especially fish. I’ll handle it if I need to but its not a sensation I like. 

We spent a little time on the beach just outside the aquarium. Anne was telling us how this beach with its mini sand dunes had a very close resemblance to the ones in Denmark, minus the mountains and the buildings in the distance. There were a few people flying kites out today as well as bbq’s making this cloudy day feel like a summer outing =P 

We did not stay here long though, Gabby was not in a good mood at this point and it made Anne and I not really want to spend much time on the beach. We headed back to the car since the parking by the aquarium is limited and found a parking spot in the lot nearby. Someone was nice enough to let Gabby know she had plenty of space to park and once that was done we headed towards the shopping area. As soon as we entered I was like uh-oh... I immediately recognized the “Aspiring Shop” because Dave had tried to get me to take a silly photo in front of there. I was confused when he’d told me to hold my head like I was in pain, it wasn’t until I turned around and saw the name of the store that I understood what he was trying to do. 

I felt really bad at this point and decided to let Gabby know that we’d been here recently, BUT that when we had come here last time we didn’t get the chance to go into any of the stores or spent much time in the area. Gabby was obviously a little annoyed at the news and asked why we didn’t say anything. I apologized again and explained that I didn’t realize that we’d been here, the name didn’t ring any bells when she mentioned taking us here. 

We did do a fair amount of window shopping and I was able to find a really cool store that sold a lot of the clothes I like to wear. I got myself a new pair of shorts that I can use for my jogs and this really neat jacket that goes with most my outfits. I spent a good amount of time there.  After Gabby said that the store she really wanted to go to was this saltwater taffy store called the “Seaside Candyman”. She had promised her mom and coworkers she’d bring back some taffy for them. 

It’s in this little indoor building known as the “heritage square mall” that has a few shops as well as some tables to sit and eat at in the open area in the middle. Weirdly they had old Baywatch cutouts on a top floor balcony just watching over people as they exit the buildling. I couldn’t find much information on this place other than it having an antique store and the candy shop but I’m not sure what else might be there.

Inside the store I was amazed at the large assortment of homemade taffy they had. There are 170 different flavors to actually choose from! When you walk in, there is a large wheel for people to win. If you land on certain spots, you win prizes. Even if you don't win, you still win a free piece of taffy! The taffy is more reasonably priced than the other candy stores in the touristy area, and there are SO many types of taffy! In addition, they also sell different types of candy and ice cream too. I didn’t even know where to start really but got a bag and eventually began throwing at least two of each flavor I thought sounded interesting. This was going to be for Dave and TJ so I got flavors that sounded good to them though. The taffy wrappers don’t have the flavor written on them so its kind of a mystery what flavor you’ll end up with. I know I got some interesting flavors like a variety of bacon flavored ones, there was pumpkin pie, green apple, pancake (in various flavors like blueberry and chocolate) and many more that I can’t name at the moment. 

While I was waiting on Gabby to finish picking out her taffy one of the staff members asked if I’d like to spin the wheel at a chance for free taffy. I decided why not. It didn’t cost me anything so I had nothing to lose. I obviously didn’t get the bigger prizes but everyone gets one free taffy for trying. I wasn’t planning to eat any of the taffy but I decided I would at least eat that one. It ended up being a blue raspberry flavor which was pretty good. I’m not really into taffy to be honest, it mostly has to do with the texture. I don’t really like candies that get stuck on your teeth, for instance caramel candies etc. I have a bad habit of needing to bite things even hard candies because i don’t have the patience to savor them sadly and not the best habit when it comes to sticky foods like taffy. 

I’m still glad I tried it out and got out of my comfort zone to try and spin the wheel by myself. 

After buying our candy and finishing up all the shopping we wanted to do we went to the Pig’n Pancake for our lunch. Gabby went here with her mom and thought it was a place we’d all enjoy. This family dining place was established in 1961 and offers 35 varieties of breakfast (including homemade pancakes) served anytime. It was fairly busy when we entered but were promptly seated and our waiter was with us very quickly. 

I’m not really sure what I ordered, I feel like it was a chicken wrap of some sort. I’m not even sure why I find it important to mention the food. I think mostly I try to recall this information to work my brain muscles and keep my mind sharp and able to retain information. So hopefully me mentioning what food we ate isn’t too boring. Feel free to skip these parts lol. 

I remember the portion sizes being quite big here only because of the sheer amount of food they gave Gabby. She had ordered the chicken fried steak and a side of something... The steak with the gravy and mashed potatoes just stick clearly in my mind. 

We were ready to head home after getting food and the sooner the better because we had three and a half hours of being in the car ahead of us. We were all rather sleepy from lack of sleep the last couple of days which made the drive drag even longer. Because Gabby was super tired I forced myself to stay awake even though I kept feeling myself getting close to drifting out of consciousness many times. 

We played the movie game for a good two hours, trying to think of movies is a good way of exercising the mind and keeping you awake. Still there is only so many movies you can remember and we had to change the rules a few times so we could get different letters. Its funny how quickly you forget the names of movies when you need to remember them. It was especially frustrating when you had to think of a movie that started with a vowel. E was a frequent one to come up and quickly became our least favorite. 

At the final hour mark before getting home both Gabby and I had exhausted our brain and were too tired to think of movies anymore. Still I kept awake but Gabby was having a difficult time. There was one point where she actually drifted off and swerved into the right line before jolting back awake and correcting herself. I felt so bad for her and wished she’d just pulled over and let herself get a nap in but once she’s made up her mind there is little to change it. I think it happened one other time so to fight the tiredness she opened the window on her side and turned the air conditioner up to make herself cold. A technique I’ve seen Dave use on many occasions when he needs to stay awake. 

It was a relief when we finally got back safely and Anne and I told Gabby to sleep in the next day since we didn’t have any plans. The evening was much of a blur mostly because we were exhausted and tired at this point. It’s weird though, almost like clockwork I’d wake up around one or two in the morning and not be able to get to sleep due to my nose clogging up. Not just this night but almost every day we’d been there. After an hour to three hours at most I’d finally be able to get back to sleep again. I think one of the reasons besides the stuffy nose is the front porch lights are super bright so the living room is pretty bright at night. Even with the curtains closed there isn’t much you can do about the harsh fluorescent light flooding in. 

I think between my lack of sleep, the change in my exercise routine and all the food I’d been eating these last few days I felt so bloated and was dealing with the start of a bad breakout. 

That’s the one bad thing about vacations, the change in routine can really mess up your body and sleep schedule.