Second Thursday

I’d thought about driving up to Ecola early this morning to do the walk from Indian Beach, and both Dave and I woke up early and had a discussion about it that started off poorly (I’ll go if you want to) but ended with honesty (I don’t really want to go). Instead, I went back to sleep and woke up an hour later with a different plan, which Dave refined to perfection. So I ate my cacklin’ and headed off, getting to stand next to the starfish rock to the north and cross hug point on the low sands in front – along with many too many people.The beach is too crowded. Dave and Sam drove to Arcadia beach and met me there. Dave found a very young (4” across the shell) Dungeness crab in a tidepool, which he’d gently touch and it would rear up and wave its claws in a menacing yet adorable fashion.

 

We continued on to the Rock Wahii, which was in a completely excellent state, as Dave discovered yesterday. High sands and low tide combined for the perfect walk-through on level sand, with only a small puddle to splash through on the west side. I had the idea of using my phone flashlight to look at the walls, and we found tiny purple crabs pretty much everywhere. We were also pleased to see many starfish – it’s a hopeful sign. It’s interesting though that there don’t seem to be any on the south starfish rock – all I can think of is that people are taking them home as souvenirs. Didn’t their mothers teach them beach etiquette?

We had a leisurely walk back to the car and drove home. Everyone was happy not to have to walk all the way back. Once home it was time to start some laundry and do other things, like knit. We didn’t have a lot of time at home since today was Astoria Lunch day. We were wavering between Fort George and Buoy, with a slight lean towards Ft George (better food), until Dave looked at the beer list and discovered all of their beers were high alcohol. So Buoy it was, where they had the sourest sour beer ever and absolutely fascinating pickled shrimp. As always the doors were wide open and it was FRIZZIN in there (BOS, you would have frozen solid), which I mentioned to our server. She replied with the standard “well, it gets really hot in the kitchen so we need to keep it cooler in here.” 1. If you can’t stand the heat… and 2. Do restaurant kitchen designers not realize that cooking things generates heat? Fortunately after some beer and tasty food we felt much warmer. (For those of you who've already seen this picture as part of my facebook story, I apolgize for the duplication. I was using the picture function of messenger to send it to Josh when it posted it as my story. Wrong Button.

On the way home we thought we’d stop in at Osborn’s for our shared haystack sundae. A big perk of Osborn’s is that they have a parking lot. We parked and started to head over there when Sam and Dave realized they should have used the restroom at Buoy. (I had, of course, since I follow the NY Times recommendation to pee early and often). So they headed to the restrooms and I crossed the street to go into White Bird Gallery. While I was there I got a text from Dave saying that Osborn’s was closed! I had been talking with the saleswoman and mentioned it to her, and she said they’ve been having some “family troubles” and were closed off and on. Oh dear! I went to meet Dave and Sam (after buying some earrings in the gallery where our pictures live, called The Oregon Gallery)) and we headed back to the car. We stopped at the Cannon Beach Soap Store where I noticed they’re selling Grandma Hazel-style potholders for $6 each. So now I know how much to charge if I decide to start selling them.

Then it was time to get back to relaxing. I finished the pattern section of the sweater and discovered I’d done something wrong several rows back, so I am putting the knitting on hold until I can get to Knotty Lamb and they’ll fix it. I also had a nice chat with the Bubster, catching her on her return from Maine. It turned cloudy and rather chilly over the afternoon, which was kind of nice. Jen and Lauren arrived around 4 and headed down to the beach.

We weren’t sure what the plan was going to be for today, so we’d left dinner open, and after reviewing our options decided to return to Mi Corazon. I wasn’t as blown away by the food this time, but it was still very good. Jen kept trying to force Lauren to try things, even though she’d said she wouldn’t. Lauren was a good sport. We sat towards the rear of the restaurant, which meant we got to see more of the décor, which is truly fantastic. No two things are exactly alike – for example, the lights are all more or less the same shape and materials but different designs, and on the walls are things I’d call fetishes with a driftwood stick base and found objects arranged on them. Also, the rice that came on the plates was in the shape of a heart. On the other hand, I could only have one kind of fish on my fish tacos.On the other hand they have an excellent sign over their baño.

It was finally cool enough for a fire when we got home, so Dave made a nice one and we played many games. We started with sushi go, which I won the first game because Sam and Lauren hadn’t played before and I always win when there are people who haven’t played. Unfortunately as soon as they have played one time I don’t win anymore, which is what happened the second time. Jen won on puddings, stealing the game from Dave, which happens to him a lot. Then we thought it might be fun to play pepper since Josh isn’t here to win, but it turns out that he passed on his skills to Jen, who won all 3 games. Then it was time for some Happy Salmon, which – guess what – Jen won two rounds of, but Lauren managed to eel her way to victory in the third round. And then it was time for relaxing.

Tomorrow is our last day here – how did this week go by so fast?