House of Diva: Beach in a Nutshell

Last Thursday found me cramming a TV, microwave, coffee pot, camp chairs, clothing, numerous bags of food, and four strapping teenage boys along with a hyper dog into the car and heading to Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco. My Kia had become a low-rider at that point! We ended up leaving around 3pm and cruised on the Washington side to get to Ilwaco. We unloaded the goods at the cabin then made our way over to Diva Luna's yurt campsite, where we had dinner with Luna, her hubby Mike, and stepmom Arlene. After dinner we hit the beach; it was apparent Stubbs had never been on the beach before as he was somewhat leery of it at first and wanted Mama to hold him. However, once he spotted a band of birds to break up, it was all over - he ran, he explored, and he had a great time. Luna and I watched the sunset then my crew and I made our way back home to the cabin.

Friday morning we awoke to gray sky and wind. Ugh. At least there was no rain. I thanked the Lord above that I was able to have coffee. The night before we had discovered that use of the microwave throws the breaker so unfortunately that plan was out the window.

We all met up and made our way to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. We wandered around the "bunkers" then made the hike over to the lighthouse and back before hitting the center. Very educational and that hike wore me out! We then headed toward Long Beach for the kite festival. Parking was at a premium but we found a couple of ideal spots and ventured toward the beach. I forgot to bring a leash for my Stubbs so I had fashioned one from a shoestring I had discovered in the fire pit at the our cabin. Unfortunately, Stubbs would have none of it. He bounced, he jumped, he insisted I carry him as we went from shop to shop on our way to the center of the kite festival. I ended up zipping him into my pink fleece vest, which garnered a lot of comments of "oh what a sweet dog", "how how precious". That dog was living the high life nestled against me wrapped in pink fleece!

Finally hitting the festivities, we wandered around the booths before picking up some lunch at one of the stands, which I of course had to share with Stubbs since his face was located directly in line with the route of my fork. We then made our way to the center of the festival - the kite flying. It was cold. It was windy. There were a ton of people. We got to see Ray Bethell, kite flyer extraordinaire, who is about 80 but still considered one of the best kite flyers in the world.

After the kite festival, the boys hit the go karts then we made our way back to the cabin. It was a very blustery day so we spent the rest of the evening watching movies and eating pizza.

Saturday all the boys, the dog, and myself tumbled back in to the Kia low rider and made our way to Seaside, where we spent the day at the outlet malls and wandering downtown. I broke down and purchased a doggie sling, which made my life bearable as Stubbs rode along in the sling rather than in my arms. The weather was fabulous - sunny, warm, and just lovely. Sam and his buddy Cody had purchased the day before two "weed" t-shirts so in honor of them I wore my Weed, California shirt. We looked like a bunch of stoner wannabes. Jordan wore his new black top hat and he and his buddy Jordan strolled the boardwalk with canes in hand. Oh we were a site! The highlight of my day was when the store clerk at the last shop I entered gave me a little wine to sip as I browsed. Boy did that hit the spot!

We spent the whole day at Seaside then met up with Mike and Luna at the cabin. The boys piled into the back of the truck and we took a shortcut to an awesome section of the beach. Mike built a fire then began flying his two-handled kite. I was lucky enough to take a turn and it was awesome. Jordan ran into two of his close friends on the beach so they spent time together. It was a great evening.

Our last day on Sunday was rainy and windy. I snuck out with Mike and Luna as we made our way into Long Beach for coffee and doughnuts at the Cottage Bakery. Yum! Once back to the cabin, we piled all of our things into the car, said our goodbyes, and made our way to Astoria. I browsed the Sunday Market while the boys browsed a comic store. Back into the car and back on the road; we made it home around 2pm so I had enough time to unpack and recover before the start of my Monday.

All of us had a fabulous time, everyone enjoyed the beach and the company, and the time was perfect to have a little R&R.