It was so much harder to say goodbye to Reece than I ever imagined it would be. As we were hugging her to say goodbye, she was cheerful and happy saying, "Bye mom! Bye dad! Have fun!" And I'm walking as quickly as I can to the car to hide the tears running down my cheeks. I cried from the moment I was in the car all the way until we got on the freeway. In Reece's two and a half years of life the longest I had been away from her was less than 18 hours. Leaving her, even though I knew she would be completely happy and so well taken care of, was so hard on me. As we were rounding the corner just after my parent's driveway, Derek turned to me and said, "You wanna go back and get her? I do!" We both missed our crazy little monster!
Our first stay was at Starfish Point in Newport, Oregon. I found this place as I was browsing Groupon one day looking for fun places to stay. It looked kind of old and worn down on the outside, but the price was great and the pictures they had of the inside looked pretty nice. So I booked us there for two nights. It was so nice! The condos were secluded, and there was a path down to the beach specifically for guests of Starfish Point. Everything inside was really nice, and I loved having a full kitchen so that we didn't have to eat real "vacation food". My favorite part was the giant soaking tub upstairs. I love to take baths. They're basically my answer for everything. Feeling stressed? Take a bath. Have a headache? Take a bath. Need some time to yourself to relax? Take a bath! I love baths. So this tub made my heart stop.
The main downstairs area had the kitchen, eating area, living room, a full bathroom, and a bedroom. Up a few stairs there was a little landing with a couple of chairs set up that had an awesome view of the beach. At the top of the stairs was a loft-style master bedroom, with this gorgeous tub! There was a window just on the other side of the bed that had a direct view of the beach. We left that window open at night and we could hear the surf all night long. I love that sound. And I love that I got to wake up to views like this:
Amazing. It was so beautiful! On our way out of town on Wednesday, we stopped at the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was really cool! I've always thought lighthouses were neat. We walked around, climbed on some giant rocks, saw tons of seals, and tried to see a whale (didn't happen).
Our next stay was in Astoria, Oregon. The hotel we stayed in was right on the Astoria Riverwalk Trail, or something like. It was basically a long, paved trail that went right along the river. Our first night there, we walked down to a restaurant for dinner. The next morning, we got up, exercised in the hotel's workout room, had breakfast, and rented some of the complimentary bikes at our hotel and rode on the riverwalk trail. Then we got ready and went down to catch the Astoria Riverfront Trolley. It was this 103 year old trolley car that ran up and down a section of the trail. The conductor and the engineer on board were both volunteers, and as we enjoyed our 50 minute ride they gave us a history of the town and of the buildings we were seeing. It was pretty cool!
We got off the trolley at one end and walked to a pizza place for lunch. The pizza was great, and I just enjoyed getting to sit and talk with Derek without any distractions. We caught the trolley on the way back and rode back to our hotel. The next morning was our last morning in Oregon, so we went to the Pig'n'Pancake for breakfast, and then left for home!
It was a little sad to know that we were going back to real life, but we were both SO excited to see Reece. We had missed her like crazy! My parents were awesome and sent us pictures of her each day and we did a Facetime with her each night before she went to bed. We are so grateful for wonderful family members that helped make this trip possible. It was so fun, and we needed this vacation!
