Anna's Awesome Adventures!!!: Northwest Ski Trip -- Day 2

After a full night's rest, we got up around 7:45, had breakfast (a biscuit, cranberry muffin, scrambled eggs, herbed potatoes, fresh fruit, almond milk, pomegranate-blueberry-acai water), and made some changes about our skiing destinations. We had originally planned on skiing at Mt. Bachelor and Mt. Hood, but the predicted snow never reached them; in fact, rain came instead and caused ice and slush, which is not something we are interested in skiing on (especially for a vacation). So we made some adjustments, got a plan in place, and headed for Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis & Clark expedition overwintered from 1805-1806. There is a lovely museum, movie theater, and replica of the fort (built in 2006 after the first one burned), as well as several hiking trails. We walked through the museum in less than an hour, caught a 30-minute show that gave a brief overview of the expedition, checked out the fort, and hiked 3.5 miles on parts of the Fort to Sea and Kwis Kwis Trails. The lush greenery, towering evergreen trees, and fresh scent of recent rain awakened all my senses. It is beyond words to be surrounded by nature, drinking in the beauty of God's creation with my family. Lunch was at Dooger's Seafood & Grill, serving every kind of freshly-caught seafood you could imagine. Feeling British, I tried the fish (cod) and chips, served alongside garlic toast, coleslaw, and outstanding clam chowder. We also visited Sunset Beach in Warrenton, Oregon, which can be driven on due to the moist sand! It was so funny to see cars zooming around right alongside families playing, dogs splashing in the water, and people walking and running. The crashing waves, happy shouts and laughter, and squawks of seagulls brought me back to the time we visited a New Jersey beach just five short months ago (August). Much has changed in my family since then, notably the death of my mom on October 17, but we are determined to stay close and continue traveling together. After the beach, we drove to the Salt Works, where a few members of the Lewis & Clark party spent the winter tediously boiling down seawater to get salt. As it is very close to the ocean, we walked out to it again; this time, we enjoyed watching dozens of people clamming (searching for clams)...and we also found plenty of broken shells and sea stars, and even a crab! Finally, it was time to head for North Bend, Washington, where we are staying in the North Bend Motel. Dinner was picked up from Frankie's Pizza -- a lemon pepper chicken pizza -- and we also dropped into a Safeway to grab a few things for breakfasts since our motel does not provide anything. It is now time to shower and get in bed so we can have a fun day of skiing tomorrow!