Twelve years that flew by

I am so behind on events lately! Two weekends ago, from October 10th to the 14th, Erick and I got away to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. Twelve years! It is so hard to believe. What's even harder to believe is that we've been together for just over 19 years. We look so young when I look back at pictures of us at that time. If only I had a scanner, I could show you . . .

Anyhow, we spent two nights in Bend (somewhere we had never been before), one night in Newport, and the last night in Astoria. The Grandmas were gracious enough to stay at our house with the kids and Abby so we could go. We're so lucky!

Tombstone Pass

On Friday we jumped in the MB and took off for Bend. The weather had just gotten cold in central Oregon so we ran into some snow when we went over the ominously named Tombstone Pass. When we arrived in Bend we were a little early for check-in to our B&B so we walked around the downtown and went into a toy store to get warm. (Yes, even though we didn't have any kids with us, we still went in a toy store. Go figure!) Around 4 p.m. we were able to check into our B&B, the Lara House Lodge. What a beautiful place! It is in a neighborhood with lots of old homes and sat right near Drake Park. Our room was very comfortable so we relaxed for a while before wine and hors d'oeuvres at 5 p.m. After meeting and talking with the other travelers, we decided to go to the local McMenimins, the St. Francis School, for dinner. Since we were married at the Edgefield, this seemed an appropriate spot to dine.

Photos of Smith Rock State Park. See the monkey in the first picture? Also, if you look very closely to picture #4, those little specks are climbers. Yikes!

The next day we ate to bursting the wonderful B&B breakfast (quiches, bacon, potaoes, fruit, zuchinni-chocolate-coconut bread, and coffee) then went in search of a hike. We decided on Smith Rock State Park which is where many people go to rock climb. I was getting a little worried when I noticed people laying out their ropes in the parking lot. Luckily the trail we hiked just took us by the rock climbers, we didn't actually have to scale any cliffs. The weather was pretty windy, but clear and sunny. At one point we stopped and just listened to the silence. Amazing!

Lara House Lodge

After our hike, we decided to go see a movie, Burn After Reading, which we both enjoyed. Then we went to the Old Mill shopping area and ate at Pastini Pastaria. Not the most exciting food, but we were both hungry and pasta sounded good.

After our second night at the B&B and another wonderful breakfast (this one included a delicious berry cobbler, for breakfast!), we hit the local outlet mall where we picked up Jack's Darth Vader costume and light saber. Lucky kid! Then we left and drove through Sisters and had lunch at a cafe. Our next stop, Newport. We really wanted to stay at the Sylvia Beach Hotel but it was booked for a reunion for the weekend. (The last time we stayed there, nearly 8 years ago, we stayed in the Hemmingway room. Such a cool place to stay!) We ended up staying at the Elizabeth Street Inn. Not quite as quaint as the Sylvia, but it had a beautiful view since it was right on the beach. For dinner we ate at April's at Nye Beach. This place is SO great! Since it was our actual anniversary date, this was a terrific place to celebrate with some delicious food.

The view from our room at the Elizabeth Street Inn at Newport.

Now it's Monday. After a long walk on the beach, it's time to move on to destination #3, Astoria. On the drive from Newport, we stopped in Lincoln City (we visited the outlets there too, for some reason). We decided to have lunch at another McMenamin's while we were there and we ended up eating in the presense of greatness! There was a man who walked by our table who was with a group of other people, and I told Erick it was one of the McMenamin brothers. He thought I was crazy, but for some reason, I just thought it was him. So Erick looked it up on this Blackberry, and I was right! Brian and Mike McMenamin were actually there. (Do you think they ever get tired of eating their pub food?) What great visionaries those men are. We almost told them about the funeral home for sale in our neighborhood that we thought would make a terrific McMenamin's location. But we didn't.

The Astoria Bridge as seen from our room at the Cannery Pier Hotel.

Anyhow, moving on. After one more stop in Cannon Beach, we arrived in Astoria around 5 p.m. at the Cannery Pier Hotel and are blown away by the terrific room and spectacular view of the river and Astoria Bridge. Wow. For dinner we ate at the Bridgewater Bistro located near the hotel. Yum!

Sunrise.
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Tuesday morning, after a quick breakfast, we walked along the river and through downtown a bit. We always just drive through Astoria, so it was nice to see the town for once. After checking out, we ate at Rogue Ales Public House and headed home. It was a very nice, relaxing 4-day weekend and a nice trip to celebrate our anniversary. It was also very nice to come home to see our kids, who missed us just as much as we missed them.