Thar She Blows!!

No, I didn't go swimming and wash up on the beach.  Har har har.  Instead, I was kidnapped for a Birthday weekend at the beach which included whale watching!! 

  Friday, I had a staff meeting at school and while I was there C came to my house, packed my clothes AND brought Oreo to a friends house for the weekend.  After my meeting, I was instructed to head to C's house.  She took my keys, sequestered me into the house and then after a few minutes ordered me into my car.  Yes, ordered.  We got onto the I-5 and headed south and ended up in Salem.  Hmmmm, where are we going.  C quickly programmed in an address which was located easily - the Oregon Lottery Offices.  HUH!?!  Why are we here?  She still wouldn't say.  Once we walked into the building, she produced a penny and 2 quarters.  Apparently, the lottery has a penny machine!

  After getting our FREE penny (yes, free at the Lottery office) we were off to another unknown destination.  This time we were on the river and heading to the carousel - which has a penny machine too!

I still had no idea where we were headed - the only answer I got was SOUTH.  So, I thought perhaps we were headed to Crater Lake because the only other clue I got was it was something I've never done before.  That is until we headed west after Salem.  We stopped at Spirit Mountain for another penny -Yep, they have a machine too, and used $40 to gamble in the penny slots.  We didn't win anything, but had fun trying!  While there we saw a woman win $1400 on the Lord of the Rings penny slot!  We pulled into Lincoln City after dark, unloaded the stuff at the hotel and went to Mo's for clam chowder bowls.  It was there, I learned that we had 12pm reservations for whale watching the next day.  I was beyond excited!

After a crappy hotel continental breakfast, we were off to locate all of the penny machines and do a bit of tourist shopping.  4 penny machines later, we were stepping onto the boat for our adventure.  SOOO much fun!

We saw about 6 whales that day!  One surprised us and spouted about 30 feet from the back of the boat where we were standing, but we were looking toward the front, so it kind of scared us!!  OMG, it was the greatest experience!  I knew that I didn't get sea sick, but C wasn't too sure.  There were a couple people on the boat tossing their breakfasts overboard, but she maintained her stomach.  YEAH!  However, C didn't feel great after the excursion, so we went back to the hotel for a nap (see my previous blog).  I then whoped some butt in 2 games of putt-putt golf  50-55 and then 54-55!!  WOO HOO!!  As we were trying to figure out where to go have dinner, we saw a beautiful sunset.

The next day was filled with stuff to see and do.  First stop, Newport Aquarium! 

Then we had to enjoy the weather and see the lighthouses.

Down in the cove you see in the picture above, you could walk through the tide pools and see/touch all the different creatures.  I'm much more adventuresome with the touching of creatures than C is.  While down there, we heard the park ranger encouraging people to lick a sea aenonomie - apparently it makes your tongue/mouth go numb.  I'm not allowed (not that I ever would) to lick one b/c I'm allergic to bee's.  THAT would be BAD!!  There are also a few harbor seals who live in the area too.

After leaving Newport, we headed back to Lincoln City to try our luck at Chinook Winds to see if we could win enough to make the weekend free!!  C was up $100, but then the damn Wicked Witch of the West took it all!  (her favorite penny slot is Wizard of Oz).  We arrived back to Vancouver after 9pm, tired and not looking forward to working the next day.  It was a wonderful weekend filled with laughter, excitement and adventure!  Thank you for a special birthday surprise!