Good Eats of Seaside Oregon

I have been going through some of our photos from our recent trips and realized I haven't blogged about some really great places that we visited.  Especially some of the restaurants that we went to while at Seaside.  Can you tell I'm totally a foodie?  And while we may not go back for a while, we really found some great places.  So let's go down memory food lane...yum!

One of the places we frequented was The Goose Hollow at the Cove.  It was an unassuming restaurant that was near our hotel.  The main reason we went in was that they were open and not too busy.  Were we in for a surprise!  They had some great music, great food, and great atmosphere. And they have some of the best sandwiches and clam chowder.  Their menu was divided into half: the ruben sandwiches and the non-ruben sandwiches.  Can you tell what their specialty was?  They were fantastic!  We never got to see/hear them, but they had live music every weekend too, which is pretty cool.  

We also walked around the Boardwalk of Seaside, window-shopping and just being touristy.  And when we saw the elephant ears, we had to have some!  After all, what is more memorable from goofing off as kids at a fun place than yummy elephant ears?  And the place we found drizzled all kinds of yummy toppings; of course Keith chose chocolate!  I had strawberry jam with confectioner's sugar: yummy and enough sugar to keep me shopping for hours.  Poor Keith!

What else did we do?  We found the only Bayou restaurant in Seaside, which is creatively called Lil' Bayou.  And of course we had to eat there.  Wearing fake Mardi Gras beads (note: Keith chose the red beads to go with his Coug shirt).  Drinking sweet tea, which I had never had before.  It's actually pretty good, and maybe someday I'll learn how to make it.  So if anyone has a good recipe, feel free to send it my way!

And don't worry, Keith isn't eating all that food...the yummy one in the bread bowl is mine (note: I am wearing blue beads, after Keith switched them for the purple beads I had originally.  Purple beads + yellow shirt = a big no no*).  I have to admit I was kinda nervous to try this famously spicy food, but since it was in a restaurant I think they made it kinda mild.  I only had to drink a few glasses of sweet tea to make it through dinner.  I mean, Keith didn't even break into a sweat...so I know it wasn't that authentic. 

 

Geez, it sounds like we just eat on vacation...but really we do much more.  I mean, look at my other blog postings!  The thing is that I love to take food pictures, especially of really good food.  And even more of places with really good food and cute fake jewelry!

*For those who don't know: the colors of UW, the hated rivals of the beloved WSU Cougars, are yellow and purple. 

Lanai at the Cove

On our anniversary trip, one of the thing that was very memorable was our hotel. First of all, we weren't really sure why it was called Lanai at the Cove, but it sounds exotic and nice. I had found it online via Trip Advisor, and they had a great website. I am a snob about websites, if a business is going to be online (and they should these days), then they better take the time to make it look professional.

Well, they had pictures of all their rooms and of the views for each room. Then I got to make reservations for the room I wanted. Well...the pictures were nothing compared to how great our room was. When we opened the door, Keith and I were amazed (astonished, awed...you get the idea) at the view we had. We knew we had a view of the beach, but this was spectacular. The ocean was practically at the backdoor! We could hear the crashes of the waves and the smell of the salty sea air.

Little did we know how great our view really was. Every day we saw sealife from our lanai, including: Whales (3 out of 4 days), a sea lion, pelicans, seagulls, surfers and 1 crazy kayaker. The most exciting thing was when we saw our first whale. Keith and I were just enjoying watching the ocean when Keith spotted something large and dark stick out of the water. He kept watching, and then it happened. Keith saw the telltale sign of a whale, the spray from the blowhole. It was pretty exciting. I am pretty sure I jumped up and down when I finally saw it. We couldn't believe that they were so close to the shore, probably only 100 yards away! We think they were feeding, since there were multiple whales and tons of birds in the area. The fun part was they came the same time every day, around 5 pm. I called it the whale dinner time. We also saw a spunky sea lion, who was swimming around the surfers. We also took the time to walk the beach a lot, enjoying the ocean and the beautiful beach houses beside us.

Our room even had a little mascot, a wooden seagull I named Marcus. Our room had a general nautical theme, but he was super cute where he sat our little dining table. I wanted to take Marcus home as a memento, but Keith wisely convinced me that he would be happier by the sea and making other couples happy. Seriously, isn't he cute!?!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was falling asleep listening to the crashing waves of the ocean. We slept with the patio door open every night. The first night I had a nightmare about Keith and I drowning due to a flood that was overwhelming us...and we were at the top floor of a three story building! I woke up crying and had to wake up Keith. Then we realized it was the sounds of the waves that had crept into my dream and scared me. How embarrassing! But after that, I found the ocean sounds relaxing and fell asleep without hesitation!

*note: this is a video of the ocean and its wonderful sounds taken from our lanai. It's probably not that exciting, but we took it as a reminder of what we fell asleep to everynight. So please don't watch the whole thing, since there isn't anything exciting happening in it. Unless you also love the ocean. Or are super bored. Or you don't trust me. Fine, whatever.

I know this sounds like an advertisement (pronounced in the British form, please) for this place, but it was seriously the nicest place we have ever stayed. And I have to admit I am pretty proud that I picked the place (hotel and Seaside) by myself. Usually Keith does the travel plans, so it was definitely a relief that I didn't mess it up. Whew! I especially love that Keith loved the trip so much, it definitely makes all the planning worth it! Mostly, it sums up how much we both love the ocean and beach!!

Celebrating the Passage of Time

Our ninth anniversary:

Reconnect, review, and renew
Remembering the past
Enjoying our time now
Making plans for the future
Hand in hand, together side by side
Promises & commitments
The life we build together

It is amazing how quickly time can pass. This summer Keith and I celebrated our NINTH anniversary and twelve years of couplehood. Amazing. Not amazing that we are still together (at least I don't think it's a surprise), but amazing that it has only been nine years. It seems like we have been always together.

We celebrated our anniversary by taking our first trip out to the Oregon Coast. It was fantastic! Before driving down to Seaside, we went to a Mariner's game. Sadly they didn't win, but it was still lots of fun to spend some together enjoying some very Washingtonian food (Ivar's!!). And of course, I took pictures of our food at the game! Even though the Mariners didn't win, we had a great time and as always I had fun people watching.

The drive down the coast was beautiful. Most of the drive was on a 2 lane road through a bunch of little coastal towns. We actually stopped at one of those scenic views, which we never do, just to look at the gorgeous landscape. This was my first time to the Oregon coast, and I was definitely impressed. It was breathtaking to see the sand beaches up against the high rock cliffs. There were beautiful pine trees growing at the top of the cliffs, which were amazing. It is hard to believe that one area could have all the parts of nature we love: the sea, beach, and forest. As we traveled south, we became more and more excited to spend some time on the beach.

Keith and I traveled up and down the coast, from visiting the Tillamook for their cheese factory and airplane museum...

... to a lot of time exploring Seaside and the Promanade. It was the first time paddleboating for me, which was pretty fun once we figured out how to steer the darn thing.

The best part of the trip was just the time we got to spend together. We love having adventures together and exploring. This trip was a wonderful time for Keith and I, as it allowed us to spend time together without the stresses of the house, work, and school. We always have so much fun together, which I suppose should be expected since I am married to my best friend.