In any Adventure, Someone is Always Bound to get Hurt

The last couple days have been perfect weather up here. Not too cold and pure sunlight. Although, you run into some problems when it’s cool and sunny out, at least I do. I have so many different tan and burn lines now, I look like I should be doing some show in the circus. Let’s just say, aloe vera is my new best friend.

Monday we took a trip to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Unfortunately, Jeremy was pretty sick this day and was unable to go along with us. I believe Carter really enjoyed seeing all the sea creatures, mostly because they were behind glass, and not blowing any loud horns at him like in the parade. I think Carter’s favorite places were the birds and the shark tunnels. I would have thought the tunnels would have scared him to death, but he did surprisingly well, and even walked by himself through them. I can’t say I learned a lot at the aquarium because I didn’t read one sign about the fish we were looking at. My job was to snap photos of a child’s first visit to an aquarium. I felt like a wedding photographer I was taking so many. What Jen and Jeremy don’t realize is that they will be receiving a pretty large bill in the mail soon. And that’s including a family discount!

On Tuesday, Jen, Jeremy and I decided to take advantage of the perfect weather and take a hike down to some tide pools near Boiler Bay. Luckily Jeremy was starting to feel better, but as the day progressed, it turned out to be a different story. We first started by hiking down a very steep cliff to get to the tide pools at the bottom. Once we did get down to the bottom the only thing we really had to worry about was taking careful steps over the hundreds of stones. I was surprised to find a pretty large starfish on the side of a rock, which I got more excited over than all the overly huge ones at the aquarium.

We saw a cave in the distance and decided it would be cool to make our way to it and explore through it. On the way there Jen and I were getting extremely hot, and I was getting tired of carrying my jacket with me. Since we were the only ones in sight for miles, we decided to leave behind our jackets on some of the rocks. Both jackets were actually mine, and were both very expensive. One of which was my Cambridge University sweater, so you can imagine how worried I was. As we got closer to the cave we realized we needed to get to the other side of some rocks. Jeremy was first to make his way, and ended up getting one shoe wet. Jen was next, and was a little wiser. She took off both shoes and rolled up her pants. After tossing her shoes over and a little helpful hand from Jeremy, she made it successfully to the other side.

I then realized that if they both did it, I needed to as well. After I safely made it over, we left behind our shoes and sock and made the last few steps to the cave. We then realized that we couldn’t even get in it. A slight disappointment, but we continued on with our exploring. After taking as many pictures as possible, I could see the waves getting bigger and realized that high tide was probably making its way in. I thought of my sweaters, and our shoes that we left behind and we decided to stop and turn around to go back home. It would have been a perfect trip but on the way back Jeremy took a different route than Jen and I and ended up falling on a dangerously slippery rock, landing full force on his elbow. After a loud scream from Jen we made our way to him to find a very deep cut on his hand and a bloody scrape on his elbow. And we weren’t even close to getting back to the beginning. However, Jeremy being the trooper that he his (although maybe it just has to do with the fact that he is a male) we made our way back to the cliff we originally came down, thankfully with our shoes and sweaters. Quickly making our way up, I somehow ended up leading the way and saw a snake in my path. I think my scream scared him more that I was scared, because when he heard and saw me he quickly scurried off, as did I. In the car, at last!

Despite the slight injury and my odd looking sunburn, we had a great time and quite an adventure. Definitely worth doing again!

It’s time to get to bed, because early tomorrow morning, dad, Jeremy and I are taking another adventure, this time out in the sea to catch our fish!

Temporally Out of Service

I realize I have been here now for one full week, and have managed to write zero posts. I’d say the first few days were pure, solid relaxation. Jen and Jeremy arrived on Tuesday, which was another lazy day for all of us.

However, come Wednesday, I hit a speed bump. I’m not quite sure what I did, but I somehow managed to move in a way that made my back go out. I spent all Wednesday night screaming in absolute agony and 100% immobile. I slept on the floor with mom in my bed attempting to keep me calm. It hurt so bad that I couldn’t take deep breaths, which in turn resulted in an anxiety attack. When I have an anxiety attack, the only way I can feel better, is to take deep breaths. So you see my dilemma here? Regardless, Thursday morning the pharmacist up here in OR gave me an emergency supply of the muscle relaxers I was given from a car accident I was in a few weeks ago. Each day, I’m a little better. The best part is that I’m actually able to walk now. However, what really puts me down, is that I had planned on going to the sand dunes that are about an hour away and ride an ATV through them. Considering, I can’t even pick up my baby nephew, I don’t think it would be the safest idea to do something that requires that much movement.

Despite this unfortunate setback, I have still had a great time up here. Yesterday we went to the Saturday market in Newport. While waiting in line for some tasty crepes, a group of 3 young guys, who looked to be poor, but likely faking it, decided to provide the shoppers with some pleasant entertainment. We had a trumpet player assisted by a melodica player. Let me just say, I was not entertained. The third guy must not have been blessed with a musical talent, but rather poetry. I don’t believe the writing of poetry, but rather, the reading of it. I felt a little awkward when he stood in front of the other two, and began Shakespeareicly reciting a very strange poem. Once our crepes were ready, I darted away from the creepy guys and tried to find a safe place to sit to avoid the strong winds. Because it was so windy, we decided we had enough of the market.

We then made our way to Historic Bayfront Newport. I love this part of Newport. You are always guaranteed to see some strange people. A few years ago when I was here I walked right by a girl who was being pulled by another girl with a dog leash. She did not have a shirt on, and had black tape X’s over her nipples. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything that extravagant this year. The best I got, was a man skillfully carrying his groceries.

Oregon likes to celebrate the 4^th of July on both the 3^rd and 4^th. It must be their way of trying to guarantee visible fireworks, as every other day is covered with thick fog or huge rain clouds. That was tonight, July 4^th. Yesterday, however, was perfect. We purchased our own fireworks and had a bonfire in the driveway. This morning there was a Fourth of July parade about 5 minutes from our house. I’d like to remind you that we do live in a pretty small town, so it was a small town parade. More like, people just hanging signs with their store or restaurant names over their everyday vehicles. Carter got pretty freaked when the fire truck blew his horn and when the steamroller plowed through. It even scared me because when it revved the engine, the entire street shook… a little strange if you ask me. At the end of the parade, Santa decided to show up. I’m not sure why, but he was riding on one of the floats waving to all the kiddos.

The rest of the day was cloudy and foggy, but as soon as the sun went down, around 9:30pm, lots of people on the beach blew off all their fireworks. As I am still sitting here on the couch, and it is now 10:30, there are still many people blowing them off. We have a front row seat to the Fourth of July celebrations. Which is a lot nicer than freezing our bagungas off on the beach.

Tomorrow we’re off to the aquarium, and later in the weeks we will attempt our deep sea fishing. Happy Fourth everyone!!