The Long Road Home

Not too long though.

Saturday night it was pounding rain outside as we watched Miss Potter, and "Chased by the Light". We were both worried about our boating adventure in the morning. It was still raining when I woke up at 8AM. We packed everything in the car, checked out, and headed to Walmart for a couple things. They happened to have a Subway there, so we got lunch, and then I noticed their breakfast menu and got my first ever omelet sandwich - and it was great! By the time we walked out, the sun had broken through and the rain had stopped!

We drove to the marina, and stopped at our fourth and final aquarium of the trip... "Undersea Adventures" right on the bay. They had one huge tank: one room surrounded by an exhibit made to look like the natural environment of Yaquina Bay. The windows were made to look like you were in the belly of a ship :) We got there right when it opened at 10, so there were only a couple people that came in after us... but the kids were great: "Wow! This is AMAZING!" and "Are we going to go to the real aquarium soon?" said without sarcasm, becasue the kid was probably 4 yrs old. LOL! It was a simple aquarium, to be sure, but they did a great job. They had two giant octopi, eels, rockfish, anenomes, starfish and many, many Dungeness crabs.

In the store above sea level, I found a stuffed halibut and instantly fell in love.

It was soon time to board for our cruise, but unfortunately, the ocean was experiencing 11 foot waves, so we couldn't go out for Gray Whale watching... which was a disappointment, but we did do seal/sea lion watching, plankton catching/observing on a microscope connected to a TV, cruising the bay, learning about oyster farms and the various fishing boats. But the best was the crabbing... I baited one of the traps, and the guy told me to kiss the bait, so I did! Hey! I've always wanted to kiss a fish! He was kidding... lol. When we came back around to pick them up about 15/20 minutes later, we had caught five Dungeness crabs, both male and female in a surprisingly short time. I got to hold one and throw it back! Much fun!

To go home, we cut across Hwy 20 through Corvallis (where my parents met) and then headed up I-5 all the way to Ballard, just in time for chruch at 7.

So ended our little journey.

Jp