Here we are, safely tucked into our nifty little cabin near the beach. The Hillcrest Inn has three cabins and a bunch of rooms. We’ve stayed in the rooms before, but never one of the cabins. It was necessary this trip because we brought Diane’s Mom, Jean, with us. As I mentioned, I think, her birthday is this coming Thursday. She will be 86. Though her knees pain her, and her back gives her fits, but she still lives alone and gets around just great. We plan to spend a lot of time walking back and forth from our cabin and various restaurants in the area. Might even walk up and down the boardwalk and little.

It’s not actually a boardwalk. It’s really a cement walk that’s a mile or so long. The west side of it has a railing (cement columns) with occasional openings to the beach, should one wish to get sand in their shoes.  Some don’t. The ‘Walk’ is wide enough to accommodate walkers, bicyclers, skate boarders, runners, and roller skaters in both directions. Sometimes you have to dodge a little, but generally it isn’t a problem. Walking along the ocean is always nice.

When we left St. Helens the sky was clear and it was about 88 degrees. We heard on the radio that it was expected to reach about 97 in Canby, wherever that is. I think it’s out toward the Columbia River Gorge someplace. Judy and Anselmo live there so they can confirm if it really got that hot today.

Leaving Rainier revealed clouds in the direction we were headed which meant cooler temperatures at the coast. No surprise because that’s always the way it is. By the time we got to our cabin, after a quick unplanned tour of Seaside because of a wrong turn by the driver, who wasn’t me, the sky was totally obliterated with cloud cover. The sun was no longer shining at all and it was noticeably cooler. Too cool for the cute little shorts I was wearing. I’m still wearing them because we haven’t left the cabin since arriving. Lunch was the first priority then I made a valiant attempt to convince the other inhabitants that a nap would be good, but they disagreed.

Now it’s almost 4 pm and I think we’re going for a walk so I better seriously consider inserting myself into a pair of jeans and some real shoes. I wore my water shoes for the trip but brought my comfy sneakers for long walks. The trouble is with those, is, that I only brought those little fake socks that girls wear. I suppose if I wear my jeans low enough no will notice. Maybe I’ll find a place to buy a real pair of socks.

<><><><> 5:45 pm

Took a walk down the cement walk to the turn around …

… then down Broadway looking at all the stuff in the windows placed there to lure in the unsuspecting tourist. On the Walk, we encountered this gentleman seeking donations for his efforts at sand sculpting …

Pretty amazing. It’s just sand and water, he said, and he does a sculpture every day.

After surviving the gentle chilly breeze on the board walk, we headed down Broadway to search for something to cover Grams’ ears. She tried on a few, but chose to not get any of them. This one is my favorite …

The breeze lessened as we got on Broadway so we thought it would be OK to get ice-cream. We passed dozens of people eating cones so it kinda sparked an interest. Funny how that happens. I had almond praline, Diane had raspberry sorbet, and Grams had mocha almond fudge. I could have eaten a double scoop but chose to be sensible.

The beach in front of the turnaround, at the foot of Broadway, and about 1/4 mile wide, is filled with poles, and two rigs with augers putting up more poles, for volley ball nets. Hundreds of them. Apparently this coming weekend is the largest non-professional volley ball tournament in the world. Pretty awesome. We spoke to one of the clerks, all of whom are cute young ladies at the store we actually entered, and learned about this majestic event. She told us that for the championship games on Sunday, bulldozers hit the beach and scoop up mountains of sand around the play off courts so people will have a good view of the players. Sounds pretty cool, but influx of people to participate in, and watch the festivities will make parking and driving in Seaside absolutely impossible. Like Diane said, people would have to park in Astoria and walk to Seaside. Not true, of course, but parking will be awful.

We’ll be home before the influx and will check it all out on the internet. Here’s a link to Seaside Volleyball in case you’re interested. Turns out they’ve been doing this for 32 years. Who knew?

Diane and Mom abandoned me at the cabin and went to Rite Aid to get Grams something to cover her ears when we walk. It’s chilly in the evening, and it’s chilly during the day, too, when the sun doesn’t shine. Hopefully one of the days we’re here will be sunny. Doesn’t really matter, but it would be nice. I mention my abandonment because they just returned. I got new long socks, to lessen my pain, Grams got a fancy $1.39 scarf, and Diane go some cranberry gel caps and honey nut peanut butter.

Diane gets peanut butter sandwiches, but I don’t because we didn’t bring any crunchy peanut butter and she didn’t buy any. I I am not allowed to eat PB&J sandwiches with creamy peanut butter. It’s just wrong. It should be illegal. But I’ll probably try one and like it.

Time to stop for today. Tomorrow we eat at Norma’s, our favorite place to eat in Seaside.