The Farmer in the Dell x 1000

Almost every year since Matt and I married we have taken a trip to the beautiful Oregon Coast. We took our Honeymoon there, and it is still one of our favorite places to go on a little vacation.  This year however, we decided to change it up a bit.  This year we decided to visit the Washington Coast!

After packing our new-to-us Nissan Altima to near bursting with all of our luggage, stuffed animals, and favorite road-trip snacks (can you say ChexMix??), we headed out for Leavenworth, Washington.  For those of you who are not familiar with Leavenworth, it's a little taste of Bavarian culture right here in America.  It's a beautiful little tourist town bursting with color and music settled in a cozy mountainside.  When you walk into the town, it feels similar to what it might feel like to walk onto the set of The Sound of Music.  For dinner we ate local cuisine (except for the kids, of course, who opted for hot dogs and french fries), complete with live accordion music. 

After Leavenworth, we made our way up to Port Angeles.  Before I get much into the next day and a half, let me preface by saying that when we left for this trip, it did NOT have an ulterior motive of turning it into a Twilight trip.  However, since many of the towns in the Twilight books just happen to be along the path we were taking, I talked Matt into indulging me a little and stopping to see some of the landmarks made famous in the book! 

Back to Port Angeles - I guess I was expecting something a little more spectacular in this town. There wasn't a whole lot to do there, but we did find a nice little Crab restaurant to eat dinner at, where we met a man in an expensive suit who knew Idaho well and had clients in Caldwell.  Small world, eh?  The man was a police chief trainer, and while I didn't get his name, I won't ever forget him.  The Crab Restaurant where our evening began was attached to the local Red Lion. I was nervous about taking the kids into the restaurant because I thought it might not be kid friendly, and I was worried about it being filled with uppity business-class folks.  Plus, my children had been locked in their car seats for two days and they were quite wound up, so I didn't really want to take them anywhere where we might stand out.

When we walked in, I was happy to see that they had kid menus and crayons, and a big wooden  play ship out front made for kids to play on.  Yes! It was looking more kid friendly already.   When the greeter took us back to our table however, I was not happy to see a serious-faced man in an expensive-looking suit sitting at the table right next to us. I thought, "Oh no!" There goes kid-friendly.   We got settled in, and as we ordered our food our little table broke out in chaos. Kellen grabbed Matt's drink and spilled it everywhere, while Audrey was carrying-on loudly about wanting something (I don't really remember what she wanted because I was still worried about business-suit next to us).  We got the mess cleaned up and the kids calmed down a little bit, and the evening looked like it was going to go okay.  Then Audrey noticed the UFC Fight that was on television just within her sight.   Great.  She started asking me what that was and what was going on, to which I told her to please not watch it and it wasn't meant to be watched by sweet little girls.  A few minutes later when the waiter came back by, I asked him if he could please change the channel because I didn't want my daughter watching that. He grabbed the remote and apologized for having the fight on, and as soon as he started to change the channel someone from across the room hollered that his table had requested that on and to please leave it alone.

Maybe I should have stood my ground.  Maybe I am a wimp, but I told the waiter it was okay, that I didn't want to start a fight (ironic), and to just leave the fight show on.  In the mean-time Audrey decided to try out some punching moves on her Dad. I was hoping maybe I could turn the situation into a learning opportunity for Audrey, but really all that happened is she got in trouble for hitting her Dad, and she got even more riled up. Seriously, who watches UFC during dinner at a nice restaurant??

Anyway, back to Mr. Dressed-to-the-Nines.  At one point during dinner, I heard him say, "Excuse me." I dreaded turning around to face him. I knew he was going to go on about how I needed to better discipline my children or keep them under better control. Turns out, that is NOT what he had to say at all.  "I just wanted to tell you that your children are very well behaved, and they are adorable!"  What? What did he just say? Did I hear him correctly?  I said thank you in disbelief, and he continued on about how is daughter has 4-year-old twins and that if she had them at the restaurant, they probably would have had to call the fire department and the police department and who-knows-what-all to get them under control. What a relief! What chatted a little bit more until our food came, and I felt so much better about being there. The saying really is true that you can't judge a book by it's cover.

That's when the next event happened. We were sitting there as quietly as a four-family with a 1-and-3-year-old can be, eating our dinner, when suddenly there was a huge CRASH -  plates breaking, food flying everywhere!  I about jumped out of my skin and looked around trying to figure out what was going. By the time my eyes and brain figured out the scene, the man in the expensive suit was down on the floor where the waitress had tripped with her full tray of food, asking her if she was okay and picking up broken glass and bits of shrimp and pasta. I'm still not sure what the waitress tripped on, but I do know that she was mortified as 50 people all looked around feeling sorry for her but not doing much to help, including myself. I sat again in shock as the man in the expensive suit continued to surprise me with his great attitude and selflessness. 

When he came back and sat down at his booth, his nice suit flaked with bits of food, one of the waiters came over and thanked him for helping the waitress in distress.  The man said, "The food and dishes don't matter at all. It's people that matter."   Like I said, I'll never forget him.  I kind of feel like a worm now for being judgmental of him just because he had on a nice suit. 

A little while late, after the dinner fiasco, we went outside to the big wooden play ship outside of the restaurant to let the kids burn off some energy.  The ship had two levels, the second level only accessible by a little wooden ladder with about 4 rungs. Audrey seemed to climb the ladder just fine, but it was a little too steep for Kellen.  He had a great time on the first level of the ship running around like he was the captain.  Audrey, however, on her 10th or 11th run up the ladder, crashed and burned.  She slipped on about the second rung (maybe two feet from the ground), and fell to the rubber-padded ground below.  After a dazed moment and Daddy rushing over to make sure she was okay, she put on the full-scale drama by exclaiming, "Whoa! I almost died!".  Matt and I ended the evening at the ship in hysterical laughter.

The next day as we made our way down the Washington Coast, we stopped at the Olympic Game Farm.  If you ever make your way to Washington, I highly recommend making this a high-priority stop on your journey. I think I had more fun that my kids did!  The game farm is a drive-through park where you can get up-close and personal with pushy Yaks, assertive Llamas and curious Elk (among other horned and antlered animals), all trying to push their way into your car for a taste of stale wheat bread!  It was a total blast, but looking back on it, we were really stupid to take our new-to-us shiny car through the park, as were warned more than once that the animals may scratch the car.  Luckily we made it through the park with only a few slime globs on the windshield and mirror (one shaped amazingly like a horse head, but it was impossible to get a good picture of the slime art).

That night we stayed at the Beachwood Resort, which is a beautiful little resort with it's own private beach, which would have been great except it was raining and freezing and nobody had much fun because the sand was sticking to everything, including running snotty noses.  *gag*  The resort itself was wonderful, and at a cost comparable to a night's motel stay, we couldn't have asked for anything better!  We would have considered staying another night if there hadn't been a wedding planned for the next day, and they were booked up. We were lucky we found the place when we did, because we didn't make any reservations for our trip except our very first night.  The morning we woke up at Beachwood, we were greeted by a precious family of deer - a momma and her twin babies.  They were such a delight to see!  Beachwood is such an ethereal and magical setting - add the deer family to the scene and it turned into a fairy-tale!

After we left our fairytale setting, we headed towards Forks, Washington and all things Twilight.  As we drove through the beautiful rain-forest, I kept imagining a pack of Werewolves keeping watch, making sure the Cullen family and other cold-ones didn't step foot on their turf.  It's sad really what reading books like that does to our perceptions. Had I not read Twilight, the beauty of the area would have meant something different to me.  As it was, my surroundings just made me want to come home and re-read the series again!
When we gotto Forks, which is the main setting for the Twilight books, I realized there really wasn't much there. I expected something a little more magical, a little more...Edward Cullen I guess.  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some sparkly-skinned creature walking down the street, or see a pair of glowing eyes out in the trees somewhere, but I settled for snapping a picture of Forks High School, Bella's truck, and the Forks town welcome sign.  That was enough for me (though I wouldn't have complained about a shirtless Jacob. I'm so juvenile, I know).

Our trip ended in Long Beach, Washington, where we enjoyed a walk down the main street, rode a carousel (though Audrey opted for the little car ride), saw a giant frying pan, and played at the beach.  When we first got into town we weren't sure if we were going to stay there that night or try to make it to Astoria, but when we drove by the Boardwalk Cottages, we knew we were there for the night! The cottages are just a short walk from the beach, and absolutely charming and beautiful! Again, cost was comparable to a night at a motel, and since our cottage offered two rooms, a fire-place, kitchenette, and super comfortable beds, we couldn't go wrong.

Our afternoon at the beach in Long Beach was wonderful - in fact, I'd say it was the highlight of our trip.  It was a beautiful warm sunny day, the sand was perfect, the ocean was perfect, and it was quite entertaining watching several cars try to drive out onto the beach and get stuck in the sand.  The kids had a blast running from waves and making sand castles, and Matt even got Audrey's princess kite up in the air for a while! It was a magical day at the beach, and even though it only lasted a couple of hours, we made precious memories on that beach that I will carry with me forever.

Overall, our short trip to Washington was wonderful.  Like any trip, we had our moments.  For example, being locked in a car with a 1-year-old and 3-year-old can get a little old. I love my children dearly, but after the 1000th verse of The Farm in the Dell, or the 90th game of  "I Spy", or hearing "I need to go potty" every 20 minutes, I was ready for home.

When I really stop and think about it, it is the little moments that mean the most, and the little moments that are the most precious.  I love my family dearly, and if I had to choose between being locked in my car with my family listening to The Farmer in the Dell for the rest of my life, or not have my family at all, I would definitely choose the The Farmer in the Dell. 

Matt posing in Leavenworth

With Truffles the Bear in Leavenworth

Beautiful Leavenworth

Matt caught me by surprise! We are on a ferry.

Excited about the ferry ride!

We were ready to be off the ferry- getting a little nauseous.

Stopped for lunch.

Yakity Yak.

He was waiting for some bread.

Smile!

Tired and and having too much fun at the animal park.

Me excited about the animal park, can't you tell??

Bella's restaurant where Edward and Bella have dinner in Port Angeles.

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Bell's truck in the book.

Bella's truck in the movie.

Oh yes I did - excited to be in Forks!

The entrance to Beachwood Resort.

Inside Beachwood.

The playground at Beachwood.

The deer family.

Going on rides in Long Beach.

First Carousel ride! (Kellen's, not mine)  :)

Our cottage in Long Beach.

Our cottage and car.

At the beach!

Holy sand.

Loving his Giant Sand Box!!

Becoming one with the sand.

A cute random dog ran in for the picture, then right back out again. :)