Annual New Years Eve Trip To The Coast - 2006

I was eagerly waiting for our New Years Eve trip to the Coast. We would be spending 7 days and nights relaxing in our condo with WorldMark. Our unit was on the second floor, overlooking the ocean.

Tuesday morning, after Christmas, Rocke and I packed the car in the rain, then drove to Shari's in Sherwood for breakfast. Tummies full, we drove out to the Central Oregon Coast in the rain. Before checking into our unit, we stopped by the Sea Hag in Depoe Bay for some hot chocolate. We drove to WorldMark to check in and our room wasn't ready, so we hung out in the lounge, watching the ocean waves roll in. Finally, the room was ready and we unpacked the car and got settled in for the evening.

We can't go to the coast and not stop by Mo's Restaurant, so around noon on Wednesday we drove into Newport to have a bowl of Mo's famous Clam Chowder. After lunch, we took a walk in downtown historic Newport's Old Town Bayfront area. We heard the sea lions barking, so we stopped to watch them sunbathing and talking to the tourists. We then drove to our favorite spot to get on the beach in Newport, the Donald Davis Park on Nye Beach. The Donald Davis Park and Vietnam Memorial Walk were constructed to allow handicapped access to the beach. The winding walkway to the beach was constructed with 24 adjacent benches representing the 24 soldiers from Lincoln County who served in the Vietnam War. It was windy and cold, so we put on our coats and hats before heading down to the beach. We ended up taking a short walk because the wind was blowing so hard. We drove back to WorldMark and relaxed for the rest of the day. Rocke fixed a delicious Spicy Beef dinner in the room. At around 9 p.m., we decided to jump in the hot tub. The water was great, the air was cold, and there were clear skies. One of the fun things about relaxing in the hot tub is getting to meet and visit with other guests. Rocke felt absolutely revived by the 40 or so minutes we were in the hot tub.

On Thursday, Ross, Heather and the kids arrived at about 2:00 p.m. to spend a couple of days with us, enjoying the ocean. The weather was spectacular. There literally wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining off the waves crashing right below us. We could see four boats out on the ocean. A couple of the boats were loaded with tourists trying to get a glimpse of the whales. This was whale watching season out on the coast. After visiting a little with Ross and Heather, we decided to take the kids out on the beach. We had to drive about 6 or 7 miles south of the condo to find a beach we could get down to. We all went down on the beach and threw rocks in the water and played for about an hour. Then it was time to return to the room and get dinner started. In the room, Ross got a DVD going and the kids sat down to watch "Strawberry Shortcake" on TV while Rocke and I prepared a tuna noodle casserole for dinner.

From 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. is "adults only" in the hot tub, so of course, at 9:00, Rocke and I had to get over to the hot tub. (Austin and Sydney were asleep, so we left Heather and Ross in the room to enjoy some quiet time together.) Again, the skies were clear as a bell and there were four other couples in the hot tub. We all started talking and we had a great time. Back at the condo, we enjoyed wine and cocktails while Ross, Heather, Rocke and I talked until about midnight.

On Friday morning, Ross, Heather, Austin and Sydney got ready for their trip to the Newport Aquarium. Rocke and I had been there a number of times and it was the Oregon State Beavers Bowl game against Missouri. We couldn't miss that!! Ross, Heather and kids went down to the Aquarium primarily to check out the shark exhibit. You actually walk through a transparent tube among the sharks . . . sharks above and below, on your left and on your right! Austin, in particular, thought that was "pretty neat". When they arrived back at the unit, we were still watching the Sun Bowl game between the Oregon State Beavers and the Missouri Tigers.

The Beavers were down two touch-downs, so we decided it was a done deal for the opposition and since we had dinner food to buy, Rocke and I took off to get some groceries and checked out another local beach, Fogarty Creek State Park. The sand on the beach was quite a bit more coarse than at the other beach we visited and a lot softer, whether the sand was wet or dry. Rocke and I walked for about 45 minutes and returned to the car. After getting our groceries, we returned to the condo. The game was over, so Mary called Michael to see how bad the Beavers lost. We were surprised and very happy to learn that The Beavers made an astounding comebacks and beat Missouri 39 to 38! Way to go, Beavs!!

Ross and Heather took a turn in the hot tub while we watched the kids. Rocke and I had a good time playing and visiting with Austin and Sydney. Back in the room, Ross and Heather put the kids to bed, then we visited and watched the news.

On Saturday morning, we hear little voices emanating from the kitchen. It must be time to get up. Ross, Heather and kids had already eaten, so Rocke made some pancakes for the two of us. The waves were bigger than ever! The tide was in that morning and the waves were making a lot of noise as they hit the rocks below the resort. We waited for Ryan, Sarah, Zach and Naomi to arrive as they also would be spending a couple of days with us to enjoy the ocean. Ross, Heather, Austin and Sydney packed and got ready to return to Beaverton. Ross had a New Year's gig at the Hilton in Eugene.

Ryan and Sarah showed up at about noon and unloaded their stuff into the condo for a two-day stay visit out on the coast with us. We all visited in front of the fireplace and played with Naomi while Zach played with some toys he bought and watched the waves on the ocean in front of the condo. Everyone was ready for lunch, so Rocke and I diced up some onions and prepared some hamburgers to grill on the electric grill on the patio. We had a quick lunch and decided to travel to Donald Davis Park in Newport for a walk on the beach.

The weather was cold but quite pleasant with very little wind. Sarah had Naomi bundled up and had her mounted in a baby carrier that fit over Sarah's shoulders, carrying Naomi in front as we walked on the beach. The tide was at its lowest, so we had a ton of beach to explore. We were there an hour and decided to return to the condo.

Back at the condo, Rocke and I made some Beef Stew for dinner. After dinner, we visited and played with the kids, until their bed time. We then visited and watched some TV with Ryan and Saran. Ryan visited and watched with just part of his brain, because he was also doing some Sudoku Puzzles. Time to turn in and get some rest, we were planning a busy day for Sunday.

At about 12:30 in the morning, Naomi woke up crying . . . loud. She wasn't feeling well and Ryan and Sarah took turns trying to calm her down. Rocke and I woke up frequently throughout the night, feeling for little Naomi, Ryan and Sarah. Zach slept through Naomi's crying. Ryan and Sarah must have been exhausted. At 7:30, Zach knocked on our bedroom door to wake us up and Ryan and Sarah announced they would have to return to Salem to get Naomi to a doctor. They had already packed the car and were ready to go. After good-bye hugs, they were on their way. At about 11:00 or so, Ryan called from Salem to say they had just returned from the doctor with Naomi. She had a severe ear infection.

On Sunday, Rocke and I were tired from lack of sleep but had a pass to the Newport Aquarium, so we went down to go through it again. We had a great time walking through the aquarium. The weather was fantastic! Cool, but sunny and not very windy. We came back to the condo to have lunch and for Rocke to take a nap.

On New Years Eve, Rocke and I went to the Sea Hag for dinner. The bar portion of the Sea Hag was jammed. We settled for the restaurant side of the house. The food was good, not exceptional.

As soon as we returned from the Sea Hag, we went to the hot tub to soak for a while. We were joined shortly by about 10 young (20-somethings) from the Seattle-Tacoma area. They were Ukranian and came to the U. S. about 15 or so years ago. We really enjoyed talking with them. After a while, we were joined by 3 or 4 other couples, from Portland, Auburn, WA, Puyallup, and Seattle. It's always a lot of fun talking with people in the hot tub and learning what they do and where they are from. After about 1 ½ hours, we returned to the room and relaxed until next year!! Actually, we watched the news and had our celebratory glass of champagne and retired to bed! We were just too pooped to see in the new year after our previous night of no sleep. Happy New Year!

On Monday, with only one more day on the coast, I didn't want to think about leaving it. We watched TV for a while and I took a call from Ricky who had called to wish us a Happy New Year. At about noon, we drove down to Newport for lunch. We ate at Georgie's. After lunch, we drove back up toward Depoe Bay and stopped at a beach we wanted to explore. We took a brisk walk on the beach and returned to our room by about 4:00 o'clock. The Boise State game was televised and we decided to watch them play against the Oklahoma Sooners. We expected Boise State to do well, but that was probably the most fun game we watched all season. Boise State won in overtime 43 to 42!

Too soon, Tuesday morning had arrives and it was time to pack and get ready to leave our lovely home on the coast. The weather was a lot more stormy and the waves were really crashing onto the rocks. Being out on the Oregon Coast and watching the ocean was awesome and very hard to leave. But we continued the packing and then had to step out on the deck to say "bye" to the ocean. The drive home was relatively uneventful. We drove down to Newport and headed east over Highway 20. It was a very pretty drive through the mountains and except for about 15 miles of curvy road, the way was fantastic. Arriving home, Kitty Kat was waiting at the top of the stairs for our arrival. Boy! Was he happy to see us again.

It was a great week, now back to the grind stone! Have a great 2007!!!!!