Dancing on the Edge

We're Home!

We have returned from our few days at the beach and we had a great time!! The weather was outstanding (except yesterday when it was raining like crazy which was totally ok with me since we were heading home anyway) and we spent hours playing in the waves and digging in the sand. We explored the town - which didn't take too long since it's sort of a hole in the wall place - and drove into nearby towns to explore them. We've never stayed in the Rockaway Beach area before (only going through it on the way to the Tillamook Cheese Factory two years ago (see post here)) and except for being exceptionally close to the water; I wasn't all that impressed it with. It's great if your goal is beach, beach and more beach but we're a family who likes to explore and shop and go out for meals in addition to enjoying time in the water and on the sand. Not so much the place for that. Still - the beach was great and I am glad we went. :)

We arrived around 11AM on Sunday and our first stop was a place called Flamingo Jim's. I had been told it was a great place with a bit of everything - and it did not disappoint. We ended up spending $40 pretty easily. The kids each picked a couple small items, Dakota and I bought really cool coffee mugs and then we all helped pick some salt water taffy. After that we went in search of a place for lunch. Umm...yeah - that was an adventure. We finally ended up at finding a place that was open and serving lunch and settled into a booth. The food was nothing special but it was food and did the trick. The place did have a great view though. :)

Once we finished lunch we drove to the hotel to check in and settle into the room. The place was nice enough - definitely a beach hotel which is great because it's on the beach and not great because most of the places that we've stayed seem to skip the regularly updating and upkeep that should happen. I guess because they don't have to worry about people *not* coming (again - they are right on the water) this tend to get overlooked. Still though - it was decent enough and the view made me immediately forget about the shoddy carpets. :)

It didn't take long for us to change into beach gear and head out into the gorgeous afternoon. Kelton and I ran in and out of the waves for probably close to an hour. At first I wasn't crazy about getting soaked to the skin but soon enough I was just that - and having a great time. Dakota and Kaylen stayed up on the sand building castles and digging holes. They finally joined us for a few minutes but just a couple of wave-dives into it, Kaylen was done and wanted to go back to the room. I took her up and left Dakota and Kelton playing for a while longer.

It was a really great first day!



More to come.....