Stay-cation

(Events occurred between September 18th-26th.)

A stay-cation is like a vacation, but you don't go anywhere. You just take the time off of work and do...whatever. A whole week, plus the two weekends bookending it. It was wonderful.

DH and I get one day off together each week, so it was really a treat to get to spend that much time with him just being at home. We decided against having an ambitious list of things we wanted to accomplish (which we would inevitably fail to complete). Instead we decided on a modest couple of things we could realistically expect to get done.

Basically it boiled down to getting a particular portion of the fencing done, and taking River to the ocean (the Pacific Ocean, not just saltwater - that would have been a much shorter trip). The fencing we wrapped up in the first couple of days, then it was a matter of studying the ever-changing weather forecast for a suitable day for our trip to the ocean (which turned out to be Wednesday).

Our trip to the ocean started out the way all such trips should, with a stop at Starbucks for a warm, caffeinated beverage. The actual drive to the ocean takes about 2.5 hours and wound us through some pretty darn small towns (Google Maps could use some tweaking). My "favorite" part of the journey there had to be the 20 minutes we got to follow a tractor through one small town and the brisk clip of 10 mph.

We roll into the first park we come across at our final destination, Ocean Shores, WA, and quickly discover that we have forgotten to pack River's leash. True story. So we spend the first half hour of our time at the ocean traversing a small tourist town for someplace we can buy a leash. New leash acquired we head back to the park.

So other than this minor setback the trip was really wonderful. We picked the perfect day...rare clear sunny Fall day. River loved the ocean. So much to smell, hear and see. We meandered up and down the beach, ate lunch in the shade at another park, and walked around in the dunes at yet another. Our little pooh bear was tuckered out by the time we headed home. Definitely a worthwhile day trip.