First Anniversary in Seaside, OR

With our first anniversary in the horizon, I asked my lovely husband where he might like to celebrate. Of course, he had no concrete ideas, so I decided for us: Seaside, OR. Being 6 months pregnant, I didn't want to do a 6 - 7 hour drive there in one day after a week of work, so we decided to break up the trip a little and spend our first night in Tacoma.

Our trip started just as every trip to the US has... with a stop at Sheri's for breakfast and pie!

 

After filling our stomachs with breakfast and pie-to-go, we headed to Bellis Fair for some shopping at Target, a massage for Aaron, and a new Christmas ornament to add to our collection!

 

Once we were done there, we headed over to the Seattle Premium Outlets. We always stop there, and always leave feeling disappointed because of the lack of real sales but c'est la vie! Back on the road after the hour or so stop, and we hit Seattle just as the sun was going down and traffic came to a stand-still!

 

It took us almost 2 hours to get from outside of Seattle to Tacoma. We were starving by this point, and after checking in to our hotel, we headed to our favorite chain - RED LOBSTER - for some eats!

 

When we were completely full on a feast of seafood, all we could think about was lying in bed and watching tv before a long drive the next morning. The below is a photo that Aaron took of my very pregnant belly stuffed with a Junior Mint!

 

The next morning, after fighting with a gang of teenaged soccer girls to get in line for the continental breakfast, we made our way further south to Oregon!

 



After a quick stop at Joanne's for fabric and Fred Meyer for wine for the man, we finally checked in to the Best Western Oceanside in Seaside, OR.

 

Our room was small, but the hotel itself was quite nice for a tiny town, and although I had hoped for an upgrade to a nicer, larger room perhaps with an ocean view, we made the most of it because we were together. We quickly threw our stuff down and headed out to the promenade, where we were met with the most amazing sight!

 

The beach in Seaside is a wonder. It seems like it lasts forever, and the waves alone were worth the 7 hour drive! After a lovely hand-in-hand walk along the beach, we walked down the main strip of town to a nice little restaurant called Twisted Fish.

 

Aaron enjoyed his burger, fries, and beer, and I had a gourmet grilled cheese sandwich with sweet potato fries. My Shirley Temple wasn't pleasant, but other than that, it was a nice meal!

 

After some relaxing in our room, we headed back out for dinner. We weren't sure what we wanted, but we ended up at Finn's after some good reviews online.

 

Aaron ordered the clam linguine, which is a favorite of his, and I wasn't super hungry so I settled on a bowl of clam chowder and a ceasar salad. I must say that it was one of the best chowders I've ever had, and totally hit the spot.

 

The next morning after a very rough sleep and an upset belly, I presented Aaron with a little surprise for our official first wedding anniversary - a caramel apple and a card. It's our thing! He was surprised, and later presented me with my card as well. I'm so glad we didn't waste money on gifts, and instead just enjoyed each other and our mini-vacation!

 

After breakfast and another beautiful walk on the beach on a gorgeous November day, we walked around town exploring what Seaside had to offer! We purchased a Christmas ornament, which is what we do every vacation since we met, and we stopped off at an ice cream parlor for an old-fashioned root beer smoothie!

 

At that point, I was pretty much done for the day, so we made our way back to the hotel for a quick nap. We finally woke up after two hours, and I felt a little better, so we ventured back to Finn's to enjoy the soup and salad again! :) The rest of the afternoon was spent in the room drinking gingerale, eating pringles, and watching Ridiculousness on tv.

 

We wanted dinner to be special, and we picked a little place recommended by the front desk clerk. It was called Norma's, and I remembered reading good reviews. Although the food was pretty good, the atmosphere was lacking. We chalked it up to being a small town, but I sort of wished that we'd been in a nicer place that wasn't baby blue with booth seating and spiral-bound laminated menus. However, having said that, we again just enjoyed being together and spoiling ourselves with good food and fancy virgin drinks for me, and beer and wine for Aaron.

 



 

We both got salad to start, and then I got the crab cakes and Aaron got a steak, both with baked potatoes. My crab cakes were delicious, and Aaron enjoyed his stead, even though it was slightly over-cooked. 

Our first anniversary came to a close, and we were sad to be leaving!

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation, even though Monday's 10 hour trip back home was exhausting. We loved knowing that we survived our first year of marriage, and knew that we were still so in love and so anxious to share these kinds of experiences in the future with our baby. We agreed that we'd love to go back to Seaside again next year with the baby now that we know what to expect! We'll play in the sand, lay around on beach blankets, maybe have a bonfire at night and roast marshmallows.

I will never forget this trip because I'm pretty sure that I fell in love with Aaron all over again. Knowing how protective he was of me through the trip, always checking on me and still reminding me how pretty I am made me thankful that I chose him as the person I'll spend the rest of my life with. I really couldn't be any happier!