I had a bad break out of eczema on my hands a couple weeks before, mainly just on one finger. The finger was getting better, but the eczema was spreading, so I went into the ER at the prompting of my husband and family. The Dr told me what I already knew. It's a form of eczema called Dyshidrotic Eczema. Last time I had eczema problems, I had to cut out gluten, so I cut out gluten with the outbreak, and the Dr put me on an oral steroid.
I was on the oral steroid for 6 days, decreasing dosage each day. Thursday was my last pill. I was feeling pretty confident that I hadn't had any side effects from the medication, which I was relieved.
Friday 5/22
I was wrong. I ended up throwing up twice Friday morning. We were thinking of staying home, but I thought I was ok, so Richard and I made the decision to just go. Take what we had packed and go.
So we went. We forgot Ethan's swimsuit, and some foods that I had planned on taking/getting, but just leaving made it less work for me, and everyone else chipped in. I wished I wouldn't have thrown up, but I'm glad we didn't miss out on our vacation!
We stayed at the KOA in Warrenton, OR. We rented one of their 1 bedroom cabins. It was literally just beds in the cabins, swing on the front porch, and a fire pit and picnic table outside. I was making the bed up, when I found a super long banana slug RIGHT in front of my face! Richard got it out and threw it into the woods. Then we did a check for any other surprise guests.
Our home for the next few days :-)
Saturday 5/23
We decided this day would be our "adventure" day. We all love the movie "The Goonies" which was filmed in Astoria, and other parts along the Oregon Coast, so we went to see "The Goonie's" house, Mikey's house where "The Truffle Shuffle" happened, and where they discover One Eyed Willy's map, and learn about Chester Copperpot. You have to walk to get there. It's a private residence, so they have you park near a school and walk to the house. We took a pic by the sign, and a couple in front of the house. I talked the kids into doing the Truffle Shuffle, but they only agreed to if Richard and I did. We have pictures of this, but I will NOT be sharing those LOL!
Afterwards, we decided to try and find something to do in Astoria. It really is a cute town, and we spotted an arcade on the way in. The Arc Arcade in Astoria. This place was so much fun! A nerd/geeks paradise! It's made up of a lot of classic games and comics, action figures, and even a full size Tardis! We were there quite a while playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Burger Time, Tetris, Donkey Kong, Star Wars games, and Pac Man. Some of the games were free play as well! Richard got a Darth Vader with removable helmet to add to his Star Wars collection, and I got a couple pics in the Tardis. Definitely recommend hanging out at this place if you are in the area and it's your sort of thing. I wish I had taken a picture of their "Rules". It said stuff like don't be a poop face lol.
We were getting hungry, so we tried finding a good Clam Chowder place in Astoria, but the one people were recommending was closed for a wedding. So we decided to head into Seaside and go to Seaside Brewery, cause their clam chowder is pretty good and they have gluten free options. Richard and I both were running low on phone battery, which we used as our GPS. For some reason, our car charger was not a "supported accessory", and wouldn't charge our phones. GPS took us to a bridge that was closed, so we had to find a different route. I wrote down the steps in case our phones went kaput, and we took the back roads back. We came upon a woman in the road who flagged us down to let us know that we might get stopped, there were some cattle in the road! Sure enough, there were cars parked along both sides of the road, and a woman in a truck was having a herd of cattle following her! We were a little freaked out that maybe they would start licking the windows, but they followed the lady in the truck, and we even saw some mother cows herding her babies along to if they started to veer in a different direction. We wished we could have gotten pics, but we didn't think of it until it was too late, and we didn't know if we had enough battery. It was like something out of City Slickers (coincidentally, Richard and I's first movie date was City Slickers 2). Something you don't see everyday, and it was a first for us. Of course, we were imitating Jon Lovitz from A League of Their Own after that...Jon Lovitz-A League of Their Own
We got to Seaside Brewery-had some nummy food, then went to Radio Shack and purchased a new car charger. We headed back to camp to have a campfire and take it easy.
We had gone camping with my Uncles, Aunts, and cousins in the past, and when they would build a campfire, they always poured Citronella oil on the wood. The stuff used as fuel in Tiki Torches. We picked some up this time, because it's good fuel and it keeps the bugs away. At one point, the fire started dying down, so Richard grabbed the Citronella oil and poured a little on the fired. WOOOOOSH! The fire went up REALLY high! Elijah and I scrambled to get away from the fire, and Richard backed up and we were all in kind of a shock for a moment. Richard then asked if we were Ok. I couldn't resist, I started singing "This Girl Is On Fire". ;-) We wrapped up the night by playing Heads Up (it's a fun app!!) and preparing for Sunday, where we had decided we were going to stay at the campgrounds the whole day. They had a ton of activities planned for the weekend. :-)
Sunday 5/24
We woke up and had breakfast at the camp (free all you can eat pancakes!! I had bacon and eggs though-no gluten :/
We all made Tye-Dye t-shirts. Mine has a big purple heart on it <3
We watched a comedian/clown/magician type guy, Bill Robison (http://billrobison.com.istemp.com/) He was quite funny and the kids really enjoyed it. He had a bit where his microphone started acting up, and he'd hold it to different people's heads and it would say different things, like one tough guy the mic said "I like to wear ladies underwear). He was quite entertaining, and if you get a chance to see him, you should!
They also showed the Goonie's that day in the big room. HEY YOU GUYS!!!!
At night, they did karaoke. Richard talked me into singing "A Broken Wing", by Martina McBride. It was fun, I wish Ethan and Elijah had sang something though.
We wrapped up the day by having a campfire and playing Heads Up. We were preparing to go home tomorrow :-(
Monday 5/25
Leaving Day
It was easiest for me to just have Richard take Elijah to the pool so he could swim. Ethan stayed with me and we packed up the van. We were sad to be leaving, but today was our beach day. To wrap up our own Goonie's mini adventure, we had to go to Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach. You can almost see the ship in the background, with one-eyed Willy at the helm....
and there we are in our tye-dye shirts :-) We had a wonderful, memory making time. SOOOO glad we went!!!
