Seaside-Astoria

Mark's mom is in town (45 minutes away) because our sister-in-law has preeclampsia and is in need of help. With her husband home on Saturday we took advantage of having Grandma close and took her to the coast. We first went to Seaside and spent some time at the ocean. It was a nice day, in the high 70's. The kids love going to the beach but this time there were some big ants crawling all over the sand. They seemed quite nice and slow so we were able to walk around them, but still it was hard to be at ease. After visiting the beach, we went to this really small aquarium. We were not expecting much from what we saw on the outside but it was really fun. We got to feed the seals pieces of fish. We could not only touch but pick up some of the creatures like: hermit crabs, barnacles, starfish, clams, and oysters. They had an octopus in an area like the starfish tank where you could look at the octopus down through the water. This octopus swam all over the place and even stuck his tentacles out of the water. A couple of times he poked his head out too. Here are some pictures.


This picture really doesn't do the size of this ant justice as it is up against Mark's "Fred Flinstone" foot.



After the aquarium we went further north up to Astoria. This is where the Columbia river meets the ocean. We visited this tower at the top of a hill where we could overlook the beautiful scenery below. It was breathtaking and fun to spend time with mom. We can't wait until dad joins us up here in June. I'm sure there will be more fun to be had then.