Smack in the middle of May Christian, Buckwheat and I drove up to Seaside, Oregon for a long weekend with friends. As a child, Cannon Beach had been a stop on many of our family road trips. When I was a teenager, it had also been the destination of a few weekends with friends. I’d never been to the neighboring town of Seaside, though.
We spent a long weekend in Seaside catching up and exploring with friends. We flew kites, blew bubbles, built a beach bonfire, finished a puzzle and caught a really spectacular sunset. We grilled burgers, ordered too much seafood and got pizza delivery. We stayed up too late and came home exhausted.
Seaside, Oregon is the promenade, a historic aquarium, silty soft sand, beach grasses, kites and sand castles. It is thrift stores, tourists, t-shirt shops, fish and chips, oysters, boba smoothies, cotton candy and salt water taffy. It is video arcade games (Skee-Ball, basketball, Fascination, air hockey and Flappy Bird), bumper cars, red paper tickets and cheap prizes. It is gray skies, sun breaks, neon sunsets, salty breezes and morning mist. It is swing sets, beach volleyball, riding around on old cruisers, midday runs and late night bonfires. It is cedar shake homes, brightly colored buildings, bridges, Victorian houses, rhododendrons, peeling paint and quaint shops. It is a tourist trap. It is a little piece of history. It is smoky smelling jackets and sand in your shoes. Seaside has character…
I want to go back. But maybe not until we live closer. Because Seaside is a long, long drive from Santa Cruz. And it was a bit like Santa Cruz… if it were in Oregon. Did I mention, it was hundreds of miles away? The drive took us all day…
But last month, in the middle of May, Seaside was all of the above AND a house full of good friends. Big thanks to our friends Jake and Magnus for making this trip happen.
A mix of iPhone and DSLR photos from our long weekend in Seaside, Oregon: