Roses are red, and pink, and orange...

Yesterday we journeyed on from Portland to Seaview, WA. On our way out of the city, we stopped at the International Rose Test Garden. At the garden were hundreds of varieties of roses, and even spotted a couple that we grow at home. The garden was beautiful and made for some great photos. I can't wait to print some out for home. After leaving the garden, we drove to Astoria, OR for lunch and some sightseeing. We enjoyed seafood at a little restaurant on the Coquille river and then drove up to the Astoria column. The column is a landmark built atop a hill that overlooks the town. They have a tradition of selling balsa wood gliders that you take to the top of the 150 foot column and release them into the wind. Of course this idea appealed to Ryan so he shakily climbed the hundreds of steps to the top and released his glider, which subsequently flew only to the edge of the parking lot. This did mean that we could hunt it down and bring it home. While Ryan was brave and went up top, I kept my feet firmly planted on the ground.

Our next adventure took us to Shallon Winery where we met the one man operation, Mr. Paul van der Veldt. At nearly 90 years old, he ferments about six varieties of wine. We toured his 600 square foot facility and tasted each kind of wine, and purchased a couple to bring home. He was a sweet old man who really took pride in his work and was genuinely interested in his visitors. He also told us to call him "anytime within a 50 mile radius" if we needed a dining recommendation and gave us his card.

Next we made a quick pit stop at the coast guard/ maritime museum in Astoria and then headed North to Seaview. We Checked in to the Shelburne Inn around 4:30, just in time to visit the beach for a bit before our 6:00 dinner reservation. We drove to the beach access which allowed us to drive right on to the beach. We parked and walk through the COLD ocean water with our pants rolled up and took lots of pictures. We saw several crab carcasses washed ashore and I even picked up half of a sand dollar. As many times as I've been to the beach, that was my first sand dollar, even if it was broken. After about a half hour, we drove back and had a delicious dinner at the Inn followed by a glass of wine and some free entertainment at the bar.

We went up to bed early last night because we have been listening to Gone Girl on audiobook while we're driving and yesterday we got to a part where we both just couldn't wait to see what happened. So last night we plugged in the iPod and listened for probably an hour before falling to sleep. Now we are about 3/4 through and hope that we'll be able to finish before we get home.

Also, our next destination is Olympic National Park where the cell service is quite poor, so forgive us if our posts are less frequent.