The last few years we have gathered in Dallas, Oregon, for Thanksgiving with the Booren family, but with these families planning activities with their non-Booren side of the family, and with no Asays nearby, Meg began thinking of how we could celebrate as a single family. She found a seemingly great hotel in Seaside for a reasonable price; the suite had two bedrooms, living space, a kitchen (which we didn't use at all), and two bathrooms. Meg made the reservation, and we purposefully hid the idea from the kids, so they had no idea what our plans were for the holiday--they probably figured we'd just stay home and have a boring dinner that only Meg would want to eat. I was surprised that Meg was able to hide the trip from them up until we loaded the van on Wednesday afternoon, at which point we said we were staying at a yurt at the coast. Aaron groaned while Ian and Edward cheered and began plotting what they would do when we first arrived at our campsite. Eventually Meg figured it best to tell them the whole truth, which made everyone all the more happy and excited.
We've had pretty mild weather this fall in the Willamette Valley, and Thanksgiving was no exception. When we arrived at Seaside a few hours before sunset, the temperatures were in the 50's and the sky was a deep blue. There were more people hanging out at the beach than our trip to
Nehalem Bay last month, but not overwhelming like I usually experience in Seaside during my annual visit during Hood-to-Coast. After unloading the car to our room, we set out to explore the town, visiting candy shops and buying sugary treats to savor while soaking up the sun as we walked along the sandy beach. We took some pictures with the backdrop of the setting sun, swung on the swings, and headed back inland to find a place to fill our bellies. We decided on a cafe that served burgers, which seemed to be the most popular request in the family. Besides the local barflys who used a special door and enjoyed conversing with us, and a couple who live across the street from the boys' elementary school, we had the place to ourselves. After dinner (Aaron scarfed his bacon cheeseburger down in about three minutes--certainly a record for 10-year olds) we retreated to the hotel for a couple hours of swimming in hotel pool and relaxing in the non-jetted hot tub. We finished the night watching Iron Man 3 (the hotel had many a DVD for complimentary use).
Thanksgiving morning came after everybody slept peacefully in their own beds. We started the holiday morning with free breakfast in the lobby and exercise on the treadmills and watching Star Trek Into Darkness. Checkout was at 11:00, so we were soon out the door, had re-packed the van, and headed back to the beach for our non-competitive, family turkey bowl, which consisted of passing a football and kicking a soccer ball back-and-forth with each other. We played for a while to work up our appetite for a thanksgiving feast at Pig-'n-Pancake. The kids and I all ordered food from the breakfast menu, while Meg opted for the special, traditional thanksgiving item. Meg has recently transitioned to a gluten-free diet, as eating it has been creating a painful rash on her fingers. But despite trying to special-order her food with no gluten, it nonetheless arrived with gluten-rich gravy, and she fought off the tears when realizing she would not be able to enjoy her favorite meal of the year. She survived, though, and we were soon back at the beach for more fun: Ian and Edward dug a big hole and created a pancake factory, Meg took a nap, and me and Aaron played ball and were later joined by Edward for a vigorous game of monkey-in-the-middle. We stayed a little before sun-down--long enough to say we spent 24 hours in Seaside, and then we enjoyed a mostly traffic-free drive back to the big city.
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