Anniversary Weekend

It started out with good weather on the drive down to Ocean Shores on Friday, and the dogs were well behaved.  Since we took over their care from my mother, Bonnie the poodle has always had anxiety in the car.  She usually pants and whines the whole time and doesn’t sit down, even in a 3 hour drive. (Jennie the Yorkie-Poo is very mellow, so she's no problem.)

But!!! after trying several things over the past two years to calm Bonnie, I think we may have turned a corner.  Now we give her 1/2 a Benadryl about half an hour before we leave and put her way in the back of the SUV behind the luggage so she cannot see outside; in essence she is like in a cave.  Her anxiety seems to have subsided a lot, because didn't hear a peep out of her the whole drive.  This is great for me too, because her panting and whining has always annoyed and stressed me out.

Traffic was good so we made it there in record time.  After a trip to the IGA grocery store, we stopped in at a local brewery and had a few beers.  We had never been there before, and it was quite the fun place.

Lots of beers on draft

I got to sit in this chair and drink my beer...it was surprisingly comfortable

Someone who missed out on the beer that afternoon

Tired from the drive (and the beer), we stayed in that evening and watched TV.  

Saturday, the weather was perfect for clamming and the clams were just waiting for us.  We got our limit within 30 minutes!  So fun!

Then the not-so-fun cleaning the clams, which takes longer than catching them.  Once cleaned, Hub cuts them up into different sizes, some for frying and the rest for clam chowder.  Then he freezes most for later (he did fry up some of the fresh ones at home on Tuesday).  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and I took the dogs for a long walk on the beach. 

For our super romantic (haha) anniversary dinner that night, we went to our favorite place, the Green Lantern Tavern in Copalis.  There I had my "go to" meal…A BLT (although I always get it without the L...I hate lettuce on any sandwich). Described on the menu as "10 slices of bacon with lettuce, tomato and mayo on sourdough," I usually only eat half and then have bacon for the next morning.

mmmmmm...bacon!

We always make our trips to the beach a 4 day trip and stay over on Sunday (mostly to avoid Sunday night traffic back to the Seattle area).  We had no interest in clamming that day, so we took a drive down to another beach about 30 minutes away (for next season so we know where it is in case the State doesn't allow clamming on "our" beach for some reason).

Since this was the last day of clamming until November, the beach was packed.  I have never seen so many cars and people.  

So many people, so few clams...those are all people in the background!

More cars than clams

As crowded as it was, I started to imagine people fighting over the clams like people at a Black Friday sale.   

Then we drove up to a “planned community” named Seabrook, which they started building about 8 years ago.  I have watched this place evolve over the last few years and some people rave about it for family vacations.   The first time I went there, it was kind of cute, but this time it was just so built up and crowded.

To be honest, it’s not my thing at all.  There are only a few restaurants and stores, not nearly enough to support all the houses they have built in the last few years.  But everything is "adorable" and "picture perfect."  No wonder its nickname is "Stepford of the Pacific Northwest."  I much prefer funky, unpretentious Ocean Shores with its bars and hotels and souvenir shops.  (And great IGA grocery store, can't forget that.)  

Anyway, the next day it was back to Seattle.  All in all, it was a really nice anniversary weekend.

Happy 25th Anniversary to my wonderful husband!  We laughed about what we would be doing on our 50th when I am 90 and he is 96...hopefully we will still be clamming!