Chapter Six - Wednesday

Being a tale of pirates, sea-life, and a suprising discovery!

We slept in until about 10am, and then wandered around checking out the tidepools that were in front of the Yachats Inn. We didn’t find anything fascinating, though, and were on the road by 11am. We headed back South to the Sea Lion Caves, which we had been warned might not have any Sea Lions in it. We asked the lady at the desk, who said that there was a chance they were down there, but they were usually out feeding this time of year, but that the caves were still great on their own. However, none of the photos made it look like the caves were worth paying for, and after we confirmed with someone coming back up that the caves were empty, we got back on the road towards Newport to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

Right before the turnoff for the aquarium, there was a 50s-style diner, so we stopped and had lunch. I amused myself through lunch reading an issue of Popular Science from the 50s, which had an article talking about how man would soon walk on the moon (moon-dust is like quicksand, and will tend to suck on your feet and stick to your space helmet’s face-plate), an article collecting humerous stories about Model T Fords, and an article answering reader concerns about the coming switch to color TV broadcasts, which reassured people that there would always be black and white broadcasts, because not every show needs color. For instance, who needs color for the Friday Night Fight?

After lunch, we visited the Aquarium, which was fun as always. I still think the “Mysteries of the Deep” exhibit that they put in Keiko’s old tank is a huge disappointment, but there’s lots of other great stuff, like the cracks in the glass at the Sea Otter tank, caused by the otters trying to break open shells on the hard glass. The lady at the exhibit said this was the sixth sheet they had gone through since opening the exhibit. Of course the best thing at the whole aquarium is the jellyfish tank, but they had lots of other cool stuff, like these crazy sea-horses which look just like the plants in their habitat, or the tank for the tiny crocodiles, where they were all stacked up sunning themselves.

After leaving the aquarium, we discovered that there is a whole pirate-themed shopping area right on the way out, which neither of us had seen before, so we bummed around in there for awhile, and bought a few things, including a pirate flag! Somehow, Annie managed to find more of the Strawberry Shortcake jars that Pat bought her years ago, and purchased them. I swear, she can go into ANY store and find strawberry things to buy. When we bought the pirate flag, the guy at the counter told us that since 9/11, they’ve sold a lot of flags to local fishermen, who fly them to irritate the coast guard, who got a new lady that’s really gung-ho about enforcing security rules, and has boarded several local fishing boats.

After that, we got back on the road driving North to Twin Rocks, stopping quickly in Tillamook to buy some groceries and pizza for dinner. When we arrived at my family’s cabin at 8:30pm, we were suprised to find the place completely decorated, with crepe paper and “just married” signs everywhere! (Also, several pacifiers tied to light switches in a subtle hint from my parents) We took a bunch of photos, and then opened the presents, which were a picnic basket full of nice food items, and a little flower fairy statue for Annie. After dinner, we were exhausted, so we went to bed early.