Berlin Family Vacay: Vol.2

After we bid adieu to the weirdo in Hobuck and our friends we were off down the coast to Nehalem, Oregon. Charlie and I had never been there but google images told us it was gorgeous and the fact that we planned this trip 2 weeks before during the height of summer, it was one of the only places available. Siri told us it was a 5 hour trip and whilst planning the trip, I thought to myself "Oh 5 hours in the car,  no problem, we can make great time!"
I'm a little too optimistic sometimes.
Driving in the car with 2 children, one of which was recently potty trained, packed on an extra 2 hours of travel time. It took us 7 hours to get there, it wasn't horrible but its not the most ideal way to spend 7 hours.

We had the iPad with 5 movies on it, so the kids slept, Steve read his books or they watched Toy Story 3 the whole time. Charlie and I found NPR to listen to and it was pretty good. We listened to a few of the republican candidates chat about their views (and had a good laugh) learned a bit about the struggles of handicapped people on airplanes and took in the beautiful sights.
A few hours into our drive we hear Summers sweet little voice
"Hap a go potty!"
"Hap a poooooooooppppp!"
I looked at Charlie and probably screamed too loudly
"Pull over now!"
By the time Summer tells you she has to go potty, its like, right at the starting gate and no one gets in the way.
Charlie veered to the right into a lovely scenic gravel area, overlooking the Oregon coast and I leapt out of the car, while it was still moving.
I struggled to get Summer out of her 50 point harness and grabbed the wipes in the door.
As soon as I put her down, she was off.
Its a busy highway and I'm glad the Berlin Gang has absolutely no shame, or else this would have been really embarrassing.
It'll be a great story to tell when she's older, "Hey Summer! Remember that time you pooped and peed on the side of the freeway?"
And that certainly wasn't the last time on this trip.
This was by far, my favorite place that we stayed. It was beautiful, not super far, and we didn't have to pitch a tent, cuz I thought ahead and got us a bad ass yurt!

 

Jake gave Steve a kite, which I didn't even think of, and it became a beloved obsession of Steves for the remainder of the trip. When Steve gets obsessed with something, after a few times he gets incredibly good at whatever it is that he's working on. By the time we got unpacked in our super awesome yurt, had a snack and made our way to the beautiful beach, Steve was doing incredible kite tricks like an old pro.

 

Summer and I did a few yoga moves, Steve played with his kite and Charlie lounged on the beach. We played in the water a bit and made dinosaur tracks with our sand toys. After an hour or 2 it started to rain, so we packed it in and went back to the yurt for some dinner. Also, a shower. It was heaven. After 3 days without a hot shower and being at the beach and in the car and dirty, its like a treat to be clean. I think Summer, my perpetually dirty and sticky daughter, enjoyed it.

Also, a mattress that didn't deflate in the middle of the night, that was also a huge perk of the yurt. The yurt was basically a dream in the middle of tents and dirt and sleeping bags. It was so wonderful and refreshing. A perfect little respite in the middle of our long haul to California.

The next morning we packed up early and went to breakfast in town with one of Charlie's friends who just so happened to live in the town we were staying in.

We got off to a late start and our drive to the Redwoods was already slated for 9 hours. It would turn into 11 hours and would prove to be one of the most stressful legs of our journey.

But that's another story.

 

Cheers.