Day 17

We missed Ryan and Molly in the morning but were still on the road by 9.  We headed out of Seattle.  We were happy to leave the traffic.  We headed to the coastal town of Astoria, Oregon first.  They have filmed many movies there including The Goonies and Kindergarten Cop.  I found on my phone the address of the house from The Goonies.  The people who own the house don’t want you to park your car in the drive way but are fine with you parking on the street and walking up to the house.  There was actually a sign to let people know that it was definitely the house.  Right down the road was the school from Kindergarten Cop.  It looks aged but other than that exactly like it did the movie.  The mural from the playground that you can see in the movie is still there too.

We continued down the coast for a ways before pulling over at the first big look out we found.  It felt like we had accomplished something finally reaching the Pacific Ocean.  We couldn’t believe how much cooler it was.  It was about 70. 

Michael had called his mother’s cousin Dave who lives in Florence, Oregon the day before.  We had planned on staying at a campground and having dinner with Dave and his wife Lisa.  However, they invited us to their house for the night.  The house was great.  It had a kitchen that I wish I could transport to my next house.  There were 3 dogs (an Australian Sheppard and 2 Bichons) that we both fell in love with. 

When Lisa got home from work we headed into Florence for dinner.  We ended up at this tiny restaurant.  Unfortunately, neither of us can remember the name of it but it was right on the water.  We put our name down for a table and walked down the street to the neatest toy shop I’ve ever been in.  When we finally got into the restaurant we ordered 4 Mojitos.  I wasn’t sure if Michael would like it but he really enjoyed the drink.  The food was amazing!  We both had seafood dishes which fresh seafood always taste better than the stuff we get in Binghamton.

We went back to the house and talked for awhile.  Lisa invited us to stay another night if we had time but said she would understand if we needed to leave.  How could we leave?