The Miles Clan: An Astoria Kinda of Day!!

Greg had to represent the unit here for some blah blah something or another at the unit in Astoria! The kids still haven't started school and Nick and Krisen Cooney live there (although Nick has been gone on his ship, ugh, oil leak in the Gulf and Dry Docks to boot)! So we figured to make a day of Astoria, OR. It's 1hr and 40min, the last hour being Hwy 30 and a BEAUTIFL drive.

As we were getting closer, I felt reminders of Kodiak, AK so I was sure to point this out to Greg and the boys because aside from doing a tour in Kodiak, how else would I show or explain what life was like for me in ALASKA!!!

Greg dropped the boys and I off at Kristens house and he headed to do his blah blah blah thing. The boys had a BLAST playing in the yard with her 2 German Shepherds and Kristen and I hung in the living room catching up. It's awesome to have them so close again (we were close and visited often when we were in Lejeune and they were in Elizabeth City, NC.

Once Greg returned, after an hour or so, he ditched his uniform for some jeans and we grabbed a bit to eat at DQ. Choosing where to eat really didn't take long, considering there really wasn't much choice. LOL
After burgers and fries, we threw Kristen in the drivers seat and she took us to the beach at Ft. Stevens State Park. We got up close to The 1906 Peter Iredale Shipwreck and then hung out on some logs around a diminishing beach fire, while the boys goofed off in the sand. As we were walking back to the truck, we paused to enjoy the view. I spotted a whale, and Kristen pouted due to the fact Nick sees them every time but she misses it. We kept watching and watching and finally all 5 of us spotted it! I could have spend the entire day out there, jeans, hoodie, whale watching and relaxing!

We didn't have a whole lot of time due to Sean having football practice that evening so we left the beach and she took us to see 'The Goonies House'. After dropping Kristen back home, we headed out, thank goodness because we got caught in some traffic on the bridge just before getting on I-5, and made it home just in time for Sean to gear up and head to practice!

Can't wait to head back, once Nick gets home later this month, and go back to the beach for a bonfire!!