Snow, Rain, PMS, and Humble Pie

This was the picture outside our cottage this morning.  Crazy, right?!  Today was a day full of rain, sleet, PMS and humble pie.  Film at 11.  Ok, not really, but I will be posting a revealing pic at the end of this post, so read on for the scoop.

We took our time getting ready this morning and headed out around 10 to hit some of the local shops.  Val found some great sea-themed paraphanelia at a junk shop to use as photo props and then we went to an antique mall and each found a few items.  There are a ton of cute little shops around town and despite the lousy weather (alternating rain, sleet, snow and gale-force winds) we managed to do our part to support the local economy.  My PMS was eased with a little bit of retail-therapy and I think my travel partners were relieved to see me smiling and joking a bit.

Some highlights:

Jake the Alligator Man from Marsh’s Free Museum.  A lousy picture of something truely bizarre, but beach vacations don’t seem to be real without a little bit of campy humor.

My favorite purchase of the day.  As if I didn’t have enough purses already…

Mom is still recovering from a severe cold so we decided to stay out of the wind and take a driving tour for the afternoon.  We headed north and went through a few towns, my favorite of which was historic Oysterville.  The weather cleared up for a good chunk of the drive and we got to see some incredible sites. 

Here’s a few pics for your viewing pleasure:

The gorgeous drive..

Oysterville Church

See how the pews seperate the men from the women? 
And… is it just me or is my mom about to give a sermon?

Offering fresh Oyster Shooters.  Couldn’t convince anyone to try it though.

Val taking pictures – a recurring theme

From the Oysterville Cemetery (I really hope it’s not tacky to take pictures of tombstones)  Sad and sweet.  But boy did they know what to say on a tombstone!

“And the Sea Gave Up the Dead”
Tombstone of unknown drowning victims (often sailors) that washed ashore

‘Nuf Said

“Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord,
for they rest from their labour, and their works do follow them”

After much driving around, we took a little side road to see where it lead to.  Turns out, it led straight to the ”Beach Highway”, one of the few stretches of beach that you can drive on.  I wanted to give it a whirl but my passengers were nervous about it, so I drove in just far enough to turn around and….

Yup – stuck.  I was really excited about this one.  Thankfully, some good Samaritans came along to help us out and even drove the 5 miles to the nearest town to buy a tow rope and tug us to safety.  Thank God for the kindness of strangers.  On the upside, we spent a good 20 minutes sea-side, admiring the ocean.  And thankfully we all had good books in the van, so we were kept well-occupied.  Of course, I think I can safely say that I may never live to hear the end of this.

After that excitement, we decided we were too tired to eat out and just hit the local supermarket and raided their deli.  Now we’re back at the cottage settling in with our books and getting ready for a good nights sleep.  I wish you all the same.