Newport, Take Two.

We took the kids to Newport the weekend after the marathon.

It almost didn't happen because the van broke down on Thursday night.   That sort of set the tone and theme of the trip:  lucky breaks.  That is, thank goodness the van broke down in Hillsboro before our trip instead of during it.  We'll call that LB#1.

LB#2:  State Park Day -- our second night of camping was free.

 

LB#3:  World Ocean Day -- tons of extra demos and activities at the aquarium.  It felt like we were at Sea World.  Except smaller.  And no killer whales.  Or water-skiing. Or dolphins.  Or high-diving acrobatics choreographed to sea lions.  Actually, it wasn't like Sea World at all. 

• LB #4.  Got in for even cheaper than planned because of the staff's savvy splitting of the bill; plus, we had coupons from the marathon

• LB#5.  Aquarium logistics -- super smooth -- got to hit all the awesome classes without back-tracking or waiting and we didn't even really plan it that way.  We just happened to be in the right spot at the right time for Lucky Breaks #5a-z: e.g. clam cooking/dissection class ...

  

  Clam presentation at the Newport Aquarium.  She's showing us the siphon.
  
  .... the lancet fish dissection demo (it had a fish and a squid inside it's stomach)   

• ;  a musical show; seeing the scuba divers in the shark tank; pelican tricks; the crab races ...



Miles learns first-claw what life is like under the sea.



• Met June who gave us insider tips about Otter Crest, which we ended up going to the next day.

That's June, in the blue shirt.

•  But the hit of hits was watching the kids watch the sharks.  Talmage is interested in sharks, of late, and he couldn't believe his good fortune.

• 
  

Sydney's got a real shark tooth.

LB#etc:

• Visitor's Center was right there, right when we needed it for directions to Nana's Irish Pub
• Miles had his huge diarrhea fest at the restaurant instead of anywhere else where it would have been more inconvenient.

• "A" Parking -- right in front of Nana's, on a crowded street.
• Discovered that bacon, corned beef, red onions, cheddar cheese and sour cream make a GREAT combination when served on French Fries.

• There were seals and even a baby one sunning on the rocks in the tide pools.
• Miles only threw up on himself, when we were stopped -- instead of all over the car and I could       get to him super fast with a towel that I whipped out from under a car seat.  AND we happened to have a change of clothes.

The walk-through cave at Devil's Punchbowl was accessible because low-tide was low enough.  Some guy said that only happens once every five years.  We saw ancient fossils.  Pretty sure.

*Goofing around on the slack-line: