Ocean Shores by the Seaside

Recently I've been a bit overwhelmed with transitions in everyday life and my aunt and I were snapchatting at the start of this month, thinking it was about time we took a vacation. We planned to meet up and carpool down to a cabin she booked at Shoreside Villas, a medieval themed A-frame with a super cute loft. We got to Ocean Shores on Monday morning and stopped for lunch at a little bistro where I ate Eggs Benedict while she had a turkey sandwich. We drove around the streets looking for our place, and then finally found it using the help of our GPS. We decided to hang out there for the rest of the afternoon, unpacking, watching TV, making dinner and relaxing. We took a stroll around the neighborhood, and I noted how much the area reminded me of Hawaii's residential areas. The houses were all open, with cars in the lots, beach relics, unique driftwood, and such. I enjoyed walking out amidst the breeze coming in from the ocean, watching the trees shake made me smile. We spotted a pair of deer and took pictures while we slowly passed by them. Enjoying the quick refresh, we planned what to watch when we got back to the cabin. A slight incident happened with the stove once we got back while trying to make tea, so we ended up needing to make a trip to the store to buy a replacement kettle, so we just watched HGTV when we got back and ended up going to bed around 11:30pm.

The next morning, after sleeping in, and while we were getting ready for a day trip to Westport, we called places trying to find somewhere to book massage appointments. We didn't have any luck for about an hour until we finally landed an appointment at this place in Olympia for the next day, on our drive up back home. We left after a small all American breakfast of eggs, bacon and pancakes. After about an hours drive, we had finally arrived at our main destination; the Westport Winery. We spent about 3 hours inside, doing a wine tasting that was absolutely delicious, mainly full of chocolate and fruity wines. We went next door to the art market and bought paintings, stones, and pins for ourselves while we chatted with the artisans. Next, we visited this mermaid museum, walking off the lunch we ate at the neighboring restaurant. My favorite part of the day was probably the meal. I had these delicious fish tacos along with some shrimp wrapped in bacon, drizzled with apricot horseradish. The whole afternoon was so relaxing, and the winery was tucked on some rolling hills, surrounded by pine trees covered in moss. Was truly a lovely experience. We went back, taking the hour long drive to chat and enjoy the scenery.

When we arrived back in town, we stopped by the beach, Chance a la mer, and got out of the car to walk around the shoreline. It was fairly breezy, so we stayed for just a short time to look for stones and shells, I found a sand dollar! The coolest thing that happened on the beach was when the wind had pulled a dollar bill out of my back pocket, it landed on the beach behind me without my knowing. Then, a crow starts cawing behind me, and I turn to see it jumping up and down right next to the dollar, making these noises to grab my attention. I was blown away, so I just thanked him for it and went back to my aunt to tell her about him helping me out. She suggested I bring back a little token of appreciation to him, so I brought him a little piece of my Takis. That brought a lot of birds over to us, so we just hopped in the car and left, but it was such a cute exchange!

That evening, we relaxed, had some food from the winery for dinner, and watched some Schitts Creek at the cabin. We got ready for our massages the next day, shaving our legs and doing our nails! We ended up going to bed around 9:30pm, we were quite sleepy from the packed day we had.

That last morning, we cleaned up the house for about 2 hours and tidied up our trash and rooms, and got ready to head to the beach one last time to kill the time between our massages and our check out time. We were able to drive right up onto the beach, which was such a cool experience! I really enjoyed walking up to the waterline and seeing how powerful the waves were. It brought me back to my vacations on various beaches and made me feel so relaxed and free. We then headed on our way to Olympia, stopping to get lunch before our massages. We enjoyed some Italian soup, a perfect little meal before intense relaxation. We checked in for our massages and sat in the lobby until our therapists were ready. The 60 minutes were pure bliss, and really helped to open up my shoulder, which has been bugging me as a barista, because I over use my arms and back a lot. I had such a pleasant experience, and then we drove back up to Seattle, to pick up my car which was in a mechanics shop.

I was in need for this free time, to not have to be anywhere, enjoying the quiet pace of life, and to try out some local gems.

-Abby