weekend getaway

...with the dogs.

Have I been silent? Well, I know it's been a long-used excuse, but work has really consumed me over the last month or so. All culminating into a big deadline that happens to be tomorrow morning. And then some reprieve in August before things kick into gear again in September.

So with merely hours of the last work day before Monday, as you can imagine, I was focused on closing out every last detail off my checklist. And then Rick called...

"How about being spontaneous and heading down to Ocean Shores for the weekend?"

"Ummm. Well, let me think about it. I do have this thing on Monday I need to finalize."

"What do have left to do? I called a hotel down there. They take dogs and there's only one room left. Catch is that we have to stay Friday AND Saturday night. We can head down tonight after work."

"Ok, let me jam on this and we'll make it happen."

And so at 6 pm on Friday, we were on the road -- bags packed and dogs in tow. For all of the 11 years that I've lived in the Pacific Northwest, I've never been to the WA Pacific coast beaches.

It just so happened that this weekend was a Harley riders run in Ocean Shores for the "Sun & Surf" Convention. Rick was loving life and only slightly disappointed that we couldn't have actually taken our bike down instead of the Jeep.

Waking up on Saturday morning in the hotel, I was glad that we got a head start. I still had cell phone coverage, so I could check my email and have peace of mind that nothing was exploding at the office while I was away.

Now, you'd expect lovely sunny weather to complement the sandy beach that we were staying on. Instead, we were greeted with misty 60 degree rain. It actually wasn't too bad. We got up and took the dogs for a walk through the dunes down to the beach where we were practically the only people out there. Dogs off leash, they ran and frolicked in the waves and sand. So fun to see them enjoying themselves. I even got a few minutes on the video camera to capture for posterity. :)

The weather didn't change much, and it did occur to us that we had taken ourselves out of sunny weather and traded it for beach, but no sun. That afternoon, while the dogs were resting, Rick and I walked down to the Harley convention and scanned the merchandise. He walked away with a belt, and I refrained from buying an $80 belt that I'd likely never figure out how to incorporate into my wardrobe considering I haven't worn a belt in years.

Saturday night was low key. I lazed in the hotel room and watch the Griswalds in search of Wallyworld, while Rick hit a bucket of balls at the local golf course. Subway and ginger snaps for dinner and a nightcap of "Blue Roosters," a gift I'd received back in December and finally had an occasion to bring it out -- vodka and Jones Blueberry soda. Quite nice.

Since we were on vacation, I even let Zoe curl up in bed with me. Only on vacation though. :)

By Sunday morning, we were both anxious to get back home. We took the dogs out again for another romp on the beach, showered them off, and loaded them up in the car. It was time for us to get cleaned up and pack the bags and then load them in the car. A rather lackluster "brunch" at the hotel and we were on the road by 11 am.

My task was to get the car washed, vacuumed and freshened for Monday, as I'll likely have to shuttle some people around for an event.

All in all, it was a restful weekend with sand in my toes, dogs bouncing around and strolling hand in hand down the vacant beach.