Wishing I Were Still On Vacation

Cape Disappointment was a bit of that and more.  The weather on Saturday was gloomy, foggy, and cold.  By this day I was hurting more than words could say and wishing I had taken some Vicodin, which I had left in my room.

J signed us in to the US Coast Guard station and asked if we could go up to the lighthouse and take pictures.  Because I'm handicapped and J is military a very nice Coast Guard guy decided to give us a tour.  The E-3 punched in his codes and opened up the gate to let us drive through escorted.  I think I would have better appreciated the view had there been more than fog.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, built in 1856, is one of the oldest structures in the Northwest and is located 4 miles southwest of Ilwaco, WA.

Me on my scootie-puff Junior (reference to Futurama). J had determined that my cane was not going to be enough for the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center.  I had to agree.  I didn't even know that they had these scooters nor did I think they would do the trails.  I've never used one before but it was quite a bit of fun.

Fort Clatsop, located closer to Warrenton than Astoria, was the  winter camp for the Corps of Discovery from December 1805 to March 1806.  Think Lewis and Clark.

This is a replica of the winter camp, rebuilt in 2005 due to a fire.  Oh and yes, the scootie-puff did make it through the trails and the boardwalks nicely.  I was quite pleased and almost put it on rabbit to make J run but I couldn't be that mean.


By noon most of the fog had cleared and the day finally warmed up.  Yay!

"Here at Camp Rilea Mom they are making me do pull-ups.  Please send money for hand chalk.  Love, your son."  Okay so he did the chin-ups/pull-ups just to show off.  I can't do them but it is nice to look at a pleasing figure of a male specimen do them just to show off.

We used our military identification cards to gain access to Camp Rilea.  They were doing live fire exercises so I felt right at home with all the gun noise.  J has actually been wanting to check this place out for a while ever since a job directive had him looking at the post data.

Nothing to see or much to do here except watch out for duck and deer feces.  No that isn't green bean baby food on the ground dear.

The North Coast Craft Beer Trail.  Wait what?  I thought that was Cannon Beach, OR's Haystack.  Well okay it is but we didn't go here for that though the scenery was really pretty.

Before J deploys I picked out a little vacation surprise for him.  I told him I'd take him on a trail.  Then when we got into Oregon I explained its the craft beer trail and that made him happy.  We started at the Wet Dog and ended up at the Lumberyard.  Inbetween was the purchase of salt water taffy, more beer and fudge.  Oh and a few postcards too.

Before we ended Saturday night at the Lumberyard we stopped in at the hardware store for some screw and brew.  Yes you can buy a beer and a screw here or lock or bug swatter.

J decided that of all the places and brews he tried, I didn't drink anything stronger than water, he preferred the strawberry blonde beer at the Wet Dog.  It actually has strawberries, quite a few pints of strawberries, brewed into the mixed.  No seed, no mess just good taste.

Oh if I sound a bit cranky I am.  One of the places we ate lunch at decided to take out not only what we signed for but I'm guessing someone else's bill for food too.  I caught the error on line at my bank and called them today.  I'm not happy about that.  Avoid Dundee's Pub and Grill in Seaside, OR since they made the mistake and if they don't correct it I'm going to write them one heck of a nasty letter since the extra I was charged was more than double my own bill.  The food wasn't all that good either.  So far I have to say that the best tasting clam chowder I've ever had was at the Timberhouse on the Olympic Loop in Northern Washington.

CD 1 Again and Again and Again

Photo by me of J and I out at the wreck the Peter Iredale at Fort Steven's State Park in Hammond, Oregon.  The wind was quite fierce on Friday with the rain turning the kicked up sand to mud.  When we got back to our vehicle one side was covered with mud.

On 25 October 1906, the British sailing vessel the Peter Iredale landed on a sandbar off the coast of Clatsop Beach where it stuck and is still today.  No known deaths.

Photo by J of me at the wreck site.  I was doing a rather obnoxious pose with my tongue sticking out acting all well, I guess wonky.


This was perhaps the only day I didn't have to use my cane on the trip.  Because of this our first day of a mini holiday I wore myself out.  I climbed, walked and played.  I paid for it the following days but really it was worth it to just have fun for one day.

I climbed up to the second landing in this the Astoria Column located in Astoria, Oregon.  J made it all the way to the top but even with taking my rescue inhaler I just couldn't muster up enough oxygen to make it there with him. 

The Column stands 125 feet high and has 164 steps half of which I climbed. It was dedicated on 22 July 1926 and its original cost was $27,133.96.  However the cost to restore the column alone in 1995 was one million, the staircase another six hundred thousand and that was done in 2008.  Crazy how much stuff costs these days.

We stopped for lunch at the Wet Dog Cafe and Brewery in Astoria, Oregon.  We both had burgers with sides of fries.  I just couldn't finish the burger, eating only half of it and giving the other half to J.  Oh it was quite tasty but my stomach is really acting up lately. 

Okay so today is the beginning of hopefully a long cycle for me.  I'd like this cycle to last approximately 40 weeks give or take a couple of weeks.  You ladies know what I mean.

J had the last two of his wisdom teeth pulled at 0720 hrs today so I'll get my HCG blood test tomorrow and pick up my clomid at the pharmacy while I'm at it.  This is our very last chance with my DNA.  I'm not worried, I can always do donor eggs.  I know its still a pipe dream but hey I know for a fact all of us infertile bloggers keep trying against the odds.

By the way the test results for the Celiac came back as unequivocal unpronounced.  I only have a sensitivity to the gluten which is a good thing but still sucks.  Still my stomach has been hurting more and more with anything I put in it.  I'll have to keep that appointment with the gastroenterologist for later this month.  

This coming Monday I have an ultrasound to see if I'm ovulating.  I hope I will be, fingers crossed.  I'll post more photos and information tomorrow.  Now its time to go baby my hubby as I'm sure after having two teeth pulled he needs some loving care.

Not This Time

I think somehow the endometriosis claimed another chance at pregnancy.  I'm not sure what went wrong but I woke up with awful cramps this A.M..  No spotting but then again I think that is do to the progesterone supplement I'm taking.  Again a BFN and its 13 DPO.  Its over.  I'm stopping the endometrin tonight.  I'm going to let AF win this round and start over with a smile on the clomid for one last ditch effort before J leaves.  End of story.

J finally was able to get a 3 day pass.  Yay!  So late last night I was booking a motel for us.  Now I just have to finish the packing and remember to pack plenty of feminine protection.  You know, just in case AF decides to show up this weekend.  If I hadn't of taken the endometrin, with the spotting I was already getting, she would have probably shown up tomorrow.  So I'm thinking that perhaps Sunday she'll be here.

I shall not look a gift horse in the mouth.  I managed to lose 1.2 pounds overnight.  That seems to correspond with the impending next cycle as if I look back at my last cycle with the doomed IVF I'll see that right around today in the cycle I too lost the weight which I thought was rather odd.  Oh I'm sure it will just find its way back to my body over the weekend.  Maybe I should pack my pedometer and see if I can  some way keep the fat at bay. 

We are headed out tomorrow after finishing up a few details here and there like buying some snack food for the trip.  The one main problem with sleeping away from home is that if you get hungry in the middle of the night there is no midnight raid of the fridge unless you remember to bring the goods.  All I need is a can of low salt nuts and some healthy cardboard like food and I'll be good.

I'll post photos after I take them like I did last time.  Hopefully my camera batteries won't die off as early as they did last time.

Oh and yes, I was finally given the approximate date.  I'll let everyone know well after the fact when he has gone as my blog will be mutating in that particular direction.  I have to say that I think I'm more scared of this deployment than the last two.  I don't know how he does it.  I am proud of him.

Off to Oregon for the weekend.