Three and a half hours from Seattle - you'll reach the Pacific coast. To celebrate the anniversary of the day we met 13 years ago, Hal and I packed up our MINI and drove to Long Beach, Washington for the weekend. The world's longest beach!
We stayed at Adrift Hotel, a hip (and dog-friendly) oceanfront spot that offers free beach cruisers, board games, dvds, and live music on weekends. We felt right at home with our fluffy king size bed, yummy EO organic bath products and sleek industrial modern design.
My folks joined us on the adventure since it happened to be my mom's birthday that weekend. Our prayers for sunshine came true, so we met up on Saturday morning to nab the complimentary bikes for an invigorating ride along Discovery Trail - an incredible 8.5 mile paved path that runs parallel to the ocean.
One prerequisite for visiting Long Beach - bring a dog! I'm pretty sure Hal and I were the only couple without one. Thankfully, my parents brought their pup, Rudy, so we pretended he was ours for awhile as we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the sand. As much as he loved the beach, he refused to go near the water, since my dad fell into the ocean with him the day prior. How a grown man and leashed dog fall into an ocean is beyond me. We couldn't stop laughing after hearing the story of the "giant wave" - if only my mom had captured it on camera!
After a quick trip into town for fudge, skee-ball and curiosity shop perusing, we had a lovely dinner at Pickled Fish, just down the hall from our room. We were seated at a table with a gorgeous view and relished a huge plate of herb gnocchi with smoked whiskey butter, acorn squash and manchego.
And no romantic evening would be complete without a sunset stroll along the beach, a riveting in-room game of Clue, and late night drinks - or in my case, non-alcoholic wine, aka grape juice.
It was a sweet little trip that ended too soon. We can't wait to return when the weather is warmer. Maybe during the Long Beach sandcastle competition or kite festival. Maybe next summer to watch our little one dip his toes in the ocean for the very first time. Yes - I think so.
This post is sponsored by Adrift Hotel. The content and opinions are all my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that keep Happiness Is running!
