Sean was able to take off a lot of time for paternity leave and and one of the things he wanted to do on his “break” was go to the beach. We usually go to the beach at least once or twice a year, but this was a good time of year and it wouldn’t be too busy because school was still going. We decided to go to Newport, Tillamook, Seaside and Astoria so we took two different day trips to do all the things we wanted to and eat at all our favorite places like Mo’s for clams.
Another reason we went two separate days was because we left later than we wanted to in the morning. We still had so much though on our drive. We got breakfast, coffee, and stopped at outlet malls. We made it to Mo’s for lunch and we had clams, clam chowder with bay shrimp on top, and clam chowder in a bread bowl. The food was all delicious and we were able to sit right by the window to see the water which was nice. After we ate, we walked over to the water to show Mason and get pictures. Then we headed to the outlet mall and then the aquarium.
We had a great time at the aquarium! It was fun because you got to walk around inside and look in tanks and see where different animals are from and then you could go outside and walk through sand/dirt to see different animals. There was a tunnel you could walk through where you could see fish swimming around you, under you, and over you. Mason thought that was fun to look at fish under his feet. I took a picture with Mason behind this sharks jaw and it was really special to me because I have a picture from when I was a kid where my brother and I took a picture next to the jaw too.
If you go to the Oregon Coast, I highly recommend eating at Mo’s, going to the outlets, and aquariums are always fun family activities. This aquarium was really nice and had fun things to see, but it’s not very big so it doesn’t take up much of your day. You have time to explore there and still have plenty of time on the beach.