I tried to post from Cannon Beach last night, but I had extremely s-l-o-w (and unstable) internet connection on my PC card. What was frustrating was that somebody in the vicinity had a very strong WiFi signal that my computer kept trying to connect to, but you can’t piggy-back on peoples’ wireless anymore without a key code. (Bummer!) Tonight (in Florence) I have WiFi and it's better, but not the "high speed" that the hotel claims it is.
Well, we are talking gun-metal gray and drenching, soaking, drowning wetness. (Plus wind!) It’s quite disappointing but it's not surprising, since it is March after all. (I’d be really pissed if it was May or June and we were dealing with this kind of weather). You just decide that you aren’t going to melt, that you’re going to have a really bad-hair day, and go with the (torrential) flow. It does get “draining” after two days of it, though. And there's no let-up in sight.
We stayed in a charming place last night in Cannon Beach. We didn’t want to spend Big Bucks for oceanside lodging, so we stayed in a cabin a couple of blocks from the water. We couldn't see the ocean from there, but we could sure hear it roar when we stepped outside for a (dripping) smoke. I just love Cannon Beach! It makes me think somewhat of LaConner with all the art galleries and unique shops (not just T-shirt/kite/souvenir shops). I limited my purchases to (artful) earrings! Oh, there were a few items I might have latched onto if we had more room in the car, but the limited hauling space is actually a good way to curtail frivolous purchases. Even if many of the shops will ship them home to you free of charge….
There was a men’s haberdashery shop and JDub had to try on this “hippy” hat that came complete with gray locks! I still haven’t stopped chuckling over that. I’d “promised” I wouldn’t blog this picture, but I just can’t help it. My bad.
Once we’d really had our fill of shopping the constant slamming rain, we headed back to our quaint lil’ cabin and took naps. I absolutely crashed! When I woke up, it was time for dinner. When I was here back in 1992 with a bunch of girls, we discovered Mo’s and I was tickled to learn that it was still in existence, so that’s where we headed. I think it’s a really neat place, right on the ocean with huge windows overlooking the surf and Haystack Rock. It’s big and noisy and caters to families (read: lots of noisy kids), but they offer a huge selection of nummy seafood. There are several of them along the Oregon coast, including one here in Florence. I had steamer clams and they were marvelous! JDub had a fish dish drenched in hollandaise sauce and shrimp that looked (and he said it was) extremely rich. Probably worth a week’s worth of Weight Watcher points! Whoah. I’m glad we got there before dark so we could see the roiling sea! Because it truly was roiling! We’re so accustomed to the gentle surf (if you can even call it surf) at Harstine. Lapping? (Only after a boat’s gone by!)
[I am having a hell of a time with the hotel's WiFi and just tried to save a draft of all that I'd written and all the pictures I'd uploaded. Guess what? It dropped me -- right in the middle of saving. And I've lost everything I'd done since my last save, which was substantial. I'm so pissed I could kick something].
Well, since I'm boiling mad about the internet connection, I'm just going to post some pictures with some captions. Suffice it to say it has continued to be WET.
Here's some roiling waves at Cannon Beach:
"Sunny" (the Solstice) in the Mo's parking lot with Haystack Rock in the background: 
This was a picture I took from inside a (nummy) restaurant in Lincoln City where we had lunch today:
After emerging from soupy fog (on top of pouring rain), we stopped to potty the dogs and had a chance to take in this view (followed by climbing back in the car with wet humans and wet dogs and steaming up the windows). Quite a view, huh? 
The rain finally let up this afternoon so we stopped at a park/lookout spot and took the dogs to the beach for their first "ocean" experience. We unleashed them and let them run, and Bailey actually ended up wading in the ocean! Well...the waves kept creeping up the beach and she wasn't expecting that. While it was happening, I thought I was capturing it on video. Turned out I didn't get it at all. (As you can tell, this has been a trying day for me!) But I did get this picture before unleashing them. You should have seen the leashes wrapped around JDub's legs, like he was a maypole!
We've had a nice time in Florence -- we arrived about 4:00 this afternoon and immediately hit the shops in the historical district. I think what happened was that we out-ran the storm and so we were able to visit the shops without getting wet! (What a concept!) The storm has since moved on down here, though, and it's raining with a vengeance. God! I'm sick of it!
I'll have to wait until tomorrow to tell you about my horrible experience today about nearly burning up a dog. (And the dog wasn't one of mine...)
