What begins with an A and ends with an A?

Our anniversary, apparently. For our honeymoon, we went to Aruba. Begins with an A, ends with an A (A/A), had water and sand and heat and everything tranquil. First anniversary? Arizona. A/A, heat (who picks Arizona in July, right? 117 degrees...) and fairly tranquil, but not Aruba. Second anniversary? Aruba again. Third Anniversary? Bend, Oregon. No A/A there, except for the fact that we were at... wait for it... AlissA's wedding. (Spooky, huh?) And, there was heat... and a lake....

"And, the Fourth anniversary?" you ask...

Astoria. Begins with an A, ends with an A, had sun, heat, water (not quite the same as Aruba, to say the very least). Totally weird, right?

I love Astoria. Not sure why, exactly. I think it's because it reminds me a bit of Havre de Grace... not that I have particularly fond memories from HdG, but I enjoy the concept. Also, Astoria has a nice, legit feeling to it. Not like the maturing hippie-dom of Canon Beach or the over-the-top tourist attractions of Seaside. All told, there aren't really any beaches in Astoria - just river and bridges and barges. Goonies was filmed there, as was The Ring, Free Willy, Kindergarten Cop... and let's not forget Short Circuit. Of course it's only now as I write this that I actually bothered to look up the address for the Goonies house. Who knew they'd have such information on the interwebs, when we've spent so much time simply driving around Astoria, just looking for it?

When we go to Astoria, we typically just futz around, check out the shops, look at all of the great homes and wonder how long it will take to buy one (or at least, I do... having not sold Beto on new appliances, I'm fairly certain that the Astoria deal will take a well-planned, strategic execution of persuasive technique and a significant raise), hang out at the waterfront, have a decent dinner and call it good. This time, though, we took Lucy on her first family vacation, and she did great. She even got to walk on the beach for the first time.

So, here are some pics from the big 24 hour vacay, in no particular order...

The view from our room at the Cannery Pier Hotel...






Lucy, at the Astoria Column...


Lucy, in her ride...


Lucy, chilling in the room...


Lucy in Manzanita... her first walk on sand... (dig the haircut? that's right - my next career)


A boy and his dog...


Aerodynamic Lucy... "Just... one... more... step... to... FREEDOM"


So, who knows what's on the plate for the next anniversary. Maybe just Aruba again, which would be nothing short of heaven (check out the Bucuti). Alabama? Not likely. Atlanta? Only on business. Argentina? Doubtful. Alaska... that's a good one. Maybe. Oooh... Antigua... that's even better.