Seaside sunset

Sunset from the Promenade in Seaside

Copyright 2006 Lydia Hinshaw

SEASIDE, OR -- The beach is just four blocks from the hostel where we spent Tuesday night.
We didn't drive far today, and choose indoor accomodations in order to recharge various computer, camera and cellphone batteries. Also, there's free wi-fi here.
Hostels are fun places, much smaller and than hotels, and you never know exactly what you'll stumble into.
Tuesday evening, one of the hostel employees cooked a big pot of spaghetti with homemade sauce, plus garlic bread. Then she invited all the guests to help themselves, in return for a donation to the hostel's tip jar. We'd just been debating what to do about dinner, and suddenly there it was -- inexpensive and delicious.
We also met a young woman who graduated from college in 2005, immediately went to Europe for a year and now is training to hike the Pacific Crest Trail next summer, and maybe the Appalachian Trail in 2008.
We envied her her youth and her many plans and her apparently wealthy parents, who are helping to finance her adventures. And she thought our summer in Alaska and my 2005 summer in Glacier National Park sounded like a totally awesome deal.
Best of all, we won't have to take down a wet tent in the morning.