Camping: not just for homeless people

This about sums it up.

Hidey, hos! I survived the yurt, and I'm here to tell you all about it. Plus, share some photos from the trip! I forgot to bring Mrs. P (sorry, babes), but hope you'll still enjoy the photo essay I've constructed for your enjoyment. By which I mean: I hope you enjoy it more than I enjoy camping.

This sign made me think of my bloggy ladies...

We left Portland late on Friday (around 5), so we decided to take the more scenic route through Newberg to Lincoln City, and I took some photos along the way. Above shows the overcast, yuck weather we were leaving and the promise of a brighter day ahead.
The above house reminded me a lot of what I originally pictured the Cullen house would look like when I read the Twilight Saga. Not on a hill like this, but still - it seems so secluded and spacious, but removed from the rest of the world. I just loved how it was surrounded by trees like that.
Sunset over the Pacific. We got down to South Beach at about 8:15 or so, while it was still light but just coming on twilight. How appropriate.

I like the idea that you can go buy booze if you get a bad haircut, but I just hope Tara doesn't make a habit of stopping in before work.

Our yurt.
I took this picture the next day when the light was better - but here it is for all to see -the yurt! It looks a lot like the one I posted on previous posts as an example. The door had a lock, the porch had an awning, and there was a skylight:

As seen from inside

Since there was a question (Hi Jen!) about this when I posted these on Facebook, the blankets are for the Minnesota Vikings, Penn State, and Atlanta Braves, plus a generic sea-themed blanket.

The mat on the bunk beds was like the mats we used to have in gym class: firm. Better than the ground, but that's all I can really say.

OK, so I hate camping. I have been all kinds of camping, I believe. I have been backpacking (as JJ described in a recent post), camping under the stars, camping in a tent, camping in a trailer, and, now, camping in a yurt. I even stayed at a tree sitting one time (it was, like, a backpacking, biking, camping excursion into the forest), although I did not go up to the platform (fear of heights). I believe I can say with authority that it is not for me.

We went on this trip because our friends, the Fashions (you may remember Mrs Fashion because she purchased the tracksuit), were going with a group and invited us along, promising it would be better than "regular camping," by which I assume they meant tent camping. It was better than tent camping, I'll give it that. But that's not saying much. The yurt stank of disinfectant (which, I guess, is a good thing, but not a pleasant smell). TH's allergies started acting up, so neither of us got any sleep until his pills kicked in, and then he snored like crazy (on account of the allergies), so I was still tossing and turning on our hard-ass mat. There were wacky raccoons living under the yurts, which had wars at night and sounded like rabid warthogs surrounding us. There were public restrooms and showers nearby, but they were what you would expect - except that the stalls were super small. I swear there was one foot between the end of the toilet and the door when it was closed, so in order to get into any of the stalls you had to climb almost over the toilet to close the door before you could climb back to actually take care of business. That was fun.

There's just nothing I like about camping. I like to enjoy the outdoors, I even hike once in awhile, but I like to go home and use my bathroom (which has such a nice new floor) and sleep in my comfortable bed at the end of the day.

This is kind of exactly how I feel about it:

So the next day, TH and I and all our friends headed to Newport proper and saw some sights. Among the ones I saw:

This was a display tacked to a wall in a store promoting the ugliest blow-up doll I've ever seen.

They had one for almost everyone - this was just the one I chose to capture...

This was in the Wax Works. Jake, is that you???

I wish it was "Eddie & Rob..."

This picture isn't very good - but the bottom sign says "TigerLily"

And that sign says...
...NESSIE!!!
"Keep off" - that means you, Jake.

That concludes the Twilight section of our photos.

Mo's has the best clam chowder around. I defy you to find better (New England-style).

We eat at Mo's whenever we go to the coast. The one in Newport, I believe, is the original.

I just wanted to share this pic - one of our group had a kite and let it out to the end of the spool, then went down to the shore to reel it in (we were all afraid it would dive and maim one of us). He is in the far right of this pic - the kite is in the upper left. In the middle-right-ish is another guy from our group. I'm just proud of how the shot turned out.

Aaaaaand, La Quinta caters to our kind! This reminded me of Twat-waffles. Except it's "ho twaffles," which I like a lot as a phrase, too.

So, tell me, do you like camping? Have you ever stayed in a yurt or other uncommon housing apparatus? Tell it to us all in the comments!

Oh, and remember:

But not if you use it correctly.