Monday, May 18, 2009

The Stolen Days at the Beach

Last week we started to head home from the beach on Tuesday, one day early. Baby Girl had woken up in the middle of the night, throwing up. Ugh. We had no idea what she had and if we all might get it. She threw up again in the morning, the kids started fighting over ridiculous things, and we figured the moodiness was a bad sign. Better head home. We told the kids they could play at the beach one more time on the way out. We had to head up the coast for about an hour before turning inland, so this was a good way to break up the trip home anyway.

It was a beautiful day. The kids were having a great time in the sand, Baby Girl felt fine, Wife and I were enjoying the view and we thought, "Wouldn't it be nice to stay here, with this beautiful view?" Two phone calls later, I'd found a great mid-week rate at a top resort with a gorgeous view of the beach and the ocean. The hotel was fabulous, and we were enjoying the luxury so much, we stole an extra night! For the second night, we had to change rooms, but got bumped up to the top floor with an even more spectacular view for the same fabulous rate we'd been given for the first night.

This room had a view of a local landmark called Haystack Rock. It is mololith that sticks up out of the water, very close to shore and is a National Wildlife Refuge - home to many bird species. We were maybe 200 yards from the rock (she says, imagining about 2 football fields...but maybe it was farther than that). I wish I'd seen a good pair of binoculars on sale, or had ours with us. It would have been fun to see the birds up closer, and maybe even their nests. Haystack Rock is a major nesting site for puffins, which I love and have ever since first seeing them up in Alaska when I was in college.

This pair of Nikon binoculars that I've linked to above looks like it would do a great job of bringing the details of birds and their nests into view. Nikon does a great job with cameras, so I would think their binoculars would be outstanding. It's all about the lenses, right? They certainly have that down. After that, you want a pair of binoculars that feel good in your hand - again, why wouldn't the top camera manufacturer make a great feeling pair of binoculars? Add in their ergonomic design, arsenic free Eco-Glass, one-year warranty, and free shipping, if I'd been staying a bit longer, I could have ordered this pair of binoculars online and had them shipped to me at my hotel. Now that would have been fun!

As it was, there were no binoculars, but we did have two cameras with zoom with us, and took a ton of photos. They should be up on Wife's blog soon!

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