I awoke quite early on Sunday morning and found that the heater in the bathroom could only be activated in conjunction with the most god awful unflattering light that I have ever been illuminated by. Seriously. It was much worse than the dressing rooms at REI which is saying something. My bathroom at home has only a little sliver of mirror, and a single bare light bulb casting a dull glow so seeing what I actually look like in the morning was an unpleasant novelty. I turned that heater/light right off then asked Bagpipe Man if he wanted to go for a walk.

We walked and walked over hill and dale and eventually came upon a giant tower.

It was none other than the Astoria Column and I’ll have you know I went up all 164 steps inside and when I got to the top this was my view:

Bagpipe Man started the ascent with me but then decided he did not wish to be 125 feet up in the air. Indeed it was rather terrifying but I did it anyway because I am very brave.

On the way back to the car we pretended that we were going home to pack up the kids, dogs, cats, and chickens so we could move to Astoria and live here:

I don’t remember it looking like it was about to fall over, but such are the mysteries of Astoria. A big giant Thank You to AngstyNoMore for sitting the house and her siblings and to Bagpipe Man for just being so unfailingly awesome. I had a blast.