Inside the Devil's Punchbowl

Starting Friday morning, my stomach became the Devil's Punchbowl. It churned, it chugged.  It wanted nothing to do with the bagel I had eaten for breakfast.  For that matter, it wanted nothing to do with the sip of water I dared to put into it.

This not only threatened to put a kink into my Friday work week, it threatened our planned weekend at the beach.  Luckily, my body decided to cooperate with our plans and we were able to get down to the beach by dinner time on Saturday.

Of course Sunday breakfast was at our favorite beach breakfast joint, the Spouting Horn.  Less no one believe me about my husband's coffee habits, here's a picture of his cup of cream with a dash of coffee compared to my normal looking cup.

Mason spent some time on Google maps and planned out the rest of the days itinerary for us, starting with a trip down to Devil's Punchbowl State Park.

This little guy was there to greet us upon our arrival, along with some of his buddies.

The tide was out so we got to do some good exploring in the caves and climbing on the rocks.

There's no way we're not going to see what's on the other side of that arch.

The punchbowl itself!

Mama and the kids in the middle of the bowl.

Another shot of the trio.  The red rocks surrounding the bowl were pretty cool.

Of course we had to take the narrow tunnel out of the bowl.  This reminded me of something out of Goonies.

The kids made it through!

Spotted this blue heron who was probably also seeing what sort of sea life was hanging around this fine Sunday morning.

Here's a look at some of the cool tide pools that are all over Devil's Punchbowl.  Lots of star fish, anenomies, small fish, coral...

And kelp.  Did I mention kelp?

Luis and Siena brave the bridge across the little waterway.

After Devil's Punchbowl, next on Mason's agenda was a stop at Agate Beach.  I think it had been years since we had stopped here so none of us were sure what to expect.

What we found was a ton of sand and some cool, small dunes.

I taught the kids how to make sand angels, an important life skill.

And how to run up to the cold water, and then sprint back to warmer ground screaming.

Feet.

Someone got tired walking back to the car.  Daddy gives a good piggy back though.

Completing Mason's agenda, a trip to Newport.  We walked along the shops at the bay front, I got some of my favorite candy, pecan log roll, and we visited our friends the sea lions.

And of course lunch at Rogue.  Mason showed his true Puerto Rican side by busting out the dominoes at Rogue.

After lunch and some school clothes shopping at the outlet stores, we headed back home.  Thanks to some traffic caused by a nasty looking motorcycle accident on Hwy 18, a little girl that needed to go potty, and a hungry boy, we found ourselves in need of a restaurant and being at Spirit Mountain Casino.  The gal at the information table suggested the buffet, which seemed a good idea.  We almost bailed when we saw the long line but the others in line convinced us that this buffet was well worth it.

They were right.  This was the biggest, tastiest, all around most amazing buffet I have ever eaten at.  There was crab, prime rib, sushi, fry bread, you name it.  We would never normally stop at the casino, but it may be one of our regulars from here on out.