My Brookings

As I was looking for a post to link to another one, I found this post that I did a few years ago.  I thought that since I don't live in Provo anymore, I should do this post again about Brookings.  You can learn a little bit more about where I live!

My Brookings

Age: 25

Occupation: Mom

I've lived here for: 11 months

I live here because: Brett has orders at the Coast Guard station here until he gets into his specialty school.

My neighborhood: Just across the street from the local high school and a few blocks from a huge park that I hate because you can't see your kids while they play.

My favorite restaurant: Probably Pancho's because they have really good fajitas.  And if you know me, you know that I hardly ever order anything else at a Mexican restaurant.

If you go to this restaurant, be sure to order: See above.  Must have the fajitas.

My favorite museum: I actually don't know of any local museums.  Sad.

My favorite tourist destination: Whaleshead Beach at very, very low tide.  There are tons of starfish and anenomes all around the big rocks that are fun to see.

Best insider spot: Hungry Clam.  It looks like a total hole in the wall, which it is, but it has the best bacon cheeseburgers and patty melts ever.

My favorite area: All along the highways, because they are all spectacularly beautiful.  Going north or south you have amazing beach views, and going east you have the wonderful redwood forests.

Best place to go shopping: If you think there's shopping in Brookings, you have obviously never been here.  Honestly, the best place to go is Fred Meyer, which is like a not as good version of Target.

When you visit, don’t forget to pack: An umbrella.

But leave room in your suitcase for: All the pictures you'll take of the beautiful landscape.

The one local cuisine you should try when you’re in town is: Really there aren't very many restaurants here.  If you like seafood though, it's very fresh around here, so that's probably what I'd pick.

The best way to get around: Car.

If I had to describe this city in one word, it would be: Isolated.  The nearest towns to us are Gold Beach to the north, and Crescent City, CA to the south.  They are both 30 minutes away.  The closest mall/decent shopping center is 2 hours south or 2.5 hours east.

I tell my friends to stay at: Best Western.  All the rooms are ocean view.  We lived there for about a week after we got here while we waited for our stuff to arrive.

The one thing most outsiders don’t know about this city is: They really love their Coast Guard!  Which is good for us. :)

They say “Virginia is for lovers.” So fill in the blank: Brookings is for retirees.  No joke.  More than half the people here seem to be 65 or older.

What do you want to do that you haven't done in your city yet? Eat at the Art City Grill.

Is there anything else within an hour or two that's a "Don't miss it?": Go to Bandon, about 1.5 hours north.  Cute, cute, cute little town with amazing chocolate and Thai food.  It's a fun place to spend a day.

Happy First Birthday Noah!

Noah's birthday was on Wednesday, and we decided to just have a nice party at home for him.  He opened a few presents, but his favorite part by far was the cupcake.  I made Banana Caramel Cakes for him that looked like this before they were totally destroyed.



He was hesitant at first.  He opened it up and ate the banana pieces because it was something he recognized.  But then he realized what the cake tasted like and he totally went for it.

A year ago, Brett was in boot camp in New Jersey and I was in Texas having a baby.  It was a little bit rough, but we are so happy to have Noah in our lives.  He's just the sweetest and smiliest baby there is.  He gives us such joy, and I love watching him grow up.  We've loved this last year with him and can't wait to see what he has in store!

Hack Job

Before



Middle

After

We have, in the past few months, discovered that neither I nor Brett have any inherent hair cutting skills.  I didn't have any illusions of this beforehand, but Brett assured me it wouldn't be that hard and went out and bought hair clippers.  Twice now (once my fault, once Brett's) Brett has had to shave his head entirely because the cut looked so bad.  Now, poor Noah is the victim.  Up until now, Brett's actually been very good with Noah's hair.  But this time was not the same.  It looked so terrible after only a few strokes that we really had no choice but to shave his head and let it grow back in.  But Brett, as you saw in this post from a few years ago, likes to play around while he's cutting/shaving hair.  Thus, the mohawk incident in the second picture.  The worst part is that Noah's birthday is on Wednesday, so all of his pictures will be bald.  Sad.

Tsunami

This is the port that we live near. The red roofed building that you see and the buildings immediately surrounding it make up the Coast Guard station where Brett works. He's there right now, and he's been out on the boats today helping out with all the aftermath of the tsunami. You can see the damage done to our ports. Thankfully, it seems that damage was less than what was expected, and I don't think anyone was majorly hurt. Brett will be there until Monday morning helping out. We are all safe, thank goodness. Thanks to Brett and all the other Coasties for saving people and boats!