Newport

I was lucky enough to walk into Mayor Bill Bain's office at the tail end of some sort of conversation about sports funding. I'm kind of an Oregon nerd so it was hard to pretend I wasn't eavesdropping. By the way, the office manager there at city hall REALLY likes butterflies, but that's probably neither here nor there. Anyway, if anyone reading this wants to totally brighten someone's day, then please send a check for $37 to Newport City Hall and write "one hour of gym rental" or something on the memo line. Kids need to play basketball, right?
Mayor Bain runs an appraising business and was just reelected this past month. He reminds me of my uncle Charlie who started the tradition of the wadded-up wrapping paper fight at Christmas every year at my grandparent's house. You know, the COOL uncle that let you play with his pocket knife when you're nine. It's funny, but I feel like I'm nine every time I meet these mayors.
And Newport, of course, is awesome. Here's a secret for next time you're out that way: When you go to the tidepools at the Yaquina lighthouse, pick up a few of those rocks on Cobblestone Beach and you'll find about eight bazillion purple shore crabs. They're about an inch or so long, and when you put one on the pants of your 21-month old baby, he screams with delight. Ooh! Another secret: When it's 9:15 at night and nothing in the fridge of your rental house looks good, head over to Nana's Irish Pub and get a burger to go with some of those crazy french fries with the ham and bacon and cheese on them. While they're cooking, you can enjoy a Guinness and talk to the probably-don't-need-another-beer fishermen that are heading out the next morning at 5am. And then when you bring said burger and fries back home to your wife, you are the king of everything because the chicken at the co-op costs $17.97 PER POUND (!) and it's vacation time and you don't need to be organic when you're on vacation. Right?
Four down, 238 to go.