avatarAlexandria Radford

Summarize

Visiting My Grandma in Astoria, Oregon

What started as a happy trip, ended sadly

Lounging around. Photo by author.

A trip during May of 2018 started normally I would say as far as trips would go. On our way to see my grandparents, we would always visit my uncle in Oregon before heading up to Washington State to see them.

After my grandpa passed away in August of 2017, my grandma ended up moving across the state to Astoria, Oregon with her daughter as her health started going downhill. My grandma became depressed after my grandpa died and just wasn’t the same as the months went on.

Freighter and a bridge. Photo by author.

From what I remember, my grandma officially moved in with her daughter around April. We had been up to see my grandma around March when she was still in Washington. We both knew that she wasn’t going to be around for much longer, so we planned a trip to Astoria to say our goodbyes just in case.

I was excited to visit and explore Astoria, Oregon. I have never been before and I was excited to see the coast. Fun fact, I have never seen the Pacific coast before that trip. It was a cold day when we were exploring around town.

Cold day by the coast. Photo by author.

Besides seeing my grandma, the highlight of the trip was seeing the seals by the docks. You could hear them from miles away. They barked so loud and echoed off the docks. Needless to say, I was excited to see what all the commotion was about.

We parked the car around one of the local grocery stores and started walking near the barking. I was surprised to see several seals just lounging around and being loud, not giving a care in the world. What would it be like lounge around like a seal and be obnoxiously loud?

“Bark, Bark”. Photo by author.

Now I can’t remember if we visited my grandma first or the seals first. That trip is a blur, like a lot of the other trips during that time. I traveled so much between Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana; I can’t remember half of them.

Visiting Astoria is a trip that I will hold dear to my heart as that was the last time I saw my grandma before she passed a few weeks later on what happened to be the first anniversary of my cousin’s passing which also happened to be his birthday. I swear to this day, she planned that one.

Few more Be Open Stories:

Be Open Says;

Proudly we present you 1 of Be Open Platinum Stories created by: Purpura Tigris

Approved by Be Open’s Editors: A Shayens Abran & Rhonda Marrone

Travel
Photography
Be Open
Family Trip
Oregon Coast
Recommended from ReadMedium