My BluHeaven: 555 Merry early Christmas lovebug

Love you kiddo, more than there are stars in the universe.

Today we took a little trip. One of the gifts for you this Christmas, was also an item on the bucket list: Ride the Oregon Coast Scenic Railway. Not just any trip though, their Christmas train, pulled by a 100 year old steam engine that's done it all, from mining to passengers to freight, and even been in a movie. My plan had been to make a coast trip somewhat of a Christmas tradition. It's peak whale watching season too... so make a day or overnight trip out of it. Watch whales, maybe take a boat out, ride the train, eat great seafood. See how our fish & chips hold up in comparison. I guess it still could be, I just... I really wanted it to be with you. The whole point was for it to be for you 🥺🥺🥺

We met Santa, and had cookies (excellent) and hot chocolate (ehhhhhhh.....) and they had live music and so everyone sang Christmas songs. Yes I'm leaning lol, we were in the last car and that thing rocked like a boat in a storm. ISTILLFEELLIKEI'MROCKING😭😭😭

It rained... because Oregon. Also one of the towns we passed through had a corndog stand.... they dressed the corndog as Rudolph lol

(More below 👇🏻)

There was only one thing I wanted for Christmas 😢

It's a pretty short trip, only 1 hour, and it's mostly Tillamook bay rather than ocean, but still worth it. I think you would have enjoyed it, just because train, and they let us wander up to the front to get pictures afterwards.

One where it's darker and you can see the lights better.

While we were on our way out, a woman taking photos asked me about your whale. She was absolutely delighted about it, more so even after she learned I made it. She took a picture of him. Turns out, she is from Amsterdam and used to study humpback whales, and they are her favourite (I told her they were yours and mine too)!! Not only that, but she loves trains too! She used to work for Trains magazine as a photographer, and OCSR invites her down to photograph the Christmas train. She gets to ride with the conductor. She gave me her IG. Turns out she also does free photography for people at end of life, which, IDK, seemed fitting. It felt serendipitous.... like a sign. She was very sweet and excited though, I think you would have liked her.

There was also a rainbow... The ride home was very scenic, with lots of waterfalls because of all the rain. I tried to get a picture but none of them turned out because it was getting too dark.