Commercial Fisherman's Festival Astoria, Oregon

We left yesterday and went to Astoria, Oregon. We are at the northern point of Oregon and near the mouth of the Columbia River. We are in a hotel that is right on the water. On the rocks and piers there are a huge family of Sea Lions. I am guessing that they are sea lions as they are rather large. They are very vocal. I miss seeing so many as I used to see them in the LA harbor.
It rained most of the last 3 days, but this morning we did awaken to some sun for the morning anyway. By 1 PM it was really raining. We were at the Fisherman's Festival but it was very different. There was a swimming rescue demonstration by the Coast Guard which was interesting to watch. It was rather odd because they were really low to the water and they usually are not that close to the water. We bought a small buoy for Michael to get autographs. CatchCon is for 21 and older. This was nice because it did not matter the age. Michael had the chance to meet the crews of the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie and Kodiak. I was looking at the picture and I did not realize that Michael is as tall as a couple of the guys and then just slightly smaller than even some of the tallest guys on the crab boats. They were shocked to know that Michael was just 14. I think next year that we will attend the Seattle Fisherman's Memorial celebration and go see the boats on the docks in Ballard. I am sure that Michael would love to tour the boats as we did.
The funniest thing has been listening to the chorus of barking from the sea lions tonight. They were making me laugh so hard that I could not even play a game. I wish we knew what they were saying to each other. I think that it would be very funny to know. We were sitting here and Justin said they were saying "yummy, yummy, yummy, yummy, tummy". Then to hear the other people here in the hotel and they are making fun of the sea lions. They make noises and then all of a sudden you hear loud chorus of replies from the sea lions.
It has been funny to hear this. At least it has made us giggle.
I called my Uncle Ben in Portland. He had a pacemaker/defibrillator installed about 3 weeks ago. I had forgotten that he was to have the surgery. He sounded really good on the phone. We are planning to drive over to Portland so we will see him before we start the trip back home. For Michael this is his great great uncle. My grandmother's baby brother. He is the last one alive. Uncle Ray passed away last month and bless his heart was 92. If I did my math right Ben is about 82. His daughter Karrie lives in Renton and so I hope that we will be able to see her soon as well. I have not seen Ben in over 22 years. I have not seen him since his sister (my grandma) died and maybe even before that. I like being able to get away as a family even if just for a weekend. Wow the sea lions went quiet there for a minute. That was on the scary side. LOL!!!