And now it begins....the great unmasking of America.....

 8:47 am - Real Saturday - May 15th - Seal Rock, OR - 50° F, 82% humidity, wind 10 mph out of the north.....cloudy, blustery weather today...a continuation of the last week with a forecast high of 57° F.  On this date in 2015 we awoke to a few inches of snow on the ground in South Lake Tahoe, CA.......↴

Friday, or 5th Saturday for those in the 'know', was the first day of our first three day weekend of the summer.  We've been creating a pile of stuff to donate to Goodwill, but the local one in Newport has not been accepting donations for as long as we have been here at SRRVC, however, the one in Lincoln, which is a Goodwill Supercenter, does accept donations so we decided on the spur of the moment to drive up to Lincoln, make our donations, and then do some junking.  We left home around 11:30 am to make the 30+ minute drive north to Lincoln, and arrived there without incident just after 12 pm.  This Goodwill is a very nice store, and has a very large selection of clothing.  I found an almost new pair of Dockers khaki, cuffed and pleated dress pants, and TLE a very nice black dress.  In addition I found a perfect double suitor which we will use on our flight to Spokane on May 28th to carry my two suits.  In all we spent less than $26!

We haven't been out to eat for a while so we decided to stop off at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay on our way home.  We wanted to arrive after the lunch crowd, and managed to arrive just before 12:30 pm to find people getting in their cars.....perfect timing.  We had a window side table within minutes.....

....upon entering the foyer of the restaurant I noticed almost immediately that most staff members (hots, servers, bus boys, etc) were not wearing masks, and neither were customers entering, so we immediately removed ours.  Apparently Oregon has relaxed their mask requirements significantly for those who are vaccinated, however, no one is asking you if you are vaccinated, so we're cool with that.....

....for our appetizer we ordered a full plate of their Seahawk Bread topped with shrimp, smoked salmon, and a couple of great cheeses.....above you see two of them, however, there were four, and we could have stopped with that and been fine, but we had already ordered our entrees not realizing how big this appetizer was going to be.  I also ordered a cup of their Clam Chowder, remembering how good it was the last time we were here.  TLE ordered a glass of 'Andrew Rich Sauvignon Blanc' wine, and I a pint of their 'Bier One Alsea Amber Ale'....

The clam chowder, and amber ale were superb!

....I neglected to take pictures of our entrees, but I had their Grilled Hamburger, and TLE their Rock Fish Po' Boy....we only managed to eat half of our entrees, and boxed up the rest, including most of our fries, to take home.....what a lunch!

After lunch TLE did some digging on her phone internet and found out the CDC has lifted the mask mandate for all vaccinated persons in the USA.  Following suit, apparently Walmart, COSTCO, Trader Joes are also lifting their mask mandates (employees of COSTCO and Trader Joe's must still wear them, but not customers).  It only makes sense....if the vaccines really work, then those who are fully vaccinated are safe, right?  Those who choose not to vaccinate are taking an informed risk, as it should be.  Every time I cross US-101 on foot to walk on the beach I take an informed risk, or every time I drive my car, or smoke a cigar, or get in the shower.....in all cases there is risk of injury, but I choose to take the risk. When I flew down to Ontario, CA and spent time with my kids, and their kids I took a risk of catching anything going around.  None of us wore masks around each other.  I am sure now that Walmart has taken the lead, that other national retailers will follow suite, or lose business, right?  If I have a choice between shopping at Target (still has a mandate), or Walmart where to you think I'll choose to shop?

We arrived home a little after 3 pm to very threatening skies, a very light mist, and the wind, of course, was blowing in the high teens again....it felt like it was in the low 40's temp wise, so any outdoor activities seemed off the table for another afternoon.

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