Library People On The Oregon Coast | Spindrift Cottage, Manzanita

My sister is a library person in Portland, Oregon. Library people are weird and wonderful. Or weirdly wonderful. Or wonderfully weird. You decide.

I think being a library person would be awesome. You're surrounded by books and like-minded people. And there's interesting weirdos too. Like the people who bring rats in Tupperware containers into the library and try to pass them off as service animals. Seriously, that kind of thing happens where my sister works.

One of the amazing perks that the library where my sister works has to offer (besides rats in plastic boxes) is access to a cottage on the beach in Manzanita on the Oregon coast. She was lucky enough to win the employee lottery and I was lucky enough to be visiting when she had the cottage.

Here's what it looks like when the sun is out and it's bright and cheerful on the coast. I cheated and took photos of other people's photos. {For the record, it's usually windy, gloomy, and rainy on the coast.}

When you're on vacation with a library person, guess what you do? Yep, you go visit the local library. My sister and the library person on duty at the Manzanita library had a fascinating conversation about periodicals. Well, fascinating if you're a library person. If you're not a library person, then not so fascinating. I read a brochure on tsunami evacuation procedures while it was going on. Slightly more fascinating, considering Scott and I were on our boat in New Zealand during a tsunami warning once.

After the fascinating periodical decision, we went to one of the candy shops in town. My sister bought salt water taffy for her co-workers which was a smart move on her part because none of us like salt water taffy. If she had bought something chocolaty, there probably would have been nothing left for her co-workers.

Possibly the coolest thing about staying at the cottage, other than the fireplace and the ocean views, was the journals which guests of the cottage fill out during their stay. Library people are really creative people. The journals are full of poems, drawings, and even locks of human hair. Okay, human hair isn't so much creative as it is slightly creepy.

Isn't this amazing? The picture on the left is of some woman staying here, reading a book, and trying to ignore everyone talking around her. I can relate.

Kids are also prolific leavers of art in the journals, usually of an outline of their hands. {Yes, I'm sure "prolific leavers of art" isn't grammatically correct, but you need to give library people something to get excited about while brandishing their red pens.}

I really like this one. No idea what it says in Chinese, but you have to admire the penmanship.

There's reference to several ghosts at the cottage, including a ghost dog. Here's proof that the ghost dog exists.

Unfortunately, there are other unpleasant creatures at the cottage, like mice and cockroaches.

 Competition for the cottage is fierce. The holidays are very popular dates, especially the 4th of July.

If you're really lucky, you can see whales on the coast, as documented by this person in one of the journals. We were here at the wrong time of the year, but we still had a wonderful time hanging out with family and my sister's friend and her daughter. {Rebecca and Tseten - thanks again for the great company and the amazing food!}

If you want to know more about Spindrift cottage and see pictures, check out this blog.

Are you a library person? What would you do if someone came into your place of employment with a rat in a plastic containers?

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