Auggie has had 27 surgeries since he was born.
California
The clues from the text are "one state south" and "sea side". There are only a few states one state south of Oregon: Nevada and California. Nevada is landlocked which means it does not have any access to the ocean. Therefore, your answer must be California. California's entire Western border is on the ocean.
He thought it would help to enhance the worlds image of the United States... so c
