Leaving the summer gloom of Seattle (the
sun didn't want to come out once Caroline arrived back in
Seattle) behind, we headed west where we planned to drive down
the Washington and Oregon coastline. After a quick sushi stop
in Olympia (another state capitol visited, check!), we made our
way to Long Beach, Washington. Long Beach bills itself as the
world's longest beach. The Michigander in us is skeptical about
the claim, but it is indeed a very long beach. The hard-packed
sand makes it suitable for biking, driving, and mopeding on, and
we saw all of these activities during our evening walk on the
beach. Seeing how it's also famous for its oysters (the town of
Oysterville was just up the road), we couldn't resist sampling
them for dinner. The oysters, along with everything else here,
are fried… and were not at all impressive. We'll take the
oysters of Tamales Bay, California or the southeast U.S. any
day. We spent the night at the cute, coastally, Boardwalk Inn,
where we enjoyed the innkeepers fresh muffins in the morning on
our own little front porch.
The next morning we planned to spend some
time hiking around and visiting the parks and lighthouses of
Cape Disappointment, where Lewis & Clark landed at the Pacific
after their trek west. We should have known by the name not to
plan that much time there. Perhaps it was partially the
continuing gloom, but it was not the highlight of our day by any
means.
Crossing the Columbia River into Oregon
(quick aside, for all of our Midwestern readers - it is
pronounced Oregyn - not Oregahn. Although if you
want to grate on Oregoanians' nerves, Oregahn seems to work just
fine), we stopped in the historic
town of Astoria, where we climbed the 164 spiral steps of the
'world famous' Astoria column for a panoramic view of the area
at the mouth of the Columbia. Caroline did not believe
the view was 164 steps better than the view from the parking
lot, and the 360-degree panorama did not change our plans of
where to head next.
A few miles down the coast, we walked the
boardwalk of the super-touristy-cheesy-resorty town of Seaside.
We often wondered why so many people flock to the cold, gloomy
beach where the water is not at all tempting to interact with.
To crowd the tacky t-shirt shops? Could they all be taffy
addicts? Did they not know that summer is taking place just a
few dozen miles inland, or that beaches exist where the sun
shines and you can jump in the water without fear of
hypothermia? Maybe they're all British descendants.
We left, puzzled, until we hit our next
stop, Cannon Beach. It was here that miraculously, as soon we
made our way to the beach, the sun came out! Then things
started making more sense. Between the improved weather and the
beautiful rocky cliffs of Cannon Beach, the splendor of the
Oregon coastline that we'd heard so much about was starting to
make itself evident. The 237-foot tall monolith, Haystack Rock,
stands 50 feet or so off of the beach (depending on the tide)
and adds to the magnificent backdrop. The town itself even
seemed nice, with good looking restaurants and lodging options.
Why, we ask, would anyone stay in Seaside when they could drive
just a few miles down the coast to Cannon Beach?!
With the sun now full in the sky, we were
suddenly in desperate need of ice cream. So we quickly made our
way to the famous Tillamook dairy and cheese factory where we
could order up some ice cream with the other 83.7 million
tourists who visit the factory each day in the summer. Very
tasty, worth the wait.
The days are so long right now that we find
ourselves with plenty of evening hours to continue our
explorations. Since we still had a couple of hours of sunlight,
we decided to drive the scenic Three Capes loop on the coastline
west of Tillamook. Technically this drive was on the agenda for
the next morning - but we were just feeling crazy with
spontaneity. A lovely drive, that would have been nicer had we
spent a half of a day doing it. But you know, things to see,
meals to eat. After passing by the third cape, Cape Kiwanda, we
came upon the Pelican Pub & Brewery. A beachfront award-winning
brewery with magnificent ocean views, we couldn't resist. A
nice way to top off a long but enjoyable day of driving. Time
to rest, we headed back to Tillamook to settle in to the Western
Royal Motel for the night.
Bourne Ultimatum was playing in every tiny town we passed on
this trip... The Simpsons too if there was a 2nd screen
The beach in Seaside
Cannon Beach |
Caroline takes a load off at the Boardwalk Cottages in Long
Beach, WA
Scott combs the beach in Long Beach, WA
Lots of fleece in Long Beach today
Mopeds and cars cruise Long Beach
Caroline looks out from the top of the Astoria Column in
Astoria, OR
Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach
OMG! The sun came out! |