Oregon coast 2009!
First time to the Pacific coast for Sarah and Lucca! We launched our adventure on Saturday morning at about 0700. We had snacks, coffee, soda, and an eight hour drive ahead of us. Luckily the weather was nice, the music was flowing...guiding us from Coeur d'Alene, down the Columbia, and into the tourist town of Seaside. A room awaited us there...kitchenette, fireplace, seaside view and a grand total of four days to enjoy it.
This was a welcome trip. For Sarah, it was a celebration of a 30th birthday. For me, it was reuniting with the edge of the world after two years. For Lucca, it was a giant playground full of water and interesting things to munch and smell.
We drove and drove...passing through the "sleepy" small town of Portland at about lunchtime. Getting onto highway 26 we never found the largest Sitka spruce in the country, nor did we have any relief from tailgaters, but we were on a mission and made it to Seaside! It was too early to check into the hotel so we took a welcome walk along the beach. I was giddy, Sarah was happy to make it there, and the dog was simply blissful! After getting lost trying to find the darn hotel, we called and got directions. Four blocks off? Not bad. That night was spent eating at an ITALIAN restaurant of all places, but a mom for a waitress helped ease some tension.
We got up early and headed down to a little place called "Bagels by the Sea." Got some coffee and bagels with all sorts of stuff on them. Sarah had lox and salmon cream cheese...I got an "eggel" or something...and when asking for sausage on it..this gal at the counter kinda rolled her eyes and called in the order. I HAD to ask, "is that not a good choice?" Well, turns out she was just "tired" and didn't mean anything by it. Hmmm...alright. We ate by the ocean.
After that, we headed south to Cannon Beach. Which, I must mention, was NOT named for the camera. It was named appropriately, for a CANNON which washed ashore from a shipwreck up near Astoria...who'da thunk? (I'm an idiot sometimes....it actually on display when you get into town. Sarah had to point that out to me. I just thought they were referring to the most photographed location on the Oregon coast.)
Cannon Beach
Looks cold
Rescue dog looking for work
Mussels!
Decent light
We traveled from Cannon to Arcadia beach. From there, we managed to sneak around a rock outcropping and found an entire beach to ourselves (mostly).
Some kind of horsetail
Lucca exploring our beach
We walked over there for awhile, taking photos and staring at the ocean...which is when we noticed the tide was coming IN. Hmmm. Sure enough, making it to our access point we found it impassable. So we went on a little hike up the hill and down the highway to the car. No big deal. No harm no foul!
From there, we headed to Tillamook for lunch. There's basically no where to eat there except the cheese factory so that's where we ended up after a tour of town. It was a bit of a bummer finding the factory activity non-existent since it was Sunday, but we got some grilled cheese sandwiches and more INCREDIBLE ice cream than was probably necessary. After that, stuffed and tired...we motored "home" and didn't really want to go out. Room service is nice so we got a pizza and just chilled.
Can't complain with this!
After that, we took a late night walk on the beach. Lucca's glowing collar helping us see our wandering companion. But the wind was starting to pick up...
We woke on Monday morning after sleeping in to the wind just HOWLING. We made our way back to Bagels by the Sea and again had a rather unpleasant employee helping us. Forgot my bagel entirely! You would expect coffee shop employees to be the nice / upbeat type, but not in Seaside. Not really sure I would recommend that place. But this day we headed north toward Astoria. Stopping at Del Rey, we tried to walk the beach. Sarah went on a run after a plastic dog-crap bag that blew out of my pocket and I tried to drink coffee and eat a bagel while a certain yellow quadruped walked one foot in front of me until it was devoured. (Seriously pissed me off to have a dog, on a beach, with THOUSANDS of smells, to stalk me with a bagel.) But..we moved on. The wind made it very cold and so we just punched our way to Fort Stevens.
THAT was an adventure in itself. Blowing sand kept us in kinda tight...we walked up a dune and looked at the most visited shipwreck on the coast...then turned tail and got back in the car. Sand in your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, EVERYWHERE! Not pleasant.
We made it to Astoria and found "Hotel Elliott." Not much to that except that one of my relatives long ago started a hotel. Always fun to see your name spelled correctly. We wanted to be inside, so went to the museum of the Columbia / Pacific. Wandering around there for quite awhile, we learned. I found interest in the old school maps...hand drawn. We both were amazed by the amount of shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia and found out it's one of the most hazardous places in the U.S. Who knew? The coast guard there is absolutely incredible...I think making over 200 rescues a year.
Lunch was a little riverside diner where we enjoyed local beer, salad, and my first crabcakes. (not so good by the way...they tasted like nearly burnt cheese.) And we saw a seal. Fun! After getting back to Seaside we walked around downtown and got some dessert. Found a shop and got fudge (for the infamous fudge and mango treat), salt water taffy, and seafoam. Oh, and we also picked up a dog sleeping bag! It's even camo! That will be fun to play with this summer.
Ended up in a bar, on our last night on the coast. We had some more local beer and enjoyed a bucket of steamer clams.
Loosened up, we hit the beach with the camera and tripod and took lotsa fun photos!
I will now end this with all the other photos that I deemed fun and interesting. (I just got off a 10.5 hour day of looking at the computer and think I'm done with this.)
But real quick. We drove home and managed to hit the same sleepy, small town of Portland at rush hour. Nice gridlock there. Bucking the wind and rain, we arrived in Coeur d'Alene with time to spare.
It was a good trip and everyone had a good time. We're talking about the next one being to the Washington coast...on the Olympic peninsula. To camp!
Tried the sunset
Tried the sunset again
ORB
This was a welcome trip. For Sarah, it was a celebration of a 30th birthday. For me, it was reuniting with the edge of the world after two years. For Lucca, it was a giant playground full of water and interesting things to munch and smell.
We drove and drove...passing through the "sleepy" small town of Portland at about lunchtime. Getting onto highway 26 we never found the largest Sitka spruce in the country, nor did we have any relief from tailgaters, but we were on a mission and made it to Seaside! It was too early to check into the hotel so we took a welcome walk along the beach. I was giddy, Sarah was happy to make it there, and the dog was simply blissful! After getting lost trying to find the darn hotel, we called and got directions. Four blocks off? Not bad. That night was spent eating at an ITALIAN restaurant of all places, but a mom for a waitress helped ease some tension.
We got up early and headed down to a little place called "Bagels by the Sea." Got some coffee and bagels with all sorts of stuff on them. Sarah had lox and salmon cream cheese...I got an "eggel" or something...and when asking for sausage on it..this gal at the counter kinda rolled her eyes and called in the order. I HAD to ask, "is that not a good choice?" Well, turns out she was just "tired" and didn't mean anything by it. Hmmm...alright. We ate by the ocean.
After that, we headed south to Cannon Beach. Which, I must mention, was NOT named for the camera. It was named appropriately, for a CANNON which washed ashore from a shipwreck up near Astoria...who'da thunk? (I'm an idiot sometimes....it actually on display when you get into town. Sarah had to point that out to me. I just thought they were referring to the most photographed location on the Oregon coast.)
Cannon Beach
Looks cold
Rescue dog looking for work
Mussels!
Decent light
We traveled from Cannon to Arcadia beach. From there, we managed to sneak around a rock outcropping and found an entire beach to ourselves (mostly).
Some kind of horsetail
Lucca exploring our beach
We walked over there for awhile, taking photos and staring at the ocean...which is when we noticed the tide was coming IN. Hmmm. Sure enough, making it to our access point we found it impassable. So we went on a little hike up the hill and down the highway to the car. No big deal. No harm no foul!
Our escape was blocked!
From there, we headed to Tillamook for lunch. There's basically no where to eat there except the cheese factory so that's where we ended up after a tour of town. It was a bit of a bummer finding the factory activity non-existent since it was Sunday, but we got some grilled cheese sandwiches and more INCREDIBLE ice cream than was probably necessary. After that, stuffed and tired...we motored "home" and didn't really want to go out. Room service is nice so we got a pizza and just chilled.
Can't complain with this!
After that, we took a late night walk on the beach. Lucca's glowing collar helping us see our wandering companion. But the wind was starting to pick up...
We woke on Monday morning after sleeping in to the wind just HOWLING. We made our way back to Bagels by the Sea and again had a rather unpleasant employee helping us. Forgot my bagel entirely! You would expect coffee shop employees to be the nice / upbeat type, but not in Seaside. Not really sure I would recommend that place. But this day we headed north toward Astoria. Stopping at Del Rey, we tried to walk the beach. Sarah went on a run after a plastic dog-crap bag that blew out of my pocket and I tried to drink coffee and eat a bagel while a certain yellow quadruped walked one foot in front of me until it was devoured. (Seriously pissed me off to have a dog, on a beach, with THOUSANDS of smells, to stalk me with a bagel.) But..we moved on. The wind made it very cold and so we just punched our way to Fort Stevens.
THAT was an adventure in itself. Blowing sand kept us in kinda tight...we walked up a dune and looked at the most visited shipwreck on the coast...then turned tail and got back in the car. Sand in your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, EVERYWHERE! Not pleasant.
We made it to Astoria and found "Hotel Elliott." Not much to that except that one of my relatives long ago started a hotel. Always fun to see your name spelled correctly. We wanted to be inside, so went to the museum of the Columbia / Pacific. Wandering around there for quite awhile, we learned. I found interest in the old school maps...hand drawn. We both were amazed by the amount of shipwrecks at the mouth of the Columbia and found out it's one of the most hazardous places in the U.S. Who knew? The coast guard there is absolutely incredible...I think making over 200 rescues a year.
Lunch was a little riverside diner where we enjoyed local beer, salad, and my first crabcakes. (not so good by the way...they tasted like nearly burnt cheese.) And we saw a seal. Fun! After getting back to Seaside we walked around downtown and got some dessert. Found a shop and got fudge (for the infamous fudge and mango treat), salt water taffy, and seafoam. Oh, and we also picked up a dog sleeping bag! It's even camo! That will be fun to play with this summer.
Ended up in a bar, on our last night on the coast. We had some more local beer and enjoyed a bucket of steamer clams.
Loosened up, we hit the beach with the camera and tripod and took lotsa fun photos!
I will now end this with all the other photos that I deemed fun and interesting. (I just got off a 10.5 hour day of looking at the computer and think I'm done with this.)
But real quick. We drove home and managed to hit the same sleepy, small town of Portland at rush hour. Nice gridlock there. Bucking the wind and rain, we arrived in Coeur d'Alene with time to spare.
It was a good trip and everyone had a good time. We're talking about the next one being to the Washington coast...on the Olympic peninsula. To camp!
Tried the sunset
Tried the sunset again
ORB
Happy everyone on the beach
Nice sky
Sarah on the Pacific!
Piercing eyes and happy dog!
The ladies on the beach
Happy dog
Lucca is happy with the pic...I just laugh!
Sarah and I on the coast
Who can catch the dog? (I like this photo)
Now THIS is a belly laugh!
Lucca reflects on her time on the beach.
Nice sky
Sarah on the Pacific!
Piercing eyes and happy dog!
The ladies on the beach
Happy dog
Ears blowing in the wind!
Lucca is happy with the pic...I just laugh!
Sarah and I on the coast
Who can catch the dog? (I like this photo)
Now THIS is a belly laugh!
Lucca reflects on her time on the beach.
Ubuntu
posted by geotracker12 at 6:50 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds like a fun trip. Got some great pics in there. How'd Lucca react to being in salty water for the first time? Jager hasn't tasted it yet.
Plus, I was just talking to someone this week who said they'd visited the cheese factory and the ice cream was the greatest. Never saw any in the stores.
Decided to upgrade my camera to a refurbished Rebel Xsi instead of the G10. My wallet doesn't like me, but I couldn't live with upgrading to another P&S. My reading for the rafting trip will be the owner's manual.
Later,
Zach
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