Day 7: The Northern coast! (well, sort of)

So the heart was willing, but the body was weak. The alarm went off at 7am, and all I could do was to muster enough energy to beg Steve to turn it off. An hour and a half later, we were finally getting our sorry selves up and out. We checked out of the hotel, packed the car, got ice, and stopped at a really nice market for some pastries. We were on our way at 10, which was NOT what I had planned.

We made an executive decision to cut across the mountains at Portland and not head north to start our coastal drive at Astoria. After two hours of mountainous driving, we made our way into Tillamook, cutting out Astoria, Seaside, and other northern coastal towns. This also means that we missed Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach (which is now called Goonies Rock as it was in the Goonies movie). As it turns out, it was probably fine as we probably couldn’t have seen much anyway. There was heavy cloud cover almost at the road line. You could actually see the clouds forming as they rolled down the mountains towards the Pacific. We saw them just above the mountain line as we approached Tillamook, and it was quite foggy as we drove down 101.

Our first stop became the Tillamook Cheese factory. Perhaps you’ve had their cheese? We were able to view the cheese making process from a second story overlook of the factory. We also got ice cream (which was very good but confused Emily and Steve as this was a cheese making place….Andy and Pete weren’t confused…just appreciate of the ice cream) and free samples of cheese. After a much too long stop in their gift shop to get some cheese and beef sticks (don’t ask), we were back on the road.

We headed off of 101 to see Munson Falls, a nice out-of-the way area that wasn’t as popular or crowded as the falls of yesterday. No RVs were allowed which really helped cut the crowd down! Also, it was about ½ mile walk to see the falls, and our experience has been that if it requires much energy, most of the out-of-town sightseers around here don’t go. I think that’s why the cheese factory was so popular. Not much walking, and ice cream and free cheese!!

After Munson Falls, we drove along the coast and marveled at its beauty (when we could see it…the clouds never lifted all day!) After a few hours of driving, Steve finally pulled over just to view the beauty of the ocean, rocks, and birds. Our next stop was Newport. I had heard they had a pretty cool aquarium, and we weren’t disappointed! We spent about 1 ½ hours touching sea anemone, sea cucumbers and starfish, walking in a glass tube inside big tanks with fish all around us, and enjoying the sea lions, giant octopus and sea otters. Em, Andy and I had a great laugh at the flounder with the two eyes on one side of his body running into the other fish and sliding down the glass tube.

Emily marveling at the aquarium above her!

After Newport, we were getting concerned with time as it was a camping night, so we made a quick stop at Seal Rock where we saw no seals. Emily asked to go down onto the beach and we said no, that we would be on the beach and looking at tidepools at our campsite area: a decision I regretted later.

We found the Beachside Campground and I was pleased it was so nice…showers close by and a water source right next to the campsite…woo hoo! Of course, I wasn’t too thrilled to read the sign that said we were in a Tsunami Hazard area and that if we felt an earthquake we should head to the highest point possible. I’m not sure I could live in a Tsunami Hazard zone!

There was also the nicest family next to us: a mom and her three kids ages 12, 8 and 4. Peter was in heaven as he now had a friend to play with! We set up camp and decided to go into Yachats for dinner. I knew this would be our last night on the coast and I wanted good fish one last time! The caretaker of the campground suggested a restaurant called The Landmark, and it was a very good suggestion. We all got clam chowder, and Steve, Emily and I enjoyed different fish dishes. Andy and Pete had spaghetti, of course.

Once back at the campsite, we took a walk on the beach and discovered that it was a sandy beach and not rocky at all. This would be when I regretted my decision to not let Emily explore the tidepools at Seal Rock. She was very disappointed to find a big sandy beach with no sealife to explore unless she wanted to get IN the water, and it was cold! We walked along the beach for awhile and then headed back to the campsite. Pete went over to play with his new friend, and the rest of us finished getting the tent ready.

The neighbors invited us over for s’mores, and Pete had his chair next to their campfire in a heartbeat! Steve made a fire at our campsite as well, and the kids sat and read for awhile. The clouds were still really low, so there was moisture just hanging in the air. Everything felt so wet. After a nice visit with the neighbor, it was time to brush teeth and get ready for bed.

We asked Andy to set his alarm for 7 as we are going to try to time us breaking camp. In two mornings we HAVE to be ready to go by 9 as we are catching a boat on Crater Lake, and so we have to know exactly how long it takes us to break camp so we can back time it for that day. Hopefully we’ll be done by 9am tomorrow, but we’ll see!