Our Cannon Beach Adventures

We spent the last four days driving up and down the north coast of Oregon. We stayed in Cannon Beach (highly recommend The Inn at Cannon Beach -- it was wonderful) and used that as our home base for the trip. The last time I was there I was an itty bitty (maybe 8 or so at the most) and E has never been, so it was nice adventure for us both to explore. We started out early on Saturday and made it there by 11 am or so. We did a little browsing in the shops, but were really eager for some good fish and chips and a little beach combing. The tide was coming in, so we figured we'd save Cannon Beach for the morning and headed out south of town for a little drive. We went to a couple of really nice parks -- Hug Point, Acadian, and Oswalt West Park. There were a few pretty view points as well along the way. The weather was cool, but sunny for the most part. He are few snap shots of our Saturday adventures.

Acadian State Park
Hug Point State Park
Hug Point State Park -- another self portrait
Viewpoint along road to Tillamook

On Sunday, we got up early to hit the low tide at Cannon Beach, while peaked at 7:30 am. The sky was a bit gray, but nothing too ominous. Of course, right was we trek down and walk down to the rock (we had a bit of a walk to go to reach it), it started to rain. Actually pour is a better word. We didn't do the best job of packing and somehow forgot our rain slickers. I attribute this to working pretty much right up until we left and I basically packed about 2 seconds before we left. Not my usual plan of attack, but since we didn't have any other option since we were out on the beach and quite a distance from shelter, we just put the cameras in the pack so they stayed dry and enjoyed the cool rain. We saw some blue sky in the distance and held out hope that it would come out way soon. About 15 min later we were blessed with about 5 min of sun before the rain started again. We walked through the tidepools at the base of Haystack rock in both rain and shine and enjoyed seeing various starfish and seastars on the rocks, as well as crabs, mussels, and the ever present barnacles.

Caught in the rain at Haystack Rock

What a difference 15 min makes!

We headed up to Ecola State Park in the afternoon. The scientist in me kept wanting to call it E. coli park. We couldn't decide if it was E-cola or Ec-ola so we settled on E. coli. There was a wedding going on when were there. The bride was gorgeous, but not sure how she managed to walk along the path in the shoes she was wearing.

The sun broke through a little and we were rewarded with a few minutes of calm weather for a walk along the beach. It was quite popular with the surfers. I think at one point we counted over a dozen.

Ecola State Park

We took a drive down south of Cannon Beach (again - but a little farther) past Tillamook to the "Three Capes Scenic Drive." Cape Lookout was by far the prettiest and came complete with a lighthouse tour. I sat that one out and E took the stairs to the top. Cape Mears was also quite pretty, with a long trail out to the ocean. The final cape was crowded and just not very scenic at all. We felt a little cheated out our third cape. Really overdeveloped and not too well preserved.

Cape Lookout State Park

E in the lighthouse at Cape Lookout State Park

Cannon Beach at Sunset

We spent our final full day heading north to Seaside and Astoria. We went to both Fort Clatsop/Lewis and Clark National Park and Fort Stevens. At Fort Stevens, we saw the point where the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean meet - quite amazing. The Lewis Clark Nat'l Park had the guides in period costume. We saw an interesting talk by one of the docents discussing the last few months of the trek there in Oregon until the final completion of the journey. We explored the park a bit before we headed back.

We slept in until 7:30 our final morning (believe or not a luxury to sleep that late) and wandered down one last time to Haystack Rock. Murphy's Law -- the last day you are somewhere and just about ready to leave -- the weather is amazing. We took a few final shots before we headed back home.

Our final morning in Cannon Beach

Not wanting to say goodbye....

We're already planning our next adventure....