To the Coast!

After a delicious breakfast on Tuesday morning, Tim and I said goodbye to Mark and Jimmie and drove West to the Oregon Coast.  It’s a part of the world that neither of us have seen and we couldn’t wait to check it out.  We came drove to Florence and drove north towards Cape Perpetua.  Here we stopped and took a hike around the tidal pools.

The Coast!

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Tidal Pools at Cape Perpetua

Watch for Sneaker Waves!

After our incredible drive up the coast we settled into an RV park at Newport for a much needed shower.  We had reservations at the Saffron Salmon for birthday celebrations and couldn’t arrive in the state we were in.   2 hours later, we were dining on the Bay on seafood caught earlier that day.  Calamari, Mussels, Crab Cakes, Seafood Stew, Champagne and Creme Brulee.  My perfect birthday meal.

The Saffron Salmon

Creme Brulee, Champagne and a Candle. Now that's a Birthday.

After dinner we had a night cap at the Rogue Brewery before walking the mile back to our campground along the harbor.  Raucously loud sea lions barked at us from the pier as we strolled by the fishing boats.   It was a proper coastal good night serenade.

Next morning, Tim took a break from vacation to lend me some much needed and appreciated database help.  To repay him for his 6 hours of hard work, I bought his ticket to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.   We spent the afternoon checking out fat anacondas, jelly fish, and sharks.  There was no doubt about it though, the sea otters made the afternoon.

Jelly Fish Wonders

Tunnels of Fish

Sharks Swim Overhead

Pacific City

We left Newport to then travel north up the coast.  On a whim we swung off the main Highway 101, for the less traveled 3 Capes Byway.  This brought us to Pacific City.  I can’t put my finger on why, but Tim and I both immediately knew this will be a place we’ll come back to.   It’s extraordinary.

Unfortunately though we knew we had to keep driving that night.  We drove past Cape Lookout into the town of Tillamook where we camped for the night.  This morning we popped into the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we watched the workers make about 50 of the 167,000 lbs of cheddar that they make daily.  It takes 10 gallons of milk to make 1 pound of cheese.  The milk trucks were stacked up 3 deep when we left after a cheesy breakfast at the Tillamook Cafe.

Cannon Beach

Haystack Rock

Chilly Beach Day

Cannon Beach's Watchman

Today was to be our beach day.  Though it was much cooler and misty than a typical beach day, we loved hanging out at Cannon Beach.  While a sunny day would have been great, the misty views we got instead were just as beautiful.