Oregon Coast Vacation Days 1-3

 

Those who have followed my blogs over the years know that I tend to write a detailed account of the vacations I take. This is mostly to help me remember my vacations down the road, but also to share my experiences with people and maybe even perhaps give people ideas for things to do if they happen to vacation in the same area.

This vacation started out a little more stressful than normal. It was on, it was off, and last minute it was on again. So we kind of scrambled last minute. Not to mention right before leaving I broke a crown off. Luckily my old dentist was able to fit me in and get it fixed before we left. So we packed and got a late departure of around 6 pm with a 14 hour drive ahead of us.

Day One: Thursday

Day one was well, driving. We made it all the way through Idaho before it got dark. I really had hoped to push us past the halfway mark so I pushed on to Baker City, Oregon. I didn’t realize that this unfortunately meant we drove blindly through a very steep and winding canyon that we couldn’t see. That was a very nerve wrecking drive. But we made it, and found a well priced hotel to crash in. Now I would have given this hotel 5 stars even though it was a cheap super 8, however, people are inconsiderate. When we came in just after midnight we were quiet, we whispered walked quietly, and closed our doors slowly. It was after midnight after all. Well, I will never be so considerate again as at 6 am to about 8 am when I got up it was nothing but: SLAM SLAM SLAM thump thump thump thump SLAM SLAM! morning people are inconsiderate jerks! I guess they figure everyone should be up when they are! so I had to remove a star from the hotel because of this. Maybe they should consider the nature of people and soundproof better.

Day Two: Friday

Anyway, we got up, enjoyed our free breakfast and headed back out on the road. The first landmark I enjoyed, being the nerd that I am was the sign saying we just crossed the 45th parallel (halfway between the equator and the north pole) woo!  We then climbed yet another mountain that offered this amazing view.

Have I mentioned yet how much horizons freak me out? Particularly this one that just stopped. I could not for the life of me figure out why it stopped until we got 40 miles or so down the road and I learned that this was a dust storm area.

Dad: “What lake is that over there?”

Mom: “That’s the Columbia River, dear.”

Dad: “That’s a river!? Wow it’s so big!”

We finally reached the Columbia River signaling we were almost to our destination. YAY. I’m with my dad, it is pretty freaking huge! Of course, I have never seen the Mississippi but yea.

Next we got our first glimpse of Mount Hood. (part of my Drive By Photography album) There were a lot of things I would really have liked to stop and get out and take a proper picture, but I really just wanted to arrive at my destination.

Multnomah Falls – The namesake falls

View from the bridge.

Multnomah Falls was the one thing in the area I had researched and planned on doing. There are actually 10+ falls in the area and I had hoped on hiking up to all of them, but it was extremely crowded and we still had quite a way to go to our final destination. So we decided to push on. I did make it back before the trip was over (see the last day post).

Our trip route, provided by google ended up driving through the heart of Portland. I should have known better but I thought it couldn’t be so bad, and hell, why not scratch off another major city right? Oi. NEVER AGAIN! I… well, lets just suffice it to say I am not a fan of Portland, it’s terrible freeway system, or it’s terrible drivers. It is official, Portland drivers are worse than Utah drivers. (but not as bad as Idaho drivers) I will say that it appears to be out of necessity as the Portland freeway system is well, terrible. Ug. And then we were stuck in this traffic from Portland out through McMinnville. I did find a better route that does not put you through Portland, so next time hopefully I wont have to suffer through that part of the trip.

We finally reached the coast and made it to Depoe Bay. Of course this was now Friday and all of the tourists were here as well, so traffic was terrible here at the time. We made it to the hotel, checked in unpacked and went to check out the view.

People. I am not kidding this is the view just a few steps out of my door. How sick is that! Wait, wait, I have a cherry to put on top of this…

Those are seals. Real live seals sitting in the little private harbor in front of my room.

And look at this adorable pup! Again, in the wild, right outside my hotel room!

After thoroughly enjoying the wildlife right outside my door we decided to get something to eat. We were totally done driving and I had happened to ask where was the closest place to eat and the front desk lady told us Jacks. Less than a mile down the road. Let me do you a favor, do NOT eat at Jacks. It was terrible and over priced. ick.

Day Three: Saturday

Here is the Hotel we stayed in. Note the fog, it was foggy about 85% of the time we were here which I loved! I know, most people want sun when they are on the coast, I happened to enjoy the fog.

If the fog wasn’t ashore, it was always about a half mile off coast.

What is better than enjoying coffee and a smoke in front of the ocean? Well, Happening to see a Whale go by.

First photo a good “spout” second photo you can see his/her back.

This happened to me twice. I snuck out to have a smoke and a whale goes by. Second time I did not have my camera handy and It was twisting and showing flippers. Grrr. But it was still amazing to watch. I can’t believe how close to shore they come here!

More seals. These guys are so stinking cute!

After an exciting morning of seeing a whale we decided to head up north to Tillamook to see the cheese factory. Not a very photogenic place so I have no pictures, but I, and my family as well, all enjoyed getting to munch some squeaky cheese. (or cheese curds as my family is used to from the now out of business Star Valley Cheese.) nom nom nom.

After a lot of debate we decided to keep pushing North towards Seaside. I had my mind set as we were already halfway there, why not just go for it? My mom was with me in this thought, Jeff and Tammy were being back and forth. Eventually they agreed to continue north as well. We got to seaside, which advertises the “Famous Promenade” Yea, Seaside sucks ass. EXCEPT that is has an amazing beach. Of course I didn’t bring my swimsuit and even though I wanted to play in the water I was forced to roll up my pant legs and wade but it was great. So Seaside has the best beach, but the rest is kind of scary.

The Beach My Mom and Niece playing in the water

  My brother attempting to body surf.

As the tide went in and out I was enthralled with the fact that I was slowly being sucked into the sand. That is until we started seeing these creatures scurrying about and digging into the sand, and being discovered underfoot. Ok, I am done with the water.

 I don’t know what it is but its creepy.

The fog rolled in as we came out of the water.

After slowly dragging our way through the sand we decided we would meet in Lincoln City to have dinner. I however had plans to see more scenery so we took a slight detour west of Tillimook through the 3 capes loop.

Small patch of sunlight. Well i’ll be the ocean really is blue!

Here we arrived at Cape Meares which had a lighthouse. So we decided to take the short hike down to it. My dad actually decided that he could handle this short hike so he came along.

View of the cliffs

Foggy trail

Cape Meares Lighthouse. Free to visit.

View from the other side.

Octopus Tree – They aren’t really sure what caused this but it is cool. Designated an Oregon Heritage Tree April 2009.

There was actually quite a bit to do in this small area by the lighthouse. This was probably my favorite part of the trip because I got in a short hike with my mom and dad again, and they were both as excited as I was (they are both photography nerds too). My only regret was not taking their picture while we were here. I get so caught up taking pictures of the beautiful scenery, I completely space capturing some memories. I only have maybe 10 – 15 pictures of Landis and I, and believe it or not, that is a record!

Those 3 arches from sea level.

I believe this is Cape Kiwanda near Pacific City. That rock is stinkin HUGE!

If it were just me, I would have spent a lot more time in this area taking pictures. Waiting for the perfect lighting and such, it was absolutely beautiful!

That was definitely worth the extra time it took. My parents both enjoyed it, and within an hour of complaining that I described them as “gushing” in my Yellowstone post, they were both gushing about this loop, and the hike. hehe. I like it though, that tells me they really enjoyed it and I am very happy to have enjoyed that experience with them.

After this we finally met up with the rest of the family at Pier 101 for dinner. Okay guys, if you are anywhere near Lincoln City I definitely recommend Pier 101. This was the BEST place we ate. They even got a second visit from us! I recommend the prime rib (only on Friday and Saturday) or any of the seafood. It was all delicious. They are reasonably priced and their proportions were huge! So unless you can take in a lot of food, you can share your meal with someone which makes it even more cost effective. :) I would give this place 6 out of 5 stars, that is how good they are.

More on my trip coming soon!