Off to a late start, not only because of the ignoring of the alarm, but also because of a most excellent and huge breakfast at the hotel. It was also $20 for all four of us. Steve's 3 pound omelette was probably the most expensive, but had we wanted it to, it could have fed us all. Especially since it included hash browns. Being full lent to the "moving slowly in the morning" feeling for all of us, so it took a while to get on the road. Luckily it was not a hugely long drive that day, just a few hours with some stops for nice views. There were lots of nice views, so it took more than a few hours, but still not too bad. We went over the biggest bridge I have ever seen going into Oregon. It must have been a couple of miles long, and to make it even more fun, there was construction on it! Actually there was a lot of construction on bridges this whole trip, with one whole side closed so everyone has to stop a wait a bit.
We were very happy to get to Seaside, despite the fact that it was not Cannon Beach, as Katrina originally thought. But Cannon beach was only a few miles away, so easy to get to for us…but we decided on food first. This is typical of us. It happens when you hang around musicians. We had a surprisingly good lunch at a diner aaaaand then went to the fudge store next door. And then to the Taffy outlet. "Candyland!" it was called, with many many flavours of salt-water taffy. We bought…pounds…of taffy. And got our pictures taken with the Candyman! Cause we could.
I'm surprised we could move after all that, but we managed to walk back down the beach to our lovely avocado room at the Sandy Cove Inn. It was distinctly green and 50'sish. Which was awesome. It had a purple sparkly lava lamp. Which was also awesome. Just ask Steve.
Cannon beach was neat, though the tide was too far in to get out to the really great tidal pools, we still enjoyed walking in the surf, and watching people fly all sorts of interesting kites. And all sorts of interesting dogs. Well, the dogs weren't flying, but they almost were with happy doggy fun as they ran through the waters. We went back into the little town and discovered it to be mostly closed but found one interesting shop full of interesting clothing that we all liked, but only Katrina was successful in finding something to suit her. Although, I think her success was enough for all of us, since her…"garment"…was kind of 6 in 1.
Then came Dinner. It was a Delight.
We actually just wanted coffee…but it turned out the coffee shop closed in the afternoon and turned into an Irish restaurant for dinner. Then we saw what people were eating, and decided to come back when we were hungry. Again, we made a good food decision. The place had only been open a couple of months, but our waiter was the husband of the chef, who apparently had "decided to take some time off fine dining" to open this place. Well, a soup and a salad, a lamb stew, a pork chop, some curried mussels and a LOT of irish soda bread later, we were very glad she had made that decision. Nom.
Then back to the hotel for more wine, as seems to be our nightly custom.
Aaand up in the morning for more driving, which seems to be our morning custom.
It wasn't a hugely long drive to our next stop at the famous Tillamook dairy. This wasn't our final destination, but it was definitely a stop. And a half. Or maybe a half-and-half? Whatever kind of stop, it was one we had been looking forward to. There was cheese. And there was more cheese. And ice cream. Ice cream such I have never had before. It tasted of cream and caramel and deliciousness. The cheese was ok too. Hah! It was also amazing. We bought some habanero jack cheese to take with us to go with the ubiquitous evening wine later on.
But then we stopped at Blue Heron cheese, which was an import place where we tasted more heaven in the form of several kinds of brie. Of course, we couldn't say no to that, so we bought some smoked brie and baguette to be our lunch later on.
At this point, one has to wonder "Will she eat anything at all other than dairy today?"
Not the best idea for someone who is slightly allergic/lactose intolerant. But I LOVE CHEESE!!!
Ahem. Anyways...
After we finished with our cheesy adventures, we took the Three Capes scenic drive. Instead of following the highway down, it follows the coast directly - you guessed it - around three capes. It is long and windy and scenic. We stopped at each cape for some scenic pictures, then continued on the scenic drive to the next scenic viewpoint. It was very scenic.
Okay maybe I sound a little sarcastic, but don't get me wrong - I love the coast, and the ocean and trees and scenery. So it was really nice. There was just…a rather…lot of it…all…at once. Or maybe I was just still tired and therefore ornery. I don't see how, when I still was sleeping in the car all the time. Maybe it was getting woken up all the time that made me less than my usual chipper self. It was like constant morning, and a morning person, I am not.
The third cape was a real surprise for us. It was a busy little town, with a very busy beach that had lots of kids and dogs and sand castles and happiness. Maybe it was also the fact that the sun was kind of out for once. I picked up a tomato and avocado (Gasp in shock!) to go on our smoked brie baguettes. We found a lovely rock on which to have our picnic, and enjoyed lunch, while trying to keep it away from a very happy curious and probably hungry dog. And we saw a seal lying on the rock! It was alone and looked rather sad and tired. We asked later and it was apparently not even full grown, so hopefully it was not sick or lost. The parks guy with the bullhorn on his truck keeping people away from it didn't know either.
We also saw what appeared at first to be annoyingly obnoxious boats blasting their horns while driving at full speed towards the beach. But it soon became apparent that this was a standard practice to get the boats back on the beach without hitting small children. All in all, an entertaining lunch, but we weren't done with this beach just yet.
We had to go to the hill.
Did I forget to mention the other highlight of this stop? At the end of the beach, near where we ate, there was a HUGE hill of sand that was very very steep. At the top there were some trees and it gave way to a rocky cliff from which there were some more scenic views of the ocean, but it was the hill itself that caught our attention. And the kids running/sliding/wiping out/rolling down it. The shallower section of slope was probably 45 degrees. The steeper part, more like 60. Katrina and I looked at each other and said "Let's do it!"
We ran up the hill. Or rather, the first 30 feet of it. Then we walked. Then we crawled. It was one of the toughest climbs I've ever done, but we kept going. And then ran down. And nothing I say here, even if I say it ALL IN CAPS HOW AWESOMELY FUN THIS WAS WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! The point will never really get across.
And then we did it again!
I wished that I hadn't just eaten, that we had more time, that maybe I was 9 again, because I could have done that all day! But then, we had to get back into the car, but happily, refreshed, and filled yet again, with cheese.
More driving, more winding roads, more ocean, more driving, more sleep. There was a shopping stop at a little glassworks place, where we all bought stuff that was hugely cheaper than can be found in Victoria. Then more driving and more sleep. We finally made it to Reedsport, where we had our biggest hotel room thus far. It was an extra $10 to get the "suite" which was twice the size, and had a couch, bar, fridge, etc…an excellent place to have one more bottle of wine and …somehow refrain from eating our cheese with it. I also managed to avoid cheese (don't ask me how!) at the mexican restaurant where we had dinner. It was another excellent meal - definitely authentic and HUGE portions. Tastiness. I was happy.
It was a nice couple of days. Nothing particularly…eventful, but great anyways. And probably for the best, since we were looking forward to one of the big "events" of the trip, which was to happen the next morning.
But that goes on the next post!
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