First thing we did this morning was run down to check out the continental breakfast in the office – it was alright – some toast or a bagel, donuts and a banana! It was funny though because there was barely even enough room to set your plate down while preparing your breakfast! We took our food up to our room – which was a little different.
Shortly after breakfast, we quickly checked out the pool. It was an outdoor pool, supposedly heated, but it was sure cold! Needless to say, didn’t stay too long, which was just as well because we had to get moving along.
After checking out of the hotel, we drove to the beach. We could hear it from our hotel, but it was maybe a mile away even. We had some fun walking along the shoreline and getting splashed by the waves as they crashed along the beach. The waves on Long Beach, WA are very powerful and people don’t really swim here. There were a few people on the beach, but just hanging out and watching the waves too. There were many seagulls on the beach as well.
The other neat thing here is that you can actually drive along the beach – but it’s advised that you can get stuck … and if you do, you better know your tide schedule! Having 4x4 is highly recommended! We decided not to risk anything – and also the salt is bad for the vehicle.
We strolled along the main street through Long Beach, checking out many of the little shops. We grabbed a bite to eat at a tiny diner, The Rocket Diner, with a 60s theme – we even had milk shakes!
After lunch we drove up the peninsula toward Ocean Park – where we checked out the beach there quickly, then drove the few blocks to the east side to see the bayside of the peninsula.
Leaving the Long Bay area, we drove south to the Cape Disappointment State Park. There we hiked ¾ mile up to see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. There was an incredible view from up on the hill, and the lighthouse was pretty cool.
We also stopped briefly at Fort Canby, and I did a quick exploration around the grounds. There is an Interpretive Center, but we did not have the time to visit - had to keep going!
From here we moved onward – to Oregon! We crossed the 4 mile bridge from Washington to Astoria, Oregon, which crosses the mouth of the Columbia.River. We drove toward the coast and continued to follow the Pacific Coast Highway (101).
The scenery along the coast is pretty cool – lots of big rocks and cliffs. And the highway hugs the coast in many places … so quite exciting!
One of first stops along the way was in the area of Cannon Beach. This beach was named after the cannon washed ashore from the U.S.S. Sloop of war ‘shark’ which was wrecked while attempting to leave the Columbia River on September 10, 1846.
Another stop was a viewpoint of “Terrible Tillie” – this is Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, which is on a lonely rock in the distance. It took 525 days to build this light station (1879-81), through 3 stubborn winters. Once built, it took a crew of four to keep up with constant needs of this ocean-besieged stone building and its critical beam of light. Over the years, it saved countless ships from crashing on the Oregon coast. The light was extinguished and replaced by a navigation mark in 1957, after seventy-seven years of service.
We also stopped along the west shoulder of Neahkahnie Mountain – at 1661 feet, one of the highest points on Oregon’s coast.
We stopped in Lincoln City to eat and sleep. We stayed at the America’s Best Inns & Suites – we had found a coupon and got the room for on only $45 + hotel tax. In search of food, we stumbled on the Chinook Winds Casino and decided to check it out quickly.
Derek was interested in trying the roulette, wanting to walk up and bet 10 bucks on black. Then walk away, win or lose. I think in the end, he did split up his bets, and at one point when he was picking random numbers, I showed up and asked how he was picking the numbers – I suggested to him that he should remember to pick “6”, being my birth date and all. As an afterthought he changed “15” to “6”, and the roulette was spun. Round and round it went … landing on …. “6”!!! So he won $30 from that! We left the table and after cashing in the chips we checked the table to see that the next to spins were “00” and then “0” – which I understand is very low odds of that happening – and if he’d kept playing, he would have likely lost chips. We later checked the odds of calling the exact number and they are like 38:1 … so I guess I’m lucky!
We left the Casino and went back to the one restaurant we had previously scoped out – only to find they had closed in the half hour we’d been away! So, we could no longer be choosy – McDonald’s drive-thru it was!
We took our grub back to the hotel, found Revenge of the Nerds on the movie channel and wound down for the night!
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