Wow, this is long overdue.  I guess I was busy? Excuses.

One of my favorite things to do (really with anyone) is traveling.  I hadn’t traveled much when I was young but when I met my husband it just became something we did.  We have visited several wonderful places:  Italy, Costa Rica, Park City, Turks and Caicos, and, just recently, Oregon.  It was always a place we kept bringing up on our “list of places to visit”.  Maybe it was because we enjoyed the Northern California coast so much.  Big Sur and all its majesty and mystery.  We knew we wanted to take Scar because frankly it’s getting harder to be away from her for more than a couple days.  Plus, she is an ace traveler.  So we decided on flying into Portland and spending a couple days there and a few on the beach.  Which beach was the next question.  Of course, I refer to my newly purchased Fodor’s guide which points emphatically to Cannon Beach.  We book our flights, lodging, and rental car and look forward to October.

The flight from OKC to PDX is relatively easy.  Layover in Denver.  We arrived on a Thursday evening and stuck with our original plan to spend the first leg of the trip at the Ocean Lodge in Cannon Beach.  The drive there was around an hour and a half.  First off, I love driving into sleepy beach-y communities at night because you know there is an ocean there.  You can smell it and hear it.  But it was dark enough and foggy enough you can’t see it.  The lodge was warm (literally) and receptive the moment you walked in.  We were checked in, given our keys and shown to our room.  Perfect size for us with a king sized bed and sleeper sofa, complete with fireplace and balcony overlooking the surf.  We crashed early that night but spent the next three days soaking up the craggy rocks, chilly water and sand, dense smells of piñon wood burning in fireplaces and just pleasure.  Each morning we would spend walking down the beach to Haystack rock examining all the sea life washed up on shore or stuck to the smaller stacks including coral and starfish.  It was surreal as banal as that sounds.  I think there is a tiny nook in Heaven that looks and feels and smells just like it.

The last day we were in the area we decided to explore Ecola State Park.  It piqued my interest since one of my favorite cult classics ‘Point Break‘ was filmed at Indian Beach which is near the northern point.  The beach was rocky, harsh and non apologetic with its brutal waves and frigid water temperature.  The hiking trails were more forgiving.  They were like the movie ‘Fern Gully’ with all the lichen and moss infested trees and ferns.  It felt wet and cool and was quiet and tranquil.  My husband and I like to hike and wanted our daughter to try and go as far as she could.  She surprised us both with her stamina.  It also helped that I let her use my digital camera to take pictures.  We met some gorgeous and friendly long haired German Shepherds along the way that she immediately took to because they resembled our own German Shepherd.  Solid day spent.

 Would I go back?  In a heartbeat.

What do you think about the Oregon Coast?  Do you have a favorite area or activity you enjoy?  I would love to know more about this gem.