Pacific Northwest Family Summer Vacation - Day 3 - Tillamook, Hug Point & Cannon Beach with Haystack Rock

Day 3 -  Headed to the Coast, Hug Point, Cannon Beach and Crabs!

I don't know if we could have had a better day than this first day on the coast. We were up and packed up early and on the road around 8AM, headed out of Portland and West to Tillamook Creamery and the Oregon Coast. This was the part of the trip that I was so incredibly excited about. We had a gorgeous drive through the Tillamook Forest and passed tons of wheat fields and dozens of logging trucks filled with gigantic logs, headed to Portland and we assumed, sawmills. We noticed many signs along the highways that said “planted 2015” showing us that they do take replanting trees very seriously, after cutting down the massive forests with the lumber mill industry being so big in this part of the United States. Driving along this highway, you can definitely see upon mountain tops, the effects of logging. Half of entire mountains where completely barren. We stopped on the side of the road along the Wilson River to explore the Tillamook Forest and rocky river. There was haze or smoke, we don't know which that was covering the tallest parts of the mountains when you looked up. It was abotu a 90 minute drive to Tillamook Creamery. 

Our first stop of the day was Tillamook Creamery. What a wonderful new tourist center and we had probably our favorite ice cream of all time and tasted tons of delicious cheese. We all learned and saw how cheese is made.... which was so cool for the kids to see from a manufacturing and engineering standpoint.

After full bellies, we drove through the proclaimed home of where the corn dog was invented in the 1930's, Rockaway Beach, and had to stop for a picture since the kids eat corn dogs on a weekly basis in their lunches that they pack for school.

Then it was on to our very first beach and such an amazing one it was - Hug Point! We explored the magical beach filled with caves and tidal pools. Carter’s new Pacific Northwest Book he got at Powell Bookstore in Portland came in handy when they quickly found green sea anemones, sand dollars, mole crabs, and a glaucous winged gull. We spent at least an hour exploring and were torn on if we should stay or move father North, up Oregon Highway 101 to Cannon Beach. Highway 101 has literally breath taking views along it, once we first saw the Pacific, when we turned onto the highway near Garibaldi. WIth the gray skies, it was hard to make out where the water ended and the sky began.

Cannon Beach - Without seeing the famous haystack rock, we drove through the quaint town, and parked along one of the cute cottage filled streets that lead to the famous beach. As we walked a few steps to the beach and the kids saw the haystack rocks coming out of the ocean so magestically, all three of their mouths dropped open in disbelief and excitement. We quickly made our way to the beach and there were dozens and dozens of amazing dogs every single direction you looked. The girls were in heaven petting, chasing and playing in this special place. For a couple of hours, we just walked up and down the beach, Addison did flips and cartwheels and Carter was on the lookout for wildlife from his book and Delaney was just following along, up for anything. I love that it was 62 degrees and I was in a long sleeve shirt yet the kids where in their bathing suits in and out of the water, with no concerns. It made me reflect how different our “beach experiences" are across the nation and world. We are here in the Pacific Northwest, along one of the top 50 beaches in the world, at the peak of their Summer and everyone was in full clothes, yet enjoying every moment and taking in the warm summer.

Crabs - On the way back south towards our Rockaway Beach motel, we stopped at Kelly’s Marina for a fun dinner. See, this place isn't really a restaurant, it is quite literally a marina that has boats you can rent and take out to go crabbing. Since we had spent all afternoon exploring the magnificent Hug Point and Cannon Beach, we arrived later and hungry and just opted for their already ready to go live Dungesness crabs. As we were picking them out for them to steam for us, Addison decided she wanted to hold the huge crab. The young crab wrangler was more than up for it and quickly handed it to Addison and we got the other kids close for the classic picture opportunity, just as the crab started crawling up Addison’s hands, which resulted in her getting worried, flinging it away and right into the face of her older brother standing 6” away. By chance, the crab somehow pinched Carter in the forehead and we had it documented all along the way. We were all dying laughing along with the staff, after we made sure that everyone was okay. We all agreed that we would never forget this memory, our entire lives.

We opted to stay in the less touristy town of Rockaway Beach, just 20 minutes South of the touristy Cannon Beach. We checked into the Seaside Beach Hotel after dinner and let the kids go run wild on the beautiful empty Oregon beach, just steps from our second story patio. Blake and I just watched the 3 of them explore, as they had taken absolutely nothing down with them to the beach, except their natural curiosities and energy. They found a few full sand dollars, but the very top had been broken off. We watched a boat and coastguard helipcopter do something, way off in the distance for over an hour. It really was the most wonderful ending to our truly incredible day. After today, I knew we were definitely going to have a trip that we would never forget filled with new adventures and simple memories to last a lifetime.