Pacific City - Surf, Sand & Sea

We had such a nice and adventurous time at the beach this week!  We headed out on Monday and pulled into Cape Kiwanda RV Resort a few hours later.  Our youngest son, Travis, his wife Kristi and their 2 and 3 year old boys were there a bit before us and had a space next to them waiting for us.  This image below is Haystack Rock at sunset that evening.  This was the view from the beach directly across from our RV park!

But.. back to the beginning.. the photo below shows our trek to get to the beach, we drove down the Columbia River Gorge, through Portland, Oregon, and took the turn-off towards Tillamook from Hwy 26.  I wanted to show you the coast mountain range we'd be crossing to get to our destination.

The photo below is what we were heading towards.. the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean.

After we'd gotten our trailer all hooked up to power and water.. our son loaded us all up in his truck, that he'd let some air out of the tires, so we could drive on the beach.  He took us about a mile down the beach where we had the whole place to ourselves.  We parked and then spent a couple of wonderful hours on the beach, enjoying the ocean and watching the our little grandsons running down the beach.

Kristi helped them build a sand castle, and then let them knock it down.

We'd left our truck at the entrance to the beach, when we returned I took this shot of the sand dunes and beach grasses and the beautiful blue sky.

Here is Buddy watching every single thing going on outside the trailer.  One of the campers across from us actually had a pet duck in a pen with little pool of water!

Below is the 3 year old, Hayden, who took quite a fancy to holding Buddy this week. :-)

Travis & Kristi took me down to the beach to get some photos of the surfers and the ocean while Dayle stayed in our trailer with 2 napping boys.  Below is a guy on a surfboard paddling along.  I love how the sun is sparkling off the water.

And this is a photo of a surfer.. and I love how the sun is shining through the wave behind him.

Later after dinner we went back for another drive on the beach and Dayle snapped this shot for me.

On Tuesday the kids went to the beach early while Dayle and I had a quiet morning with our coffee.  Then we headed across the street to the Pelican Pub and Brewery for lunch.  I had some great fish and chips and Dayle had a cheeseburger.  The kids decided to join us and had some lunch with us.

Another shot of "the rock" in the daytime.

I got a fun shot of Kristi playing with the boys in the playground while Travis sits on a swing. :-)

They put both boys in the kiddie swing and swung them back and forth.

Heading back to the trailer I saw this wild rose in bloom so walked over to get a shot of it.

Relaxing with the boys watching a cartoon movie.. Hayden has his mommy's sunglasses on.

On Wednesday Dayle went swimming with the kids - I took the dog for a walk and popped in at the pool to get a photo of them.  They boys were having a blast!

Then the dog and I walked over to the beach and found a comfortable log to watch the sunset.  I love this shot of the sun behind a bank of fog and the light reflecting on the ocean.

A golden glow over the sea.

These are the sand dunes on the right of the beach.

On Thursday we headed of to do some sightseeing on the "3 Capes Scenic Drive" north of Pacific City.  Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout and Cape Meares - where we hiked down to see the Cape Meares Lighthouse.   It's a long and steep hike down, but we were rewarded with this view of the top of the lighthouse at the bottom of the path.  The sad news is that just last year, local teens vandalized the lighthouse, driving down the path and damaging the fragile landscape and shot out all the exterior glass and severely damaged the Fresnel lens.  :-(  The Oregon State Parks is collecting donations to repair the lens.  To donate, go here:  Cape Meares Lighthouse  (The exterior window panes have been replaced so far with the donations!)

Below a shot of Dayle and the kids in front of the lighthouse, known as the shortest lighthouse on the Oregon coast at only 38 feet tall.

I went into the lighthouse gift shop and then peeked beyond and got a shot of the old iron spiral stairway to the light.

A close-up of the newly replaced windows of the lighthouse.

From the back and side of the lighthouse.

The hike back up to the parking lot seemed 3 times as long as it was so steep! LOL!  The kids headed back to the camp and on to the beach - and Dayle and I headed off to do more sightseeing in Tillamook.  I did a Google search for "the best restaurant in Tillamook OR" and found the "Pacific House Restaurant" where we had a fabulous lunch - I had Fish & Chips again which was delish!  Then we went to the Blue Heron Cheese Company and I got some of their brie cheese and some crusty bread to take back to camp.

Dayle good-naturedly posed for this photo.....

And this one... :-)

Then on down the road to the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory to get a bag of cheese curds.

Dayle in their cute little orange VW bus.

A beautiful logo done in tile on the side of the building.

This ship is on permanent display in their parking lot.  It's part of their logo.

As we were heading back to Pacific City I was THRILLED to see that the herd of elk we'd spotted on our way past on Monday was still in this pasture in front of the World War II Blimp Hangar that is now an air museum.  The blimps were used for observation to spot submarines during the war.

Hubby parked on the side of the road and hopped out with my camera to get some photos....

Aren't they cool??

See the rack on that one?

Another evening view of the rock.  There were many surfers on this beach and in the ocean here.

Today while Dayle unhooked all the things from outside the trailer, I stowed everything inside and our son and we headed out and back home.  This is a shot of the forest we were zooming through.  I took this out of the window, it's blurry but gives you an idea of the forested mountains we drove through.

And over the Willamette River that bisects Portland, Oregon.. and home.

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about our week at the beach, we had a great time and got to spend lots of quality time with our son and his family.

((hugs)), Teresa :-)