On Thursday, Wes and I headed out to the Pacific Coast. We drove to Cannon Beach, as recommended by both the guide book and Wes's residency director, who went to med school in Portland and still owns a condo in Bend. What we didn't know when we went is that Canon Beach features Haystack Rock, prominently featured along with nearby Ecola Park and further afield Astoria in the movie The Goonies. Wes was just sure he'd seen the rock (top right) in the movie. I'd tried to assure him the whole coast was littered with these types of rocks, but he was insistent -- and proved his point by Googling it when we got back to the hotel room. We had this great idea when we left to ride bikes along the coast. Because it was high tide, we couldn't rent beach bikes. Mike, the guy who owned the bike rental shop (singular, yes), assured us that we could ride along the coast on a paved road. What we didn't realize, but quickly found out, was that the paved road was in fact the road, so we were riding in the bike lane alongside cars and trucks and motorcycles. We did manage to find some scenic stopping points (top left, middle center) in the midst of panting up major hills not to be found in the midwest anywhere. Unfortunately, at one point we decided to trek down a side road of houses to get a better look at the coast. We turned around in some gravel, and I went down hard. Fortunately, I had on my jacket (which I'd jokingly said earlier would protect me when I fell), but I still managed to produce a knot of my forearm and bruise my palm (interesting to see). We made it back to the bike rental shop without further incident, but I was happy to be off the "bike route" and back on foot and in a car. A little further down the coast we did a really short hike through some pretty wooded areas (middle left and right) to see the coastline and surrounding areas.
Another hour of driving or so later -- through Tillamook, which makes its own cheddar and smells like it -- we found Cape Overlook Trail and did another 5-5.5 mile hike. This time it wasn't as hilly, but a bit muddy. We didn't start out until around 5:30pm, and not knowing what our pace would be, I was worried we would get caught out on the trail after dark. Although we managed to make it to the end (bottom center) and back by 7:30pm, both Wes and I were a little spooked by the warnings at the trailhead about bears. We must've looked like Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man hiking along looking and listening for bears. The views along the way were once again beautiful and a little scary. It really is straight down off these cliffs to the water!
After we got back, we drove a little further south to the Pelican Pub and Brewery. It's a cute local place that makes it own beer. Since Wes was driving, we decided not to sample there but did take several of their brews back to the hotel to enjoy later in the week. I had some really wonderful snapper, and Wes had fish and chips (something he likes to sample in various places, though not yet in England) made with Mahi Mahi rather than the traditional (for the Pacific) Halibut, since it had been overfished in the area. Both meals were excellent, and it was neat to watch the sun go down over the water.
It was a late night getting back to the hotel, but it felt really nice to take a shower that night after getting covered in mud on the hike.
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