Day One on the Oregon Coast

We left Portland Wednesday morning, and headed northwest to Astoria, OR through some pretty descent rain squalls that would follow us around for the next couple of days. Leaving town, I did the same thing I do every time I gas up in Oregon – I start to go for the pump, and when some random guy starts to open my gas cap for me, I say aloud: “Oh yeah, I’m in Oregon!”, and then find the closest person who will listen to me and tell them that they don’t let you pump your own gas in New Jersey either.

Anyway, it was a typical cold, wet, beautiful spring day in western Oregon. When we got to Astoria, we went up the Astoria Column. Damn it was windy up there, and doubly cold, wet, and beautiful. The pictures and Becca’s expression says it all.

Heading south on the coast, we stopped and gawked at just about every chance we got, and we got plenty of chances. The ocean is amazing here, and there are wetlands and tidal estuaries winding in among mountains, islands, and farmland. My favorite though is the rough, gnarly coast and watching the waves break as they come into shore. Here are a few pictures:


Eventually we found our way down to Tillamook, and as I promised, we visited the creamery. Becca and I walked up a flight of steps to the observation area, and when we got to the top, we both had the same thought, and Becca blurted it out before I had a chance: “Holy cow, that’s a lot of cheese!” I couldn’t have said it better myself.


We took the self guided tour, and got down to the real business of taste-testing. We split a waffle cone of pistachio-pecan ice cream, and got a few cups of yogurt as well as a block of extra sharp cheddar cheese for the road. Yum.

We rolled into our campground at Cape Lookout at about 6:30pm with enough time to cook and eat dinner, and stroll the 150-ft to the beach and watch the sun set over the ocean. Not a bad day.