Last Coast Dash for the Summer

One good thing about not having a job is you have some time on your hands. Now, I admit, I did land a contract starting on Monday, so this past week was more like an unpaid vacation. The kids didn't have school on Thursday and Friday for parent-teacher conferences, so we had a chance to get away. We had set our appointments for first thing Thursday, so we had all day Friday on our hands. We decided that with the dry and somewhat warm weather, we'd make a last dash to the coast. We didn't have any real plan other than wanting to eat at Moe's Restaurant. If you haven't eaten at Moe's on the Oregon Coast, it is a small (6 location) chain that serves locally caught seafood.

We loaded up the old Benz wagon with sand tools/toys, the kids and the dog, topped off with some $4/gal dino-diesel and hit the highway. The car ran great, so this trip report has little in terms of car stuff in it. We drove out of the Portland area on US26, thinking we'd hit the Tillamook area tidepools. As we approached OR6, though, we were talking about Moe's and realized that we'd be a good 45 minutes away from any of their locations. So, we drove straght out OR26 (caller "the 26" by we locals) towards Cannon Beach.

Ecola State Park
Just south on US101 (Pacific Coast Highway) from the 101-26 interchange is the first opportunity to enter Cannon Beach "city center". This is also the way to Ecola State Park. We made a few more snap decisions and we entered the State Park. We figured this would be an unimpeded access to the water. The park entrance is less than 10 minutes of twisty-curvy driving from the 101. We were close to 8 minutes into it when we started thinking of turning around. Since there wasn't any way to do so, we kept on going until we saw the Ranger booth. One $3 day-pass purchase later, we were on our way to "the most photographed spot on the Oregon Coast". At least that's what the Park Ranger said. The viewpoints were incredible, and these pictures from my cell phone probably don't do it justice. There were photog's with big fancy cameras and tripods everywhere, but the birds didn't seem to mind. Everyone was very polite and pleasant - typical Oregonians :D We explored the different dog-accessible paths, visited the clean flush-toilet restrooms, and then decided we were ready for some tasty eats. We intended to return to see what Indian Beach (the North end of the State Park) looked like, but we never got back. We'll definitely return, and next time, we'll leave home a little earlier so we can see more of this park.

Moe's Restaurant - Cannon Beach
The Cannon Beach location for Moe's Restaurant is at the far South end of the town, right on the beach. Almost half of the tables are against the windows where you get an unimpeded view of the waves hitting the beach. The clams, chowder, scallops, and cod were great, and the service was too. The proprietor walked among the tables chit-chatting with the patrons. It had a very local feel to it, and (again) the food was yummy.
Sitting seaside for an hour, though, was more than the kids could take. The idea of getting in the car to drive back to the state park was not very popular. So, we played in the sand outside. We exhausted the dog with a tennis ball and walked the lunch off a bit. Unlike the "Muscle Beach" experience in Seaside at the beginning of Summer, he didn't need a leash, and he didn't get kicked. It was a great few hours of sand castles in the sun before the Fall colors, the Huckleberry Festival, and Thanksgiving start to loom.

Haystack Rock tidepools-
We left home wanting to see tidepools, and we were directed to the base of Haystack Rock by the folks at Moe's. After making a giant sandcastle, we knew our time was running out, so we stopped on the side of the road across from Haystack Rock. That weird looking thing to the left is a small section of that base. Lots of muscles and starfish. Very cool stuff, and, again, lots of people. Strange that there would be so many people on the Oregon Coast on a Friday in the middle of September. Regardless, it was a picture perfect day for a last splash.


On the bus... I had a small mishap with the adapter plate, so the work has temporarily suspended while I wait for a replacement. This may jeopardize my timeline (getting engine in bus, bus in garage before the rainy season starts), but I'd rather have it right than on-time. Once the new plate arrives, I'll post about what happened. Hopefully, I'll have the new plate and the engine/transaxle mated by the end of next weekend. We'll see.
More next time..