Oregon Coast Vacation

Life has been so full that literally I have had no time to document it. But thankfully things have slowed down a bit, so I want to share pictures from our short vacation to the Oregon coast last week.

We had never been to the coast. Dustin wanted to go spear fishing, so we randomly began looking for places he could go, within a day’s drive. Then we talked some of my family into joining us, booked a vacation rental by the sea, and headed out once the big day arrived.

It was a beautiful drive the whole way. Some of the route I had been on before, but a lot of it was new. We drove the entire width of Oregon, and got to see the variety. First of course it was High Desert irrigated fields and smooth wrinkled hills (like we have at home).

We drove along the river much of the way, so the drive was gorgeous. There were trains galore – which Davy loved – and we got to enjoy the river commerce as well. Barges, enormous dams and power plants, sailboats, kite skiers, beautiful bridges, and all sorts of boats passed by our windows. The scenery was lovely everywhere.

Once we got through Portland – the one big city on our route – we left the river and drove through farming land that reminded me a lot of Pennsylvania, except that there were higher mountains in view off to the left and the woods were mostly pine instead of deciduous. Patches of woods and fields, old churches and graveyards, quiet prosperous farms and farmer’s markets.

After the farmland, we drove through a section of highway that was just a winding road through the trees. By now the pines were mixed with deciduous trees, and it was definitely more humid than what we are used to. We passed through Tillamook with its enormous dairy factory, and soon after got our first glimpse of the sea!

The children did remarkably well with spending all day in the car, and we had only 2 stops. About 8 hours after we left home, we were at our vacation rental and could explore a bit. It was a good 20 degrees cooler than at home, and very windy. The sea smell was refreshing, even with the extra humidity. The rest of the family arrived not long after, and once we duh out our jackets we all ran down through the paths in the sea grass to the beach as soon as possible.

The water was freezing, and much of the time it was windy, but the weather was lovely. We had a nice view from the upper level of the rental, and could watch the waves and the sunset. Davy loved playing in the sand – though instead of building a sand castle he said he was making a snowman, which made us chuckle.

Much of the time it was very low-key. We rested and walked along the beach, played in the sand and water on the warmest days, did much of our own cooking, read in the sunshine and hung out together. It had a funny combination of higher humidity, cooler temperatures, and refreshing sea breezes – but it was nice to have a break from our heavy summer heat and smoke at home.

Monday afternoon we girls went shopping at some of the little local shops, and I found some treasures. Even more were found the next day at an antique store in Garibaldi.

Dustin did some scouting and found a good place nearby to go spear fishing, so he went out at least once a day. He caught a few crab, and enjoyed watching the marine life. He bought some fresh halibut and did beer-battered fried fish Monday afternoon. It was incredibly melt-in-your-mouth good.

Tuesday we went on the local train ride, which wound along the coast for a few miles. The coast is rocky and very scenic.

Then we ate lunch at the fish house. I tried fried oysters, had some amazing clam chowder, and shared Dustin’s fried rockfish – the difference between fresh fish and the filets you buy in the store is just night and day!

Because it was our last day, Daddy got more rockfish and halibut to eat for supper. I ended up liking the rockfish as much or more than the halibut, and it’s much less expensive.

While on the train ride, I kept exclaiming over how many blackberries were growing wild. Ripe ones were literally everywhere, in bunches like grapes. Just going to waste. After we left, Dustin pulled over by the road and we spent a half hour picking berries as fast as we could. And it did not look like we even touched those few bushes. Some spoiled by the next day when I could freeze the, but I still had more than a gallon to freeze. Next time if we go in berry season I want to pick and freeze some while we are there!

Wednesday we packed up and drove back home, this time seeing all the beautiful scenery in reverse and driving back into some smokiness and heat. The children were glad to get home to their familiar surroundings and routine, but overall did really well. Road trips are SO much easier than flying.

I don’t know if we will make this an annual occasion, but everyone loved it well enough that Daddy is talking about going back next year, or at least every few years. Just the change of pace, scenery, culture, and seafood are worth the trip. (Plus I want to go whale watching sometime. 🙂