Can You Say Capes, Quilts, Planes & Cheeeeese, Please? – Tillamook, OR

As part of our active week here at Nehalem Bay we decided to gawk & eat our way south for a few big day-trips. As it so happens Tillamook, OR is only around  20 miles from us. It’s nestled in another large bay surrounded by more dramatic capes and offers a whole bunch of extra sightseeing PLUS (and here’s the rub) it’s the home of Oregon cheese. Awesome! We checked the forecast (which is totally useless on the coast, but we’re suckers for it anyway) and decided to target the sunniest days of the week. Full days of rays and guaranteed belly-pleasing eating -> gotta be perfect, right? Well, here’s how we fared…

Cheeese, Cheeeeeeese Yes Please!

The Tillamook Cheese Factory

The Blue Heron Cheese Shop

Cheese is one of my absolute favorite food-groups. If I were ship-wrecked on a desert island I do believe I could live on cheese, and if you were to give me a glass of vino to accompany I might believe I had landed in heaven. Tillamook has a long history of cheese-making, dating back 100 years to some of the very first farms on the OR coast. These farms endure today so you pass many pleasant pastures and grass-fed dairy cows on your way to town, a sure testament to preservation of the local art. I was very excited to sample the curdled and fermented goodness at both Tillamook Cheese and Blue Heron. These two spots are the largest in town and we toured them both in the same day. We passed time learning the history, watching the factory workers and sampling the cheesy stuff. Our impressions? A bit too “touristy” for our tastes, probably expected given the popularity, but a mucho fun excursion nonetheless.

The Plane, The Plane!

Paul admires a Douglas DC-3

A wonderfully restored MiG-17

As part of our cheesy day in Tillamook we took a side-trip to what became a wonderful & unexpected bonus surprise -> the Tillamook Air Museum. Whereas we found the cheese factories somewhat overrun and kitchy, this place was a gem, presenting aviation history in it’s finest. The museum site is the original hanger for one of the 10 Blimp Bases that operated on the US coastline in WWII. It covers 7 acres and claims to be the largest free-standing, clear-span wooden structure in the world! Inside this impressive building are more than 30 fully restored warbirds, simply stunning specimens of their time. We spent several hours just walking around the huge machines and gawking at their shiny reflections. This is a “must see” in the area and definitely tops our recommendation list.

The massive Air Museum hanger originally housed 8 Blimps

Find A Quilt, Learn Some History

One of the old barns on the Quilt Tour

Another rather cool discovery on our cheesy day was the Tillamook Quilt Trail. Despite the name this has nothing to do with bits of stitched fabric, but is actually a self-guided driving tour of some of the most historic barns and buildings in the area. It’s a pretty fun little drive, and spotting the buildings with the “Quilt” blocks is really quite neat. You can pick-up a map at the Air Museum or the local Chamber of Commerce. Do it and find your quilt!

Scenic Three Capes Drive -> A La Fog?

The Three Capes Drive Map

Three Capes Drive really deserves it’s very own blog post, it really does. This lovely drive meanders 40 miles along the coast south of Tillamook covering three (wouldn’t you believe it) fabulous capes -> Cape Kiwanda, Cape Lookout and Cape Meares. It’s beautiful, amazingly scenic and provides some of the best views of the northern coast.

Just to be sure we got the most out of it we chose the very sunniest of forecasts to go see it, the day absolutely guaranteed to be 100% clear….which of course meant we were absolutely guaranteed to be disappointed. It was not rain, nor hail that blinded our view but FOG. Yes, that dense and intimate collection of hygroscopic particles with which we are so very well acquainted from our many years in San Francisco. I should have known, of course -> The best days in-land are almost always the foggiest on the coast especially by the bits that stick out (e.g. capes…duh!). But we are fog-lovers and not easily deterred so we decided to do the drive anyway. Why not, eh?

A Dory Boat landing at Kape Kiwanda. That’s Haystack Rock in the background.

We arrived at the southernmost point of the drive in perfect sun, and as soon as we crossed west to Pacific City we were enveloped in fog so very thick we missed the town and the cape altogether the first time around. We drove back (thank you GPS) and did manage to glimpse a short lifting of fog around the area where the Dory Boats launch. Pretty cool sight to see these nimble and unique boats launch and land on the beach, despite the grey.

The fog made for some eerie hiking

Our second stop was a 5-mile hike to Cape Lookout, a (supposedly) amazing hike along the cliffs to a (so-I’ve-been-told) wonderful view at the end. Despite the complete lack of panorama, we embraced the weather and basked in the fogginess of it all. In fact, it was rather eerie to hike through the trees and see the cliffs drop off almost vertically to a grey haze with the crash of waves somewhere beneath us. Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!

Our last stop actually provided us the first views of the day. Cape Meares is topped by the shortest lighthouse on the coast and still has an original (albeit damaged from vandalism, sadly) first order Fresnel lens. And here, finally, we saw a tease of what we had missed. A fully-clear view across the capes to Three Arches Rocks and the coastline beyond. Quite the nice ending, especially with a lighthouse to top it off.

View of Three Arches from Cape Meares

So there you go…our rather full and exciting week on the northern coast comes to an end. We’ve absolutely adored our time here and are already scheming to come back. After all, I’ve got to see those Capes again (and write another blog post)! Next stop, Newport, OR and the central Oregon Coast.

P.S. Three Capes Drive and Cape Lookout Trail is entirely paw-friendly and Polly was along for the ride. The Lighthouse doesn’t allow dogs inside, but you can hike to the structure and take turns doing the free tour while doggie waits outside.

More foggy goodness

Cape Meares Lighthouse, short and stout

The “mini-Gumpy” at Tillamook Air Museum

Gazing inside the Fresnel Lens at Cape Meares Lighthouse

Digging The Beach Vibe – Manzanita, OR

On the dunes at Nehalem Bay

I teased you in the last post about the awesome spot we’re currently camped, so it’s about time I spill the beans. For the past 7 days or so we’ve been hanging at Nehalem Bay State Park, a lovely park that sits on a 3-mile sand-spit just south of Manzanita, OR. It’s a mere skip and a hop from our last spot, but seems so very, very different.

Beach bounded by capes…pretty neat!

Bike-trail on the bay-side at Nehalem Bay State Park

As you drive south from Astoria you pass through rather open landscape with lots of beach-towns and pretty sand. It’s all quite lovely, but just a few miles further the view changes. Suddenly the coast buckles into dramatic capes and you’re faced with steep and rugged cliffs intermixed with sleepy bays. It’s in the very center of one of these bays, on a long sand-spit that we’re currently camped. Our RV spot is surrounded by shore pines and only a few minutes walk over rolling dunes to a pristine 6-mile beach.

And what a beach it is! Once you top the grassy dunes and look-out to sea you’re rewarded with a long beach with sand so fine sand it squeaks when you walk (don’t you love when that happens?) bounded by dramatic capes both north and south. Plus you can toss the shoes and walk the shore from camp right into Manzanita…a totally cute downtown. Oh yeah, I can totally hang here!

Downtown Manzanita…it packs in quite a bit!

Spa, espresso, food…oh yeah!

We’d never actually stopped in Manzanita on our previous coastal trips. This mini-town was incorporated in 1946 and only houses around 600 permanent residents. It doesn’t look like much from the road and if you blink on 101 south you might just miss it. But if you take the time to stop and drive downtown you’ll discover quite the little community. Cool little pub (San Dune Pub -> the tacos were excellent), multiple espresso places, several restaurants, wine & tapas bar (Vino Manzanita -> very cool evening hangout), a good music scene, a golf course (= happy hubby), a spa (= happy me), even an excellent natural food store and a very respectable Friday PM Farmer’s Market. Plus pretty much all of it is paw-friendly. It’s like a smaller, more laid-back, less ”discovered” version of Cannon Beach to the north. Neat little package,right?

Playing on the beach…yeah!

Pretty wildflowers

Originally our plan was to spend just 4 days here, but when arrived we dug the vibe so much we immediately looked to extend our stay and…by total dumb luck…our very site was one of only two in the entire park open for the week-end. Score! Despite the massive influx of families, kids and dogs over the week-end (kiddies got out of school last week, ya know) our site has been pretty relaxed and we’ve been loving the spot. We spent several days just hanging around our little natural paradise, logged a few hikes just north at Oswald West State Park and did several outings into town with pooch.

Oh, we did do something rather foggy and rather cheesy too, but that is a story for the next post…For now, I’ll just share a few pics from our time here so you can dig the beach vibe too.

A bit ‘o nosh at the pub

Fine blue on a sunny day

Cool textures at low tide on the beach

A bit ‘o color at the beach

A Hat Tip To Oswald West (And Yes…YET Another Amazing Beach)

Yet another gorgeous beach! Nehalem Bay, OR

We’ve managed to drag ourselves ~40 miles further south on the Oregon coast from our last stop. It was an exhausting effort, as you can imagine, especially when faced with yet another fabulous state park and yet another pristine 6-mile stretch of paw-friendly beach. Sometimes I wonder how we cope?

The public coast!

But today’s post is not about our awesomely-perfect location. No, it’s far, far larger than that. Our story goes back just over 100 years to a rather visionary man called Oswald West, a {{gasp}} politician and the 14th governor of Oregon, no less. In the midst of a time where land in the west was open for the taking, Oswald West had other ideas. He saw the Oregon coast as a natural gift and decided to preserve the entire area by declaring it a “public highway”.  The bill passed in 1913 and it was a brilliant move. Not only did it protect the existing coastline, but it prevented commercial & private development which, in turn, paved the way to the 1967 Beach Bill that made public access to the shoreline permanent.

Nature as it was meant to be

It is because of this man, because of these actions that the Oregon coast is ours today! Over 362 miles of wild, untamed, unmarred coastline every inch of which is open to you, your paws, your kids and the infinite generations that will follow. 100% public, 100% forever. In today’s day and age where almost every piece of pristine beach on earth has been taken, restricted or claimed to some degree, this is quite astonishing.

“Shorty’s” at low tide

We spent most of yesterday visiting the State Park that is dedicated to Oswald West. It lies just north of our current spot at Nehalem Bay and covers 2,484 acres of gorgeous coast with over 20 miles of hiking trails that run along the cape and up the mountain. In the middle of the park lies Short Sand Beach or “Shorty’s” as it’s known locally, which is a popular surf-spot and rather thin beach at high tide (thus the name) that opens up to a wonderfully wide, flat beach with access to tide-pools and waterfalls at low tide.

The tide-pools at Oswald West State Park

We managed to hit the spot at just the right time. As we hiked through the old-growth forest, past bubbling streams and lush green undergrowth, over sweet-scented trails moist and green from the recent rain, through to stunning views of this…yet another fabulous beach, we paused to thank the man and history that made this possible for us.

We were not part of the history that made it happen, but we sure are happy to reap the rewards today. I tip my hat to you, Oswald West!

Starfish collage at low tide

Lush green old-growth forest on the trail

What can I say but…perfection!

Natural waterfall at Short Sand Beach

SP Campground Review - Fort Stevens State Park, Astoria, OR

Reblogged from Wheeling It:

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A huge park with miles of beach, forts and bike trails on the very NW tip of Oregon Coast.

Note/ Review updated as of last stay June 2013

Link to campground here: Fort Stevens State Park, OR
Link to map location here: Fort Stevens State Park, OR

1. Site Quality = 4/5
   Given the enormous amount of sites in this park (almost 500!!) it's really hard to give an overall site review, so I'll just mention some general trends.

Read more… 979 more words

Just a quick re-blog and update of my campground review for Fort Stevens State Park. We still love this spot.

Astoria & Cannon Beach, OR -> Maritime Refinement & Bloody Beautiful Coastline

Waaaaay too much fun here!

We’ve been having waaaaay too good a time here on the coast, weather and all. You already know how I love the OR coast. I’ve gushed about it, fawned over it, even waxed poetic about it (yes, real live poetry folks), and the fun is only just starting. We’re at the very northern tip of our OR coast travels, hanging just south of Astoria a mere 20 miles or so from our last campground.

Totally new spot, totally new view. The 1906 wreck of Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens beach

It may seem nuts to travel so short a distance, but we are deliberately taking our time down the coast and will be doing drives of only ~30-60 miles at each stop, fully soaking in each spot, until we get down to our summer jobs at Bandon. It’s not the first time we’ve driven this trip, but (apart from our current spot) we will be hitting all new state park campgrounds and all new areas. It’s one of the things I love about the coast. No matter how many times you drive it, you’ll always experience something new, and the changing weather makes it all the more so.

We don’t mind a bit ‘o fog & chill…not at all!

Speaking of which, the weather has been oh-so-good. You never know when it will change of course, this being the coast and all, but apart from a few chilly, foggy mornings (which, by the by, we love equally well…you can thank 10 years in San Francisco for that one) we’ve had afternoons of rockin’ sun and perfect mid-60′s temps. It’s the whole reason we’ve chosen to hang on the OR coast this summer. It’s the sure-promise of consistently cool temps, unending pooch-friendly beach and never having to run the AC (priceless!)

But before I get carried away, let me update you on our week here:

Poetically Historic Astoria

A Danish Bakery in downtown Astoria…awesome!

Even the bins have maritime history on them here

Astoria is a lovely town that lies on the southern shore of the mighty and dangerous Columbia River, and claims history as the first permanent US (non-European) settlement west of the Mississippi. Founded in 1811 as a fur-trading post, the town quickly progressed to the much more profitable business of fishing attracting, interestingly enough, a strong core of Scandinavian emigrants in the mid 1800′s. The salmon and canning industry waned and died in the late 1900′s, but the town has continued to thrive in other ways. Today, Astoria combines a colorful maritime history (the downtown Maritime Museum is a “must-see”) with a thriving arts community, a food co-op, a cool farmers market and no end of interesting places to eat. And those Scandinavian roots have endured. It’s tickles my heart strings to see Scandinavian flags fly around town and the heritage is celebrated each year by a massive Scandinavian festival (sadly, we’re just missing it) complete with serious musicians, folk dancing and food. We’ve spent several days just walking around town and seeing the sights. Plus we’ve sampled two awesome foodie-spots (the Bowpicker fish and chips, plus local hole-in-the-wall foodie favorite the Columbian Cafe), and even met a few blog readers!

Bowpicker Fish & Chips…sooooooo yummy!

Yours truly poses at the top of Astoria Column

Refined Cannon Beach

Perfect pose, doggie…and pretty neat background too!

One of the many, cute patios where you can hang, eat & sip w/ doggie

A clear favorite of ours on the Northern OR Coast is Cannon Beach. This lovely town, often known as the “Carmel of Oregon” (you Californians will know what I’m talking about) is a rather refined and upscale beach spot. Downtown is only a few blocks long, but packs in more restaurants, coffee shops, distilleries, tapas spots, wine, artisan chocolate etc. than just about any place I’ve been. You can don black tie and plonk down the $$$$ here, should you feel so inclined, but you can also find some pretty yummy and relaxed spots to eat, many of which have outdoor seating appropriate for doggie too (we had a lovely lunch with pooch at Sweet Basil’s Café followed by outdoor expresso at one of the gazillion coffee shops). If eating is not your style, then head to the coast which is superbly unique here. Cannon beach boasts the third tallest intertidal (=reachable at low tide) coastal monolith in the world, gorgeous Haystack Rock which rises 235 feet (72-meter) high. It’s quite the impressive sight and, as a bonus, it’s a gorgeous back-drop to just about any doggie shot

Scenic Ecola State Park & “Terrible Tilly”

The stunning view from Ecola Point

The other awesome thing to do around Canon Beach is to visit Ecola State Park just north of town and take in the gorgeous 1.5-mile hike from Ecola Point to Indian Beach. This brisk walk will open up stunning views of the coast and, in clear weather, a peek to “Terrible Tilly“, easily the craziest lighthouse on the entire west coast. Tillamook Lighthouse was built on a huge ocean rock ~1.2 miles from land and first lit in 1881. Not only was it an amazing feat of engineering to get the thing built (the fact that they even tried is beyond comprehension), but the lighthouse keepers who stayed at this isolated and dangerous rock had to be particularly hardy folk (only single men were allowed). It’s privately owned these days and not visitable unless you happen to have special pull and lots of $$$, but it’s a helluva sight to see.

And then of course there’s Fort Stevens State Park where we’ve been spending the rest of our fine time. I have fond memories of this place from 2 years ago, especially where a certain dent in my head is concerned. I’m happy to report there have been no further head incidents and the beach is just as fabulous as I remember. We’ve got toes & paws in the sand, no matter what the weather, at least twice a day and we just happen to be in a loop with not a single RV in sight (seriously, all 25 sites around us are empty). We’ve had an awesome week here and will be heading a grand total of 43 miles south to another great coast-stop tomorrow AM. Hope you like beach shots folks, because you’ll be seeing around 3 months of them. Ahhh…’tis a tough life, I know.

SP Campground Review – Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

Just another day on Cape Disappointment beach

A simply wonderful state park on the tip of wild & gorgeous Cape Disappointment at the very SW end of  WA.

Link to campground here: Cape Disappointment State Park, WA
Link to map location here: Cape Disappointment State Park, WA

1. Site Quality = 5/5 Outstanding sites here if you book in the main campground (sites 1-180). All sites are large paved back-in with spacious ”sitting areas” containing picnic table & fire-pit. There is a mix of full hookup (50 Amp/water/sewer -> Sites 1-60) to partial (30 Amp/water -> sites 62-87) or non-hookup, plus also Yurts.  The sites are arranged in “rings” of 10 sites around a circle (like the spokes of a wheel) so there is generally very good separation and a natural, relaxed feel. There is generous vegetation, green and trees, and the circular arrangement means you only ever really see a few other RVs from your particular site.  The circles nearest the beach (sites 11-20, 101-110, 161-170) are only open in summer, have a little more sun and are literally steps from the beach. A few select sites (e.g. 15-18, 104-106, 167-168) even have slices of beach views. The rings further from the beach are generally very wooded/shaded, but very private and still only a short walk to the sand.
   Note/ The only sites I don’t recommend are the primitive sites near the ranger entrance and outside the main campground (sites 181-234) since they are unpaved, uneven/small and far from the beach. These are really tent-only and not suitable for RVs.
2.  Facilities = 3.5/5 Basic, good facilities here. Large warm, showers and toilets all kept spotlessly clean. Biggest ding is showers are pay-only ($0.50 for 3 mins). On-site dump station.
3. Location = 5/5 Camping here is worth it for the location alone. You are on the very tip of Cape Disappointment, literally steps from a gorgeous beach with views of dramatic cliffs (and a lighthouse). The park itself has tons of hiking/biking trails, several additional beaches, a lovely Lewis&Clark Interpretive Museum and two lighthouses. You could easily spend days just exploring the park. In addition you are only a few miles away from sleepy Ilwaco and the fun of the Long Beach Peninsula. No end of stuff to do here.
4. Pet Friendliness = 5/5 Great doggie site. Lots of space at camp, a huge (enormous) beach to romp on plus tons of trails to hike around the park. Park even offers doggie-bags at the campground.

Overall Rating = 4.6
BONUS ALERT = Camp just steps from gorgeous beach, dramatic cliffs, lighthouses and history!

Summary: If locations could write, this spot would be a novel. Cape Disappointment is a wild, crazy beautiful location of dramatic cliffs, beaches and not just one, but two lighthouses. There are tons of hiking trails, exceptional beaches and no end of historical interest. Plus you’re only a few miles from Ilwaco and the fun of the Long Beach Peninsula. Add onto that a lovely campground with spacious sites that have lots of vegetation and are well-separated into circles of only 10 sites each giving a wonderful, natural feel to the entire setting. All sites are paved with good “sitting areas” providing picnic table plus fire-pit and a mix of full hookups, partial hookups and primitive. The sites closest to the beach are literally steps from the sand and even the furthest are within easy walking distance. The only potential dings? This place is known for it’s crazy weather so you may get a mix of just about anything out here, plus there is zero (NO) Verizon signal. But you can grab a free WiFi signal at the local pizza joint and when that sun opens up, the spot is simply magical. Even if you don’t stay in your RV here, I highly recommend a visit. We LOVED our time here and would most definitely come back!

Extra Info: NO Verizon signal (zero, nada, zip) at campground. There is a usable 3G signal near the entrance of the park, plus free WiFi at Serious Pizza. 180 sites in main campground, all reservable online. Sites cost $32-37/night for full hookups (60 sites -> 50 Amp/water/sewer), $30-35 for partial hookups (18 sites -> 30 Amp/water), $23-26 for standard sites (all remaining sites -> no hookups) in summer season. On-site dump station.

NOTE/ WA State Parks has pics of each campsite on their reservation page.

View of our site (#18). The path to the beach is just to the right of us and we had a slice ocean view on that side too.

View further back of our “ring”. Site #20 on left with #19, us in #18 behind it. All full hookup.

View to side of us. Empty site #17 with #16, #15 behind it. These all have slice ocean views. The only site I didn’t like here was #17 since it had a “shortened” sitting area because of the path to the beach.

View of entrance to another “ring” (sites 21-30). You can see how much vegetation & privacy is in each loop. These are full hookup.

View of sites in another “ring”. On left #6 with #5, #4 behind it. These are all full hookup.

View of one of furthest back rings in full hookup area. Site #45 in front with #44 behind. Lots of privacy here.

View down partial hookup ring. Empty site #69 on left with #68, #67 behind.

View down non-hookup ring. Site #110 on left, #109 on right. Very wooded here.

View down non-hookup ring closest to the cliffs. Site #156 on left, #155 on right.

View of beach-side ring in non-hookup section. Site #168 on left with #167 on right. Both have slice ocean views.

View of picnic table & fire-pit at each site.

Primitive sites near the ranger entrance. These are the only sites I *don’t* recommend for RVs. No separation or privacy here, plus sites are small. #198 on right.

View of facilities in main campground.

Confused About Internet On The Road? Here’s A Book For You!

I don’t often do book reviews on this blog, but every now and then a good one comes along and I feel compelled to share. If you’ve never heard of Technomadia they are a young couple who’ve been fulltime RVers for over 6 years. Their blog was one of the first ones I signed-up to follow when we went on the road and I’ve been a big fan ever since. One of the things I consistently look forward to are their tech topics. These guys are true geeks, but manage to talk about the techno-stuff in a clear, easy and fun way. I’ve learned a ton from them over the years, and it’s led to improvements in our own RV life.

Their latest endeavor tackles the oft-complicated topic of internet on the road. With so many options out there it can be terribly confusing trying to figure out what to buy and how to put it together. What if you only need a little bit of internet? Or, on the other hand, what if you need it all the time? No matter what your level the new The Mobile Internet Handbook – US RVer Edition will cover you needs. In their words this book ”covers cellular, WiFi, satellite, HAM, cable/DSL, boosting, hints & tricks, managing bandwidth and most importantly – setting your expectations for what life on the road with mobile internet is like.”

It’s well-written, easy-to-understand and goes through all the options for US-based travelers in a fun, clear way. I wish this thing had been out when we started RVing! With over 85 pages and 26,000 words, there’s not much they don’t cover. Whether you’re just starting to investigate your RV internet options, or possibly looking to upgrade your existing system I recommend giving this book a read. More info on the book HERE.

Congrats to Cherie & Chris on their book-launch!