My mom visited recently. She came in two Saturdays ago and on Sunday we headed west to the coast. I had never been to these areas before even thought they are less then two hours away. I was just as excited as she was. Sunday morning however I woke up with blisters on my feet. I sucked it up and just hobbled around. I wanted her to have a great time but I also wanted to as well. Even if that meant I had pain with every step. We started out in Seaside. We had breakfast and then walked around before we hit the road and headed South to Cannon Beach. We stopped and walked along the beach for quite a while. I took several shots with my mother's digital camera at this beach so I will share those later. They have a huge rock.... or should I call it a mountain.... that is called the Haystack Rock and it is very popular for us shutterbugs. I took several pictures but as opposed to a horrible long slide show that some people would force upon you, I will find my best 1 or 2. We went into a great art shop and had some wonderful tasting tea. We also picked up some taffy here. Then we headed South again. We were staying in Garibaldi, which is about 8 miles from Tillamook where they make great cheese. You might purchase it and might even be munching on it now, the cheese and the town share the same name. Anyway we stopped at a few viewpoints on the way down. Here are a few examples, taken with my 35 mm:
My feet were killing me when we reached Garibaldi, where we checked in and prepared for a trip South to Pelican Pub & Brewery at Cape Kiwanda right on the beach. After a brief Respite we headed to the car and headed South. Stopping at Tillamook Cheese Factory where we snarfed some free cheese and a small cone of their fantastic ice cream, then before leaving the town of Tillamook we hit the Blue Heron Cheese Shop and gobbled cheese there as well. Then we drove like mad to Cape Kiwanda and our wonderful dinner venue. We were eating vegetarian and I would have to say that there was not much on that stupid menu to find. We found a sandwich and split it then got a salad each. We had a weird gaspacho that looked nothing like any gaspacho I had ever seen. It was tasty but was more like a salsa in need of spice and some chips. The sandwich left a little to be desired. I thought it was bland and with a few small adjustments I think the sandwich could have been quite good but they didn't ask. The location of this place is so outstanding that I could have been eating dry rice cakes and I would have still enjoyed it. The beer was good. I have pictures of this beach as well from my mom's digital camera that I will share. We headed back to our motel and fell asleep quickly. The next morning we had our continental breakfast at the motel which was pretty decent. Then we headed to Cape Meares. A little West of Tillamook, which is the gateway to the 3 cape trek. Cape Meares was beautiful and I have a few of my 35mm photos to share and a few digital ones that will be popping up later in an album.
It was amazing how the beach seemed to be a bone yard for big ol' trees.
It was beautiful. We headed back to Tillamook and their wonderful cheese factory where we saw them churn it out. We had a really good 4 cheese grilled cheese sandwich and an ice cream cone. Then we headed North and ultimately East. We stopped at the Oldest Sitka Tree which is over 750 years old and 17 and a half feet in diameter. Unfortunately it won't be around too much longer as it seems it is dying and you can no longer get right up next to it so the full comprehension of the massiveness of this tree was not experienced up close and personal. When we hit town we took a detour to the Hoyt Arboretum and then to Powell's downtown. The we dined at an Indian food place and finally made it home. The next day we took it easy because rain rolled in. We went to Sauvie Island and got berries and other fresh vegetables and made dinner at home. The next day we went to the Japanese Garden and then I got my mom to the airport about an hour and a half before her flight but then her flight was delayed for 2 hours and she spent a long minute in the airport. When I get the Japanese Garden pictures from her I will make the photo album. And as always to see any picture larger just click on the photo.
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