Oregon June 9-15, 2024

It was pretty chilly and overcast when we arrived at Cannon Beach but Haystack Rock was gorgeous. I was excited to go to MO's for dinner so we walked along the beach for 1 1/2 miles to reach MO's. I got fish and chips and it was delicious. MO's is right on the beach so you can look out on the water. Cannon beach is truly magical. Connor and I ran back to get the car and we bought groceries and a local store because our airbnb had a full kitchen. 

I woke at 530am the next morning and was super excited to run. I always see the cool things when I am up early running. This particular morning I saw a seagull posing for me.  I also climbed up into the trees.  

I then grabbed the rest of the family because it was low tide and we could walk to Haystack rock and see creatures.  I saw starfish, crabs, octopus, baby fish, and anemone.  We then grabbed blankets, a frisbee, and books and sat on the beach.  

It was pretty windy so the frisbee didn’t work but I was able to take a nap while Carly buried me in the sand.  

We then drove down to Seaside to walk on the boardwalk and get more inexpensive souvenirs.  

We then started the trend of watching the sunset every night.  There is no experience like watching the sunset on the beach.  We also saw black and white bunnies mingling with each other.

We spent a large part of the morning exploring the beach before heading to Astoria.  

Astoria has a 360 degree panarama of the Columbia River and bridges.  

The Goonies house was nearby and felt just like the neighborhood in the movie.  

We went to Fort Clatsop and explored the Lewis and Clark park.  

We saw Youngs River falls and a fat banana slug that looked like a dog turd.

I saw beautiful pelicans and a lady submerged in the water on this run.  

Carly and I built a sandcastle with a Tillamook bucket.  

We visited the Tilamook factory and got lots of cheese and ice cream.  

We saw Rockaway beach, Manzanita, and surfers.  

Short sand beach was wonderful.  

We also played volleyball and took lots of sunset pictures.  The sunset was the best and was totally clear.  

I don’t like Portland much so I scheduled a half day trip to the falls.  Multnomah Falls is the most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest with more than 2 million visitors stopping by each year to take in the views. We got out early before it was too crowded. We also visited Horsetail falls, Latourell falls, and the Vista house.

We went to Hawthorne Asylum, the sprawling food cart pod near Cartopia, with everything from vegan Egyptian to a Southern-meets-South-African. The pod has several carts, plenty of covered seating, a fire pit, and steam punk metal work. 

Portland had homeless, drug deals, crazies, people with meth rashes, and so many tents.  Oregon began shutting down its large psychiatric facilities and poor farms in the 1980s and ‘90s after reports inhumane treatment.  The state’s plan was to replace these institutions with smaller, community-based treatment facilities. That never happened.  Instead, rising housing and health care costs forced many people with serious mental illnesses into homelessness. 

I chose to run in the Washington park area in Portland. Washington Park is a public urban park.  It includes a zoo, forestry museum, arboretum, rose garden, Japanese garden, amphitheatre, memorials, archery range, tennis courts, soccer field, picnic areas, playgrounds, public art and many acres of wild forest with miles of trails.  The holocaust memorial was really mind opening.

We also visited sights from "Twilight" 

Cannon Beach

and Multnomah Falls

Cannon Beach was called one of the 100 Most Beautiful Places in the World by National Geographic and Portland has the saying, "Caught between a waterfall and a bearded man on a unicycle. Just another day exploring the wonders of Portland" That sums up our week in Oregon!!!