Trip to Washington and Oregon October 2009, Day 4

Yesterday we descended to the campsite in fog, today we were prepared to have to enjoy the day by feel and smell. Surprise: when we got up there was some high cloud but we could see the hills inland. This was the first camp at a site with facilities, so we had leisurely showers. The groceries were running low, must find a store today. By the time we had done the morning chores it was a brilliant day. We had a good long walk on the beach.

Above: the trail through the dunes, looking inland. Below: The view towards Mount Neahkanie from the same  trail. Notice the fog patches.

YES!! Essence of sunny beach! 

At least where we are. Fog far out to sea.

Below: beach houses close to Manzanita. Note the ship-shaped one.

I felt like walking into Manzanita and hanging out at a nice coffee shop for a bit. We might have done that IF we could have been sure of some transport back. Not. We must have been close to town. We were also not sure of the geography. The scale of the road map made it hard to read that part. Did the beach go all the way to the mountain, and therefor past Manzanita, or was the entrance to the bay in between? Google Earth later made it clear we could have walked right into town.

But we turned around and faced this view South. For good long walks, this many be the best beach on the coast.

Below: View of the hills from the dunes trail.

Back in camp we did Dump and Fill chores and headed South. The middle part of the day was slightly marred by the need for groceries. We figured Tillamook would have a supermarket somewhere along the freeway, but all we saw was a Fred Meyers. They advertised Jewelry and Clothing in large letters. I thought I saw the word food in passing but wasn't sure. What do we know, we live in a Fred-free zone. Traffic was getting more dense, blood sugar levels were dropping, map reading abilities were stressed.


We ended up turning around somewhere in Tillamook and heading back to the Fred store on the highway. Indeed, they did food. The sheer size of those places is overwhelming for someone from Nakusp.
By this time I was light-headed from hunger and took forever to collect the bare necessities in an unfamiliar store. Then we had to find each other, it all took a while. Guess who forgot her algae* that day. We inhaled a sandwich and were finally back on the road by 4.

We drove the scenic loop but didn't hike into any of the capes this time. The photo above is from a place called Anderson's Viewpoint. The last time we were there we watched paragliders launch themselves!

I am getting a bit fuzzy about which picture was taken where. We passed several sheltered areas where people were happily messing about with boats. Netarts Bay? Nestucca Bay? Does it matter? Not. Somewhere between Tillamook and Lincoln City is all I know for sure.

Why didn't I make a note of the name of this little resort? It had an RV site, a restaurant, and boat rentals. It would be so much fun to just spend a week there.

Lincoln City is just that. Lots of traffic, much too busy for our taste. It was beginning to register that this was the start of a Long Weekend, even if it wasn't Thanksgiving. Our planned stop for the night was Beverley Beach State Park. All the plug-in RV sites were booked, but tent sites were still available. Home for the night again.

End of Day 4

*Algae: the whole food supplement I rely on for health and sanity. If ADD exists, I have it. A few grams of AFA daily make me a better person.