A Beach Day on the Oregon Coast

Alison and I woke up early the next morning and headed back to Canon beach. Watching the sunrise was amazing. There were so few people at the beach, especially early on. I flew my drone for a little bit and then we spent an hour walking up and down the beach. Since it was low tide we could walk right up to haystack rock. The sun hitting haystack and the other nearby ocean rocks created a beautiful scene. I also really enjoyed looking for ocean critters in the tide pools. This was a fun way to start the day. 

Back at our accommodations we had leftover Voodoo doughnuts and homemade granola (brought from home) for breakfast. We packed up our belongings and bid farewell to our eclectic hotel. It suited our needs and was inexpensive for the Cannon Beach area, but it was a strange place. As we were pulling out, Skylee commented, “I hope our next hotel is nicer.” We didn’t realize the 7-year old had such refined taste in hotels. 

Our rental car

Our first planned stop for the day was Rockaway beach. Kite flying is a popular activity on the Oregon Coast and we read this was an excellent beach for kite flying. Yesterday when we were leaving Cannon beach we saw a cute little kite shop. Since we did not know the status of the kite shops around Rockaway and the information is surprisingly hard to find online we decided to stop at the Kite Factory. Skylee was thrilled because she had set her sights on the mermaid kite in the window of the shop. The shop was open by appointment only so we called the number on the door and the shopkeeper came and let us in. He was a delightful fellow and so helpful. We bought the mermaid kite for Skylee and a butterfly kite for Alison. 

Once we had our kites, we were on the road back to Rockaway beach. We were ~15 minutes out when we saw a nice looking overlook area. We stopped the car and got out. It was beautiful - having nice views of cliffs, forest, ocean and beach - all in one location. While we explored we met a nice couple who chatted with us. Every person we have met in the Oregon Coast has been exceedingly nice. 

We got back in the car and decided the stop may have been a mistake. Holly had an epic meltdown. We tried to limit driving as much as possible on this trip because Holly hates the car. Much to all of our surprises Holly has done well in the car on this trip. There have been a couple of meltdowns, but other than those incidents she has been happy and even on a few occasions slept in the car. 

Fortunately, Rockaway beach was fairly close. We found a nearby place to park and hit the beach. It was a wide open windy beach, which made it perfect for kite flying. Kristin bought some sand toys that kept Holly occupied while we flew the kites. Skylee got her kite right up and kept it in the air. She is good and flying kites and would tell us how we could improve our kite flying form. Our butterfly kite wasn’t as good as the mermaid kite. The balance seemed to be off and it kept diving to one side and usually ended up in the sand. We spent the morning kite flying and playing on the beach. 

Sklyee had an intense look on her face while she flew the kite

We got back into the car and drove toward Tillamook. One our way we stopped and bought some rainier cherries from a stand on the side of the road. We originally hoped to visit the Tillamook factory for some grab and go ice cream. Due to Covid they were only open for grab and go. However they changed their operators and opened for tours, by appointment only. However, they are closed on the weekend. We skipped that stop. Instead we stopped in Tillamook for lunch. We ate at the Dutch Mill Diner. It was a 50’s style diner. They had Tillamook ice cream. It was a good lunch place. 

This was a delicious malted vanilla shake

Now that we had food we drove to Cape Muir. We visited Short beach. This beach was recommended by one of the Our Best Bites bloggers. It was an excellent recommendation.  This may have been our favorite beach. We parked on the road and took a short hike down some stairs through a heavily forested area to come out on a beautiful beach. It was a quintessential Oregon beach with beautiful views, cliffs and sand. We played in the sand, climbed on rocks and explored throughout the afternoon. 

Our last stop for the day was Cape Muir lighthouse. It was just up the road from short beach. This was cool little light house nestled in the cliffs. Because of its location it wasn’t very tall. The views around the lighthouse were spectacular. There were lots is little trails nearby. We took one trail to see the Octopus tree. 

We drove for about an hour to our next hotel. The drive was great. It was right down the coastline. Beautiful views through all types of scenery the entire way. We ended up in Lincoln City. We stayed at the Coho Oceanfront Lodge. It was such a great hotel. We have a two bedroom suite with ocean views. We are in the ground level so we can walk right out to some fire pits and a grassy area. Beach access was a short walk right around the corner. We loved this place and would highly recommend it.

We were hungry so we walked to a nearby restaurant - Maxwells. It wasn’t that great, but it was an adequate dinner. After dinner Dan and Skylee started watching ET. Kristin and I kept an eye on the fire pits. We were waiting to snag one. While we waited a bird flew right in front of us carrying a large fish in its talons. Our patience paid off and we were able to snag one of the hotel fire pits. The hotel had a handful of gas fire pits. We texted Dan, Skylee and Alison to come out and join us. We sat around the fire and listened to the ocean.