Oceanside, OR

June 26-30, 2013

WEDNESDAY June 26, 2012

Today we left work early to beat the traffic out of Seattle for our 4+ hour drive to Oceanside, Oregon. We stopped in Portland for a bite to eat at Chop Butchery & Charcuterie for a good sandwich.

We ended up making better time than the 3 other families we were planning to meet at our rented beach house on the Oregon coast.

In Tillamook, we drove by the air museum. The building was a wooden hanger built in 1942 to house blimps. It is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the WOLRD! 1,072ft long x 296ft wide x 192ft high. That’s over 7 acres of area! 

We still had some time to kill so we went down to the beach for a walk. The rock formation out in the water is Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge. 

Chance loved running on the beach 

Day 1 of vacation and feeling good even in this hazy beach weather 

We divvied up rooms once everyone arrived at the beach house in Oceanside. Ryan broke out a puzzle from the house to begin.

THURSDAY June 27, 2013

This morning we all went down to the beach. Joe got Jacob to go for a run with him. Others went as well. The mist made for a pretty soaking wet run south to Netarts Bay. Others had a wet walk on the north side.

Joe looking good getting ready to sling the football to Jacob on the wet beach 

Since it was rainy we decided to go to Tillamook Cheese Factory for the afternoon. 

The kids in the Loaf Love Tour bus 

Joe’s always gotta have me be the man 

We got Tillamook ice cream cones and watched the making of cheese on the factory floor below. 

The cheese sample tasting line was the best. Mmm extra sharp cheddar! 

Mmmm squeezy cheese curds 

We were on dinner duty Thursday night and used a baking pyrex to bake potatoes. Somehow the pyrex blew up! That sure was fun to clean up. 

Cloudy sunset Thursday night from the house deck 

We started a fire in the fire pit in the backyard to roast some smores. 

FRIDAY June 28, 2013

Today we went to Oceanside Beach.

Chance running to Paxton 

Cheyenne enjoying the ocean 

Britton, the photographer in the foreground of some pretty righteous low laying clouds to the south 

Chance racing in the Pacific Ocean surf 

Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge is home of 100,000 nesting Common Murre, a large breeding colony of Tufted Puffins, and other species like Leach’s Storm-petrel, Brandt’s Cormorant and Pigeon Guillemot. The refuge is also a pupping site for the federally threatened Steller sea lion, measuring 10’ in length and weighing up to 2,000 pounds.

Eli running on the beach 

Tiger running on the beach 

Julie boogey boarding 

Lovin’ the beach time

Joe keeping Chance calm for a bit 

Great scenery & great friends 

The boys played some football 

Six smaller rock formations of the Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge 

Starfish clinging to the rocks 

Mussels on the rocks 

Chance happily roaming the beach 

Crab on the beach 

More time with the telephoto lens to see the seals and birds 

Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge 

Baywatch on the beach 

More rock formations beyond to the north at Cape Meares 

Britton, Sara and I decided to see if we could get over to the baby sea lion we heard about on the sandy beach. 

Sara in the perfectly picture hole 

Picturesque 

Jackie crossing the tide pool quickly before getting overtaken by a wave on the rocks 

I was the only one to carry on as to the other side of the rocks as the tide came in. 

Looking back from the sandy beach 

The baby seal wasn’t looking so good… 

I ran back from beach hoping the tide had only risen a few inches while I was gone because there was one deep spot that if the timing wasn’t right, I would be getting wet on the climb back to where I left Sara & Britton. And I was right, wet underwear!

The girls were troopers even stranding themselves with their cameras on the other side of the rock. This passerby sure was a nice man to aid us getting back to shore in one piece with dry cameras. 

Sara was a good sport 

We survived the tide coming in! 

Such a beautiful day on the beach 

While we were gone the kids buried Alyssa in the sand and made her into a beautiful mermaid. 

Bocce ball 

We decided to pack up to eat lunch back on the other side of the rock outcropping on Oceanside Beach. Since the time had come in, we took the tunnel through the rock to the other side. They had these cool holes in the wall. 

Back at the beach house I had to put in a few more puzzle pieces before we departed

Ice Cream snack at Tillamook, thanks Bigby’s! 

We hiked to Munson Creek Falls which cascades 319’, making it the tallest waterfall in the Coastal Range. 

Kids on tree log 

Kids crazy faces 

Adults 

Adults crazy faces 

Adults kissy faces 

After dinner we rushed down to the beach for sunset photographs.

Sunset on Oceanside Beach 

Bonfire on the beach 

Bromance 

We love fires 

SATURDAY June 29, 2013

Evidence of yesterday’s stupidity: really bad sunburn & a stubbed big toe that I busted open after hitting a rock walking back from the bonfire in the dark on the sandy beach

Today we drove down to Lincoln City since a good majority of us had sunburns and needed to protect ourselves from more direct rays

Scenic drive overlook 

That’s Oceanside and Three Arch Rock National Wildlife Refuge in the distance 

Joe bought a kite in Lincoln City. Kite building time 

Jackie helping launch the kite 

Kite flying 

Solon’s turn flying the kite 

Joe helping launch the kite 

A man and his toys 

That’s one happy kid, cough I mean man, with his toy purchase 

Crazy kids swimming in the cold Pacific Ocean 

Dinner on the beach 

Off for the races to get through the tunnel to the other side of the beach for the shoreline seastacks 

Sunset at Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge 

Rocky shoreline sunset 

The amount of birds here are a clear indication why this area is a wildlife refuge. 

Bird & rock silhouette 

Rocks in sunset haze 

I love this small hole in this rock formation 

Waves crashing on the rocks 

One final shot looking back at another beautiful sunset from the tunnel to Oceanside beach

Campfire on the beach 

SUNDAY June 30, 2013

Before leaving the beach house and our families parted ways, we took a fun group photo with crazy hats on.

Crazy hat group photo 

We began our long drive south to Redwoods in northern California. 

We stopped in Pacific City, to see the ‘other’ haystack rock. 

Our next pit stop, the Devil’s Punchbowl….except we hit it at low tide. No crazy churning crashing waves on the hole for us. 

Our next pit stop was for lunch at Cape Perpetua. 

We hiked down Captain Cook’s Trail to a park bench to eat lunch. 

The Spouting Horn in Cook’s Chasm wasn’t blasting due to low tide but there were some cool tide pools. 

The Oregon coast is so beautiful! 

Good Fortune Cove 

Bright moss tidepools 

Bright orange rocks 

We pulled over at an overlook to see Heceta Head Lighthouse.

Our next detour to stretch our legs was a short hot stint on John Dellenback Dunes Trail 

Somewhere cool along the coast that I can’t remember where now 

We kept driving past other cool locations to save time to stop at must-stops along Samuel H Boardman State Park. Our luck, this is when the cloud & heavy fog started rolling in. 

We ate pizza for dinner at Zola's Pizzeria in Brookings before heading across the border into California for a next 2 nights in the Redwood National Park.