My second day in Portland started with an early morning run. We had eaten ourselves into a food-induced coma the night before and I wanted to try and work off at least some of the calories consumed. Here is what you should know about running in Portland: there are hills.
Big hills.
Living in the mid-west made me forget.
Koo's town home is situated on the top of a huge hill so our run consisted of running down the hill, down from there to the little town and then down some more to the river.
Running back up about killed me. I am a wimp.
As we were limping up the last hill to Koo's place, my youngest brother Matt pulled up. Matt is now living in Oregon as well and drove up to spend the day with us on the coast. We ended up spending the entire day exploring various beach and eating things like fried scallops and fresh fish tacos with lots of lime and cilantro.
For all you Twilight fans, this is a the beach where they filmed the movie. The drive to the beach is just beautiful - the woods are almost unbelievably green with the tallest trees I have ever seen all dripping with soft moss. There were a lot of surfers in full bodysuits braving the cold water and we came at just the right time to see starfish and anemones.
We were all soaked by the time we moved on and I kept thinking about how much my kids would love seeing all of the little sea creatures we found. From there, we headed South stopping at random beaches to explore.
The above lighthouse had recently been damaged by some drunken idiot with a shotgun who decided to use it as target practice causing over $1,000,000 in damages.
This one may have been my favorite beach because of the rocks. As the surf rolls out, it pulls the rocks on the shore back towards the water making the most amazing clattering sound. I collected a pocket full of shells and sea glass for the kids as we explored. There is a walking tunnel from this beach to another sandy beach on the other side of these rocks.
We stopped at the Tillamook Factory twice - once for a self-guided tour and cheese sampling and then again after lunch for ice cream.
We never found any sea lions, but the shore is really spectacular. Rocky and rugged and often cold but so very beautiful!
We take that trip every summer. That coast is AMAZING! We stay at Manzanita (about 35 minutes drive north of the cheese factory). The cheese factory is a Tennant tradition. We love Seaside and Astoria. I would love to hear the names of the places you went...so we can enjoy too. I am so glad you got to go!
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