Oregon Coast Vacation

Beverly Beach, Pacific Ocean

Since returning from my trip over a week ago, I have both wanted to do a post, sharing the pictures and I keep getting requests to do so.  Being that I finally have had a moment to do so, I thought I would sit down and do a post sharing (only a few of) the pictures I took as well as give a brief recap of the trip.

 

  

Beverly Beach, Oregon

This was our main destination and where we stayed most of our nights.  After only getting to spend one night here last year, I was glad to have several days here to explore and enjoy. As I promised Cooper and myself, we did go for at least one walk a day.

 

Oceanside Houses

Tillamook Cheese Factory & Oceanside Beach

Although Tillamook was crowded and nowhere near fun as it has been in the past, I was happy with the decision to drive out and check out Oceanside.  This place was such a beautiful sandy beach.  It was not crowded at all, even though the weather was warm, with lots of sunbathers, swimmer and surfers using the beach.  I was easily able to get several pictures of the beach and ocean without the obstacles of people.

Oceanside Beach

 

Miniature Golf - Florence

Miniature Golf Course

We were able to get in a round of miniature golf on perhaps my favorite course.  Last year the “green” was blue, which I thought looked much better.  I still favor this course.   There were several groups of six people playing and we spent more time waiting for the two large groups in front of us than playing.  After lunch in town, we were able to get in another round of golf.  I did horribly on both games, but was glad to get a chance to play the course.

 

 

 

 

Sand Dunes - Florence

Dunes

The sand dunes are always so much fun!  It is amazing to see so much sand so near to the Pacific Ocean.  The view the whole way was so magnificent.  I took more pictures on the tour than I had any other day of the trip.  The ride was a blast and I am seriously thinking about taking the faster one next time I go.

 

Dunes

 

Dunes with forest in the distance

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

 

Food, Delicious Food

Dunes & Pacific Ocean

Dunes

Each and every place we ate at was a great experience.  Ocean Locals I had perhaps the best bacon cheeseburger on a Ciabatta bun along with crispy fries and a tartar sauce with horseradish in it.  When I am going through, I always like to stop at the original Izzy’s in Newport with the best food out of any of the restaurants and the most beautiful view.  We do not have any A&W standalone restaurants and the combo few with KFC are pure crap.  The food was okay, but having a diet A&W root beer in a chilled mug was refreshing.  The hit place we at was called Mo’s, going twice for dinner. Both times, I had clam chowder and the house salad with fish and chips the first evening and chicken strips the second evening. 

 

New Port

For the most part, we ate dinner in Newport.  Yet our time there seemed to go by fast.  We explored parts we never had been before.  We even got to spend time watching a bunch of sea lions on a dock, close up.

 

Devil’s Punch Bowl

Pacific Ocean

We timed our visit to coincide with the high tide, hoping to see the bowl fill up.  The water never ended up rising very high.  The view was beautiful and we had two great spots to watch.

  

Pacific Ocean standing above bowl

 

Devil's Punch Bowl

 

Pacific Ocean & Beach

 

Hikes

At Beverly Beach Park there were a series of trails along the outside of the park.  Cooper  and I explored one during the day with the everyone else.   Cooper and I were at the lead.  One direction of the trailed ended up going through a swamp and ended up at a dead end, while the longer took us in a roundabout way down to the beach. 

Devil's Punch Bowl

Another hike was one I insisted on doing, as it was getting dark our last night.  Cooper kept on stopping and wanted to turn back.  It did not take me long to start thinking about Friday the 13^th and getting spooked.  The third time Cooper was quite insistent we head back the direction we came, I decided that it was a good idea.  We high tailed it out of the woods.

 

 

Taidnapam Park, Washington

Riffe Lake at Taidnapam

Riffe Lake at Taidnapam

With our reservation being one day shorter than we had planned, we decided to see if we could find another place to spend one more night.  Fort Stevens Park in Warrington, Oregon was our first choice, however it was completely full, so after stopping for lunch we headed back to Washington state.  We were able to find a few openings at Tainapam, Park on a first-come, first-serve basis.  After several hours in the car I was torn on simply continuing the drive home or getting a place to stay for another night.  Fortunately, when we arrived the spot we wanted was still available.  I wasn’t appreciative of this until we got into the park.  I was glad we made this extra stop.  All of us liked it so much that we decided to stay two nights, extending our trip by one whole day.

 

 

 

Riffe Lake at Taidnapam

 

In short, this was my Oregon vacation down through Tillamook to Florence.  The weather was perfect, not to hot, not too cold. 

All of the pictures I took were with my Samsung Galaxy Note II smartphone.

Riffe Lake at Taidnapam