Ah, the Pacific Ocean

After prying Tuna out from under the bed, we continued south on highway 101 along the Willapa Bay.  The road went through Cape Disappointment where the ocean meets the mighty Columbia River, then connects via bridge to Oregon.  The Astoria (OR) - Megler (WA) bridge is the longest continuous cantilever through-truss bridge in the world.  The cantilever superstructure was built 90 miles upstream and barged to Astoria.  It's also the last structure built in the United States using hot rivets and was designed for 150 mph winds.

Once we got along the Oregon coast, we had beautiful views.  We were to comment over the next four days how lovely the coast is, how many state and federal parks there are, and how many picnic areas there on the coast.  We are used to California's coastal protection and were surprised at how many private homes there are on the Oregon coast, especially the northern section.  If you want land on the gorgeous Pacific coast, Oregon is the place to be.

By the time we arrived in Cannon Beach, "the Carmel of Oregon", we were ready for lunch.  Fortunately, Bethany had clued us in to the perfect spot, The Lazy Susan, where we enjoyed omelets in the cute cottage cafe.  Cannon Beach is a very cute community, well cared for and in good taste.  It's also home to Ecola State Park, a beautiful place that we enjoyed very much.  Windy roads take you through forests to the coast, where you can see a little lighthouse on a rock at sea, Haystack Rock, chickadees eating pine nuts, surfers enjoying the waves, and the windswept foggy coastline.  We love the Pacific Ocean and were happy to be back to it.   This part of the Oregon coast is also the last area that Lewis & Clark encountered.

We had such an enjoyable time in Ecola State Park and along the way that we had to skip another scenic detour along the coast.  Around 6pm it started raining and got dark and we spent the last hour driving in this to Pacific City, our stop for the night.  We had a lovely room just across from a large beach and another of Oregon's haystack rocks.  Unfortunately it was too late to spend any time on our balcony.  We had dinner at the friendly pub on the beach.