When Peter and I were taking our cross country drive to Portland, we were so excited about the new land ahead of us and our new, close proximity to natural beauty. “Let’s go to the coast in the next week or two!” we said. We never went. Housebuying matters took priority.

Our friend Courtney came to visit a couple of weeks ago and it was a great excuse to finally head west and make acquaintence with the Oregon coast. We decided to go to Cannon Beach. Just over an hour’s drive from Portland, we had a very pretty drive through the hills. It was a little alarming to see hillsides of tree stumps from recent logging… it’s not an industry prevalent in the midwest, so the mass tree graves kinda freak me out.

Anyway, unlike any other coasts I have been to, the Oregon coast doesn’t really give you any hints it exists til you’re right on top of it. It goes from tree-woods-wilderness to beach.

Our first stop in the town was at a kite shop. Kites are apparently a hot commodity on the Oregon coast because we saw several other kite shops the more we explored. Here’s some photos from our day at the beach.

Peter, myself, and Courtney:

Foggy Haystack Rock, famous for appearing in The Goonies and other films:

Courtney flying her kite:

After we left Cannon Beach to head back to Portland, there was a traffic jam on the only road out. We decided to make a u-turn and check out Seaside which is another beach town north of Cannon Beach. I had heard Seaside was a happening place and I know they have 4th of July stuff going on there. However I think we went the wrong way into town or missed the main strip because the town seemed rather rundown and the beach was not as exciting as Cannon beach.