Oregon Coast- Gearhart and Cannon Beach

Ecola State Park

After saying our goodbyes at Laddie's family's house, SMS and I headed off explore the Oregon Coast a little more before heading to Portland.  First, we went to Yankee Trader's, which is a crazy vintage store that, among other things, is stuffed with paper cut-out, 3-D diorama cakes that are totally Steampunk.  It's a really interesting place with many mini-displays with boundaries created by distinct color selections and themes for each mini-area displaying the items for sale (which seem to be everything).  Although I wanted one of the cakes, I don't think it would really look that great out of the store, especially in SMS' eyes.  So, we just looked and poked around for a bit before leaving for Cannon Beach.

We had heard really nice things about Cannon Beach so we wanted to check it out.  Our first stop was for coffee.  We went to Insomnia Coffee, which was really good and very strong.  After checking our email, we headed out to wander the streets.  We went into a yarn shop, where I decided my new hobby is going to be crocheting.  We went to a really neat leather goods store where I almost bought a cross-body purse but decided I didn't need it.  We also bought a bagel and piece of pizza- I know, we have crazy lunches.  After wandering the town, we headed over to Ecola State Park, which was absolutely beautiful.  There was a high lookout point where we could overlook the entire town and coastline of Cannon Beach and it was pretty spectacular, especially since the sun came out during our drive there.

Ecola State Park Lookout

After admiring the view, we wanted to hike to the beach but the nearest seemed to be about 1.5 miles away.  SMS had a feeling that one of the paths might bring us to the beach under the lookout and he was right!  There was a little bit of scrambling and then we were there on the rocky shore.  It was great to experience all of the beautiful types of areas within the park without hanging around for hours.

SMS' Beach

We headed into Portland and had a really fun late afternoon.  On the way, we stopped at Milepost 18, an interesting area with lots of old foresting and train machinery.  We looked around, thought about eating but continued on to Portland.  We checked into our hotel and headed out for a bite to eat before returning the car.  SMS was in the mood for a beer so we went to Bailey's Taproom. Although it seemed to be a beer only place, the woman next to us had awesome looking Mexican food which was "delivered" from the restaurant across the street.  Without another word, SMS stood up and went  to get us something delicious.  We had El Pastor nachos which were totally awesome.  Best Mexican food of the trip!  After dinner, we went to Salt & Straw for dessert where I had the Olive Oil Ice Cream, which I really like although Karen had gotten some earlier in the week and did not.  Finally, we returned the car and took the train back into the city.  It was a great day and we were ready for more Portland exploring the next day!