We decided to stay an extra day in Long Beach. We went for a nice long walk on the beach (it was chilly and windy, but not raining), stopped in at the kite museum (and made our own to take home), and finished off with groceries at Sid’s IGA, and a hot beverage at the drive thru. I took Nixon for a run in the afternoon (and nearly got lost in the sand dunes and grasses on the beach), we had some naps, and then we enjoyed mashed potatoes and pot roast (ok, I didn’t whip them up myself, they were the heat and eat variety), while face timing our families.
This morning, bright and early.. okay, like 9:30, in the pouring rain, after packing up, walking the dog and jumping into the car, we headed down to Cannon beach. Our first stop in Oregon. It was a whole hour away, and we just made it in time to get Rylie into bed for a nap upon arrival. She literally nursed to sleep as Josh backed in the RV and pushed out the slide. She screamed the last 10 minutes trying to fall asleep in the car but it didn’t work. It’s her new thing. Ugh. Babies.
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Cannon Beach
Cannon beach was a cute little town with great beachside vibes. Maybe, a place for Portland-ites to weekend? The buildings were cute and cape cod style with cedar shake exteriors, making them look timeless and stylish. There were many shops to “poke” around in, most of them were galleries, but others had the usual tacky tourist garb.
We turned just off main street to see the beach. It was super windy and sprinkling rain, but that’s where everyone was. Watching the sea gulls try to fly through the gusts, and to see the waves crashing violently on shore. From there we wandered back to an awesome hipster coffee shop with delicious latte’s and carmel oatmeal cookies. Rylie pretty much ate the whole thing herself, that foodie doesn’t share too well.
We took some photos, stopped at the overpriced (but still tasty) bakery, and took in some of the shops. We did a little sightseeing drive to find the infamous Cannon beach rock, but it just took us winding through a deep, dark, dense forest into a look out point (which you had to pay to visit, and at the end of the day we decided to pass).
Turns out that rock we were looking for turned out to be the opposite direction, and we saw it on the drive out the next morning. There are quite a number of rocks creeping up along the coast, making it such a scenic drive along the 101.
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Newport
This morning, baby rose at 6am, our goal was to shoot for leaving by 9. Sigh. I know! But, by the time we all eat, shower, tidy up, get dressed, do another diaper change and cut up snacks for the car, and do the whole trailer take down process it takes 2 hours to get the heck out of a place. We left at 8:30 so we did pretty good.
Newport was our stop for the day. It took just about 3 hours with winding roads and small towns scattered along the drive. Out of curiosity, we googled the time and distance driving down to San Diego from Long Beach on both the 101 and the I5. It is only 300 km longer to take the 101, but the time difference is about double.
So, our campground here is at the Marina in Newport. You can hear the sea lions barking from all the way across the bay. There’s an enormous and crafty looking bridge crossing right across the skyline, and we sit just below it. Our plan was to tackle the aquarium this afternoon, but by the time nap came and went it was too late. Instead, since the sun was finally out and the campground paved, we busted out the little pink jeep and took that around the neighbourhood, and walked Nixon around the marina. Late afternoon found us wandering down by the pier, introducing Rylie to the loud, fat sea lions, and then we grabbed some fantastic fish and chips and fish tacos at a local shop. The halibut was a hit with the little lady.
