If you are going to the Oregon Coast…

Breck’s friends at work have a running joke where they ask him every Friday, “Who do you have visiting this weekend?”. We love our visitors that come to see us and I feel like at this point I could be a tour guide of some of the beaches here.

So for free I am giving you, a wonderful day at the beach, guide. 😉 If you are thinking of planning a trip don’t mark off the Pacific Northwest, we have some beautiful things to see here.

Everyone always wants to go to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock (think Goonies) but that beach is often crowded and there is only that one rock to look at and then the rest is beach houses. I do recommend going before you leave the coast but not to plan your whole trip around it. Our absolute favorite place to go is Ecola State Park! If you like to hike then this is the perfect place for you because there are a bunch of trails to take from easy to hard. There is also a beautiful wheelchair accessible and easy on the knees path that looks over all of Cannon Beach. It does cost $5 to get into the park but that is for the whole car. The photo above is from that lookout.

We take our guests to the lookout point and then head down the 2 mile trail to the beach. The trail often has elk walking along in the woods on either side, has multiple little waterfalls, and even a homemade wooden swing that swings out over the edge (Scary! But my brave guy did it and it made for a cool picture. See below)

The hike is a little tough but it burns some good calories for a wonderful early dinner or lunch in Cannon Beach’s cute town.

You can see wonderful bird’s eye views of the ocean along the way as well. When you get to the bottom of the trail there will be wooden stairs to the beach, then you have miles of beach to run on and enjoy.

If you love to surf then the waves here are perfect for you but you will need a full body wetsuit to brace the cold water with. I’ve stood ankle deep in the water before and my feet went numb! Obviously I am a Texas girl who is used to bath water temperature. Lol! At low tide you can see anemone of all different colors, big orange and purple starfish, clams, razor clams, and hundreds of hermit crabs in bright colored shells. Just check the tide charts before you go so you can catch a look at the little critters. Sometimes from the lookout points you can see seals swimming in the ocean. I have heard that sometimes they try to get on surfers boards. Eek!

After the long hike up we end our exploring at Indian Trail Head Beach which is inside the state park. You can watch all the surfers from this spot, build a campfire, or look for sand dollars. It’s very easy to get down to that beach.

After we are all loaded back into the car we head to Cannon Beach to show our visitor Haystack Rock which stands at 327 ft tall. At low tide you can walk out to it. We always snap a picture in front of it and then I usually say to Breck, “Goonies never say die!” 😉 Our first date was actually at this beach. Breck was an interning up in Portland and I came to visit him from Texas, boy were we nervous! See the picture below for our first photo together.

Maybe this beach has some magic because we got married one year and five months later. After that trip not a day went by that we did not visit or talk to each other. So, maybe you should take someone you are interested in to this beach. 😉 Have Haystack Rock cast it’s magic Goonies spell.

We end the day at Driftwood Restaurant and Lounge. I recommend sitting on the deck by the fire and ordering the famous clam chowder in a bread bowl. The recipe comes from one of the waitresses’ grandmother. Delicious! After we grab some ice cream or taffy from Schwietert’s Cones & Candy. Our days at the beach are always our favorite day with our guests and we never get tired of going!

I hope this inspires you for a trip to the Oregon Coast! See below for some more pictures of God’s beautiful creation!

XO, Busy Isy

P.S. It is crazy windy at the coast so be prepared for that and always pack a rain jacket just in case!