3 Cape Tour (that was really only 1 Cape)

Yesterday Dave and I took full advantage of our 1 day off together. We found a scenic drive along the North Coast (near Tillamook ... yes, there is a whole town of cheese!). We actually never went into Tillamook - although I know that shocks you all who know my love of cheese. What we did was a 35-mile drive along a bay that has 3 different Capes. As usual, our day started out a bit slower than planned. Then we drove to the coast via the Mennonite bakery (for you keeping score, the M did stand for Marionberry and not Mennonite). Once fully jacked up on a cinnamon roll and maple bar, we swung through Corvallis (future home of Koji's Kitchen in our dream world) and did a bit of shopping at the store that was closed on July 4th. We finally started our drive west about 12:30 ... sadly that was probably the last time we really looked at the clock.

Our first stop at the coast was a bathroom/food break in Pacific City. It is a beach community that didn't feel like most OR beaches. There were cars right on the beach and it wasn't too pretty, so we skipped the pictures there other than the 370-ish ft. rock nicknamed the "teacup" pictured below.
From there we drove past Cape Kiwanda without really getting out or doing anything. At Cape Lookout we took at 2.4 mile hike out to the end of the overhang. This stretch of land is no more than a mile wide and has cliff-like edges along most of the distance. The tour book likens it to side of a ship and at times my vertigo started to kick into gear!

Here are some pictures of the start of the hike (it was mostly thick forest and while it was in the 90s at home, we often wished we had a sweatshirt!). A pic of the teacup through the trees. A view down the side to the ocean.













The hike was a lot of fun and the views were great! Unfortunately, it took longer that we expected (or that it should have). So, next we headed for the town of Oceanside for dinner. The town was very quaint with the homes built on the cliff-sides. The restaurant, Roseann's, was small and crowded - but we were seated quickly. Dave discovered he's a big fan of sturgeon and I reaffirmed by love of cheese with a pear, cranberry, gorgonzola penne with prawns and scallops. After dinner, we looked at the time and were amazed ... it was after 8pm! Having daylight until 9:30 or later really can throw your concept of time off! We still had a long drive home, so we decided we should skip driving to Cape Meares. We will have to make it there another day because there is a lighthouse and a tree nicknamed the octopus tree. It is a spruce that's trunk is divided into separate looking tentacles.

As we pulled out of Oceanside Dave got this last shot of the ocean.


And, to just highlight how diverse the Oregon geography is, here's a picture of a sand dune. Just to the right and left of this area is a dense forest. Go figure.

Since we weren't paying attention to the time, we considered getting a hotel along the way. But, we decided to head home and pulled in about 12:30. Next time, we will have to head out earlier and actually make it to all 3 Capes!