Just Us

Our just-us day started well and kept on as it started. First up was a walk up Ecola creek through Necus’ park and then along the creek again to the skatepark and back to the hotel. On the way we stopped to check out “Hipnest”, which is going to be a home décor-gift store, which will be #12 or something in Cannon Beach. It is at the extreme north end of town, past Castaways, and I just have to wonder if people do any sort of competitive analysis before they sink all their savings into a venture like this?

Then we went back to the hotel for extended relaxing, first on our balcony and then in the Adirondack chairs on the lawn with our feet up on the wall, overlooking the ocean. This place isn’t particularly special inside, but the combination of close to town and fantastic back lawn Is hard to beat.

We did a lot of walking today; our next walk was a long one. We drove to Midtown (coming soon: Frank’s Flatbreads, possibly from the same folks who brought you the prohibitively expensive Speakeasy restaurant in the same parking lot. We haven’t been there because they require each adult to get an individual entrée, and their entrees are 20 oz sirloins and the like). We walked from there down to the Rock Wahii.

On the way we saw the house that always has the shutters closed and it had its shutters open and a windsocky-decoration up, so that was exciting. We were about 20-30 minutes too early (tide was going out) to be able to get close enough to the rock to take the obligatory picture through the hole. We would have waited but timing was important, since our next stop was Warren House and there’s a limited amount of time between when they open (noon) and when there are no more tables on the sunny deck (12:25). We got there at 12:10 and snagged a table with an umbrella, which was excellent because it was a warm, sunny day and was actually too hot in the sun. Lunch was good, beer was good, and even the walk back to the car was good if a bit long.

Since we’d parked at midtown we could stop in at Icefire, but they weren’t doing any glassblowing and in fact one of the glass artists, Theresa, was out front taking care of sales. So we hopped in the car and drove down to Hug Point and I can finally do the sand report! The sand is uniformly high; it covers the rock fins and the floor of the cave to the south and the rocks next to the triangle rock to the north. The waterfall was barely a trickle, and the rocks in front of the dog photo spot are also buried. We didn’t get out onto the carriage road because the low tide was too high (more about that in a minute) but as we were turning back a very nice couple was encouraging us to keep going so we could get out onto the road because it was worth seeing, and once we were up there we wouldn’t get wet. We thanked them politely.

OK the tides. Up here at Ecola creek they just don’t matter. There are no rocks sticking up to measure by, and no places you can’t go because the tide is in or out. At the little house the tides were super important because our cove was cut off at high tide; it’s just not the same. Also because it’s a quarter moon now, and possibly because it’s close to the autumnal equinox, the tidal variation is much smaller – lower highs and higher lows.

The climb off of the beach to the car in the Hug Point parking lot almost did us in, and we were glad to get back to the hotel. Dave took a nap, and I read for a while and then went into town to walk around and also to get some ice cream, which was delicious (Tillamook chocolate Peanut Butter) but turned out not to have been a good idea.

For our last dinner we headed to Castaways, which we’ve been going to for many years. I recently read a blog entry from our first time there, which I raved about. The chef had come out that night and talked to us about how he was so excited to be able to cook what he wanted and how he wanted to always be keeping the menu changing. And for a while he did, but then they moved into a bigger space, and then the pandemic came, and the place really stagnated. The food was good, but the menu rarely changed. Tonight was much more like the first time, we did a bunch of appetizers and they were yummy, particularly the lobster bisque and the larb lettuce cups. We also had both the taco rolls and the tostada; one of them would have been sufficient although the mole sauce was so good that I ate the little cup of it that came on the side with a spoon.

Now we were completely stuffed and we both had over 20,000 steps. We got back to the hotel in time for an excellent sunset and green flash, which we watched sitting on the wall outside our room. The upstairs rooms are nicer and no-one walks on your head, but it has been nice to have the quick in/out on the beach side. We watched it get dark for a while, then started to settle in but wait! We haven’t done a twilight walk yet this trip, so we put our boots back on and did a nice short walk in the dark, enjoying the line of beach fires that people had made.

Then it was finally time for writing and relaxing. Over 24,000 steps for me today.

Bonus Photo:

We found this written in the sand.