June 13 – 27
After our week-long visit to Gunnison, Colorado, and a brief three day visit to our home base in Ottumwa, the Greens Summer Tour of 2024 continued on with a trip to Cannon Beach, OR.
This part of the trip was so jam-packed with excitement that I’m going to break it into at least two blog posts. This is part one.
I spent a few years of my early childhood just outside of Portland, Oregon, and visited Seattle on a couple of occasions with my last job in California.
I don’t remember a lot of our time in Oregon, and the visits to Seattle were quick trips for work so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to do much, but I do remember loving the Pacific Northwest. When Brandy presented the opportunity to visit the new property her company just acquired, I jumped at the chance.
Prep and Departure
As this is going to be the first of many stops on our four-month-long summer tour, we had to be prepared, bringing food for us and for Ash, toiletries and medications to last, and at LEAST two weeks worth of clothes (we won’t be anywhere without laundry facilities for longer than 2 weeks, so we could kind of get by with just that.)
We had much of this packed up already, and a lot of it we took with us to Colorado, so really, the only thing we had to do was re-pack our clothes and load up the truck, which was largely done Wednesday, June 12.
The next day, we both worked our full work days, during which I ran a few errands, then I packed up our work tech, loaded it and we hit the road at 4:00. We topped off the gas tank and headed west on highway 34 into Lincoln, NE where we hopped on I-80 and on in to Kearney where we checked into another newly renovated Motel 6.
Friday, we were back on the road at 7:45 for the long drive of this leg. We continued on through the rest of Nebraska, then through all of Wyoming and a good chunk of Utah before finally arriving at the Motel 6 there, which was most decidedly NOT recently renovated. It was a little… less… than we are used to, but we survived the stay and Saturday, made the last 4 and a half hour drive into Nampa, ID, where we stopped for a quick visit with my parents, who I hadn’t seen since they came to visit last April.
We socialized with them for a bit then, at 2:00, we headed to our hotel, the Sleep Inn in Nampa. We stopped at Harbor Freight on the way to pick up a gear basket that would fit into the trailer hitch receiver to try to gain some room in the truck.
This hotel was in a very industrial part of town (hence its address on Industrial Road.) When we went in though, it was a remarkably clean and well-appointed room, considering.
Brandy set up to do some work, I went to try to visit my grandma but she was asleep, so I left a note for her (that would likely have to be read to her, and which she likely wouldn’t understand, or even remember) and headed back to the hotel. I picked up Brandy and Ash and we went back to my parents’ where we had a DELICIOUS meal prepared by my dad.
After dinner, dad and I spent about an hour putting the gear basket together on my tailgate. Once it was built, I closed the tailgate and realized only at that point that the receiver on our truck is a 2 1/2 inch receiver where the gear basket has a 2 inch post…
Ah well. I told my dad to return it for store credit and happy Father’s Day.
We said our good-byes and left shortly after and were back on the road early Sunday morning.
Columbia River Gorge
Oregon is only about 30 minutes from Nampa, so we were in the state early. We continued through a large portion of the state, gradually seeing more and more green as we went. About 3 hours into our drive, we found ourselves driving right alongside the Columbia River, the border between Oregon and Washington state. It was a very nice scenic drive the rest of the way in but once we hit the Columbia River Gorge Natural Scenic Area, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
The highway winds through a thick canopy of enormous trees with the Columbia River situated just north of the road.
About two thirds of the way through the scenic area, we passed Multnomah Falls. I saw signs announcing it as we approached but was stunned when we passed and saw it is 100% visible from the freeway. Both Brandy and I gasped when we saw it and vowed to stop on our return trip.
We continued on, out of the Scenic Area and on into Portland where we were suddenly plunged into an extremely urban area. Freeways and mass transit and graffiti and people and traffic and… get me outta here!
Traffic slowed to a crawl as it tends to do in major metropolitan areas, but finally broke free as we left the city.
Cannon Beach
Shortly after getting through Portland, we found ourselves once more in the verdant landscape of the pacific northwest forests.
Highway 26 winds casually and gracefully through more towering trees and the sun shining through the broken canopy brought an ethereal, and dare I say, otherworldly feel to the drive.
Eventually we got to highway 101 and the exit to Cannon Beach was upon us in no time. We arrived at our spot, The Retreat at Cannon Beach (formerly Sea Ranch RV resort). We pulled up to our cabin, Brandy headed to the office to do some work and I unloaded the truck and got things situated in the cabin.
The Cabin
Our cabin was a small, one bedroom cabin with a queen bed in the bedroom. There were no nightstands to be found, however the headboard had shelves built in so that’s where my CPAP and our charging phones lived during our time in Oregon. I will also say, it was refreshing having numerous easily accessible outlets throughout the room. No scrounging for spots to plug in my CPAP, two phones, a fan, and laptops as needed (are you listening Motel 6?!)
There’s also a futon in the living room if you wanted to have an extra guest or two, but there’s no door to the bedroom so privacy would be limited.
There’s a small kitchen with a sink, a microwave, a refrigerator and a small, two-burner countertop cooktop. There’s also a griddle provided but the pans that come with the place are comically small. Luckily Brandy did a scouting trip when her company bought the property and warned me of the tiny pans, and that we should bring a couple of our own. So we did.
The bathroom is small, though not as small as the bathroom at the cabin we’ve stayed in twice at Pioneer Guest Cabins in Crested Butte. I did have room to get dressed in the bathroom in Oregon, whereas at Pioneer, I did not.
There was enough room in the living room to set up my “office” in front of a large picture window that faces north, and Brandy was situated on the small dining room table just a couple of feet from me.
Brandy largely worked from the park office though so it wasn’t too big of a hassle.
Back to Sunday though. When Brandy finished her work in the office, we headed out to the Safeway in nearby Seaside, grabbed some food at Beach Burrito and headed back to the cabin. We straightened up the best we could and headed to bed.
Monday On the Beach
Monday morning we went about our regular routine, getting up and working as we always do. I got to spend the day looking out a large picture window in the living room of the cabin where we’re staying. The view includes a cabin just across the road and big trees everywhere. The view is slightly spoiled by aerial power lines running to the cabin, but I can avoid looking at them by not looking up.
I woke up Monday with moisture on the ground. This wasn’t residual condensate from humidity cooling at night. No, it had clearly rained overnight. The forecast promised more rain during the day and the Pacific Northwest did not disappoint. Sure enough, at about noon, it started as a slight drizzle, then soon after, it really started coming down. It rained like this for about 20 minutes before letting up to the drizzle we saw before, then dying out completely. It would continue to sprinkle here and there for the rest of the day but nothing I would even call rain. I’d call it a fine mist.
When we both finished our work days, we made our way, on foot, to the nearby beach. It was about half a mile before we were able to put our feet on the sand. As we were about to enter the beach, a woman was coming off of it with her dog. The woman said she was uncomfortable on the beach with her dog because there was an elk on the beach. That only prompted me to move faster. Sure enough, just as we cleared the foliage surrounding the walk onto the sand, there was an absolute unit of an elk down the coast.
Even from as far away as we were, we could tell it was an impressive specimen, and the rack of antlers on this fella left me stunned.
I tried to get closer to the animal but he walked on, making his way away from us, and with us walking in sand, it wasn’t even close, he would pull away from us and be out of sight in no time.
We veered off of our trajectory and made our way to the tide line. Off in the distance stood the towering Haystack Rock. Directly in front of us though was a large (I can’t believe I’m about to use this phrase… *sigh*) flock of seagulls. I ran… I ran so far… toward the birds to try to get some pictures. I didn’t really run. I walked at a leisurely pace.
Also hanging around the area was a small group of pelicans, which a cursory Google search shows may be called a brief, pod, squadron, pouch or scoop of pelicans. All I know is there were maybe a dozen and a half of them, next to the 8 or 10 dozen seagulls just chilling in the sand.
We took Ash to the water and, being a water dog, thought he would love the experience of getting a little wet in the ocean. He, however, did NOT like the water rushing in to him. We got to a line where I thought the water would make it to us, and sure enough, a small wave made its way in, splashing over the tops of my waterproof shoes, effectively rendering their waterproof quality moot.
We milled about for a bit longer when a red Cannon Beach lifeguard truck showed up to do… something… on the number 8 pole that was nearby. As they left the spot, they drove toward the gulls on the sand causing them to summarily take flight. I wanted to capture a picture of the egression from the beach, and was able to snap a few, this one probably being my favorite:
I also was also able to get a picture of some of the pelicans in flight over the surf:
When we’d had enough, we made our way back toward the camp, stopping at the nearby Les Shirley Park for a breather and bathroom break before making the last of the walk back.
Back at the cabin, I made a quick dinner of a frozen pasta carbonara on the little stove provided, we took some gummies and were socked in for the night.
Tuesday: Back to the Beach
After work Tuesday, Brandy was bushed so I took a walk back to the beach with just Ash. Before heading out from the cabin, I took half of a THC infused caramel.
I took a different route this time, opting to go through the edge of downtown Cannon Beach, rather than skirting around it and heading toward Ecola Park.
The walk was a little shorter, but as soon as I stepped on the beach, I was ankle deep in sand. It was much looser than the sand we had walked on Monday.
We were on the opposite side of the estuary this time. The day before, we had seen people on this side playing and swimming in the cold, brackish water.
As we walked down the beach, we passed a large pod of pelicans bathing in the mouth of Ecola Creek. The birds were out in full force as they were the day before.
The sun was shining brighter on Tuesday. Gone were the gloomy clouds that so often pervade the early summer on the west coast. This brighter day brought out many more people and their dogs. One couple had a pair of demon chihuahuas that made Ash look like a lazy bastard, with their demonic growls and snarls.
Gawd, I hate chihuahuas.
Anyway, their behavior set Ash off so he started acting like an idiot and started yanking against his choke collar. You’d think he would eventually learn and stop pulling against it, knowing it’s going to hurt him, but no, he’s a stubborn dog.
Anyway, as we walked down the beach, I came across a few remnants of the recent Sandcastle Contest which took place the previous Saturday, June 15. I saw plenty of foundations of actual sand castles, but no standing structures. Instead I saw a still well-defined sea turtle and a starfish.
We continued along, taking some pictures and video as I went. We finally got to the point where the Ecola Creek actually touches the ocean where we turned around and headed back.
We took a slightly different route back, making the short walk even shorter. This walk took us through NeCus’ Park where we happened upon the Clatsop Welcome Pole (the page linked here is chock full of interesting information about the immediate area where this pole can be found. It’s a very short read and I recommend taking a peek.)
We continued on our way and made our way over the Fir St. bridge that crosses over the Ecola Creek and part of the property where we stayed when on the northeast bank of the creek, when we spied emerging from the brush below a baby elk.
It was a pretty fascinating experience. The deer seemed to be just as curious about us as we were about it. Ash was very focused on the beast, but never barked or anything, just watched it from the bridge as I was doing.
After about 30 seconds, I decided to leave the poor baby alone and we went about our way, back to the cabin. I sat and relaxed for a little bit then took a sleep gummy and went to bed.
Wednesday in Astoria
I was off Wednesday due to Juneteenth so Brandy took the day off and we headed up the coast to Astoria.
Astoria was the filming locations for several scenes from The Goonies. The Walsh house that is about to be foreclosed on in the movie is up in the hills of the city and was our first stop on the trip.
In an effort to ease the congestion for the neighbors, there’s be a sign erected at the dead end of 37th St at Duane St directing visitors to park to the right then walk up to the east then north up the driveway to the house. From where we parked, it was a constant uphill walk. Thankfully it wasn’t a very long walk, but I was sure winded by the time I got to the top of the driveway.
I snapped a couple pics of the house and the view from it, then headed back down to the truck, my nerdy brain giddy with excitement.
The next stop was to be the Oregon Film Museum, which used to be a jailhouse, the one where the opening scene of the movie was filmed.
Problem was, we had a couple of hours to kill before they opened.
We decided to head over the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which spans the Columbia River and thus dropped us in the state of Washington.
We decided to continue up the 101 highway just to see what we could see. The Lewis & Clark National Historic Park spans the river near hear and there are some parts of the park that are accessible from the Washington side of the bridge.
The scenery on the other side was just as majestic as what we encountered in Oregon- very green forests and coastal cliffs all around.
We decided to stop at a country store in Chinook to see if we could find a magnet or stickers or something to commemorate our arrival in Washington. They unfortunately did not have anything, but the clerk was kind enough to direct us to Long Beach a few more miles up highway 101. Boy am I glad she did.
We continued on until we got to a sleepy coastal town of Long Beach, WA, a far cry from the Long Beach in California, where there’s plenty of population and activity.
We drove for a bit before we found a place that might fit the bill- Marsh’s Free Museum, right in the heart of the Long Beach tourist district. It was the type of place that would have a statue of Sasquatch, cigar store Indians, and old, rusted, pitted chainsaws on the front patio.
We knew it would be exactly what we were after, so we walked in and this place did not disappoint. In addition to the standard beach-city wares, the place was also a literal museum of days gone by. They had several of the old “Love Tester” type machines, old kinetoscope machines (I didn’t have any nickels on me, otherwise I certainly would have partaken.)
The piece de resistance though was Jake the Alligator Man, on full display for customers to check out.
This was some Weekly World News paraphernalia that absolutely tickled my fancy.
We did the shopping we needed to do and as we went back out to the street, I saw the World’s Largest Frying Pan so you know I had to head over there for a picture.
We started making our way back to the other side of the bridge where we made our next stop at the Oregon Film Museum.
Oregon Film Museum
The Oregon Film Museum is built in the old jailhouse in Astoria. After the opening scene from The Goonies was filmed there and the jail was decommissioned, it was turned into a museum celebrating the movies that have been filmed in Oregon, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining and Kindergarten Cop, But boy, do they lean into The Goonies. About 2/3 of the tiny jailhouse is dedicated to the Chris Columbus film, and the gift shop is primarily Goonies-related merchandise.
The museum was tiny, certainly not worth any more than the $6 per person to get in, but for those DEEPLY invested in film, it might be a fair stop. The big draw to me was the Jeep the Fratellis used as a getaway car during the opening jailbreak scene.
After we finished at the museum, we headed out for a bite to eat. I’d scoped out ahead of time and found Ship Out Fish & Chips, the place with the highest ratings on Google with a 4.7. We made our way there and found a large trailer parked in front of what I assume is an old, disused greenhouse. The entire place was decorated as an old sea shack.
We ordered a combo platter with two extra pieces of cod, and a bottle of water. The total was $40.
We waited for a bit and our food was brought out shortly after. It was piping hot and super fresh and it came with a side of coleslaw.
Now, I never really had an appreciation for coleslaw, never really liked it, but lately I’ve taken to it a little more, and I tell you, the coleslaw that came with our food was absolutely fantastic. It seemed super fresh, like it was made that day, not a week ago and stored in a fridge.
The rest of the meal was great as well, if not just a tad on the greasy side. We quickly ate then headed out to our next stop.
Lewis & Clark National Historical Park
The Lewis & Clark National Historical Park is a 125 acre park spanning the Columbia River on both the Oregon and Washington sides. Commemorating the Lewis & Clark expedition in the early 1800s, the park started life as the Fort Clatsop National Memorial, named after the fort that served as camp for the expedition during the winter of 1805-06. The National Park Service redesignated the park as the Lewis & Clark National Historical Park in 2004.
The fort itself eroded over time but was rebuilt in 1955. Fire badly damaged much of the building in 2005 and was subsequently rebuilt once more, reopening in 2006.
We got to the park and were greeted enthusiastically by the ranger manning the front desk where we were told admission was free that day due to it being Juneteenth. We bought a new America the Beautiful Pass anyway and made our way out toward the fort.
The fort itself is situated about 100 yards from the visitor’s center down an easily accessible path. We made it there in no time and explored the building for a bit, taking pictures and what-not.
Of course, we once more decided on an outing on a holiday so the park was slightly more crowded than it normally would have been otherwise on a Wednesday morning.
After the fort, we headed down to the Canoe Landing, a short boardwalk that leads to the banks of the Columbia River. This is where most of the crowd was. I’d venture a guess of about 18 or 20 people, I believe in one group, crowded the walkway making passage difficult. We got through though, snapped some pictures and started making our way back to the visitor’s center where we perused the gift shop and then headed out to make our way back to the cabin.
The drive back was insane with traffic. Highway 101 through Seaside was jam-packed and slow moving, reminding me of traveling the same highway in the Los Angeles area. A couple of stops, at Safeway and the Seaside Farmer’s Market, then we were back to the cabin for a good night’s sleep.
End of Part One
At this point, I’m already 4,000 words into the blog post. This one is going to be a lengthy read, for sure, so I’m going to go ahead and close out part one here.
Be sure to check in for Part Two and possibly Part Three, depending on how wordy I get.
Check my Photo Diary page for pictures from this stop on our 4-month long summer tour, and, remember…
Goonies never say ‘die’.
Mikey Walsh, The Goonies
See you soon!
-Phil
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