We woke up at the rest stop in Washington eager to cross back over the border and continue exploring Oregon The day started a bit gray and rainy but we were hopeful the sun would come out before too long.

As we drove, we encountered one beach town after another. Seaside was first, followed by Cannon Beach, and Rockaway Beach. Each place had its own style although they all seemed to have shops selling saltwater taffy. We always used to have it when I was a kid and went to the Jersey shore with our grandparents every summer. Interestingly so it brought back fond memories for me.  We enjoyed checking out the beaches in each of the towns and seeing the beach houses. The Pacific beaches are very different from the Atlantic beaches we are used to on the east coast. We especially enjoy the ruggedness and the large sea stacks. The sun had come out and it had turned into a beautiful day. We could have happily continued exploring the beach towns of the Oregon coast all day, but we did have to think about a place to stay for the night.

One of the scenic overlooks where we stopped had a list of recreation sites and campgrounds in the area. We took a picture of it and started researching some of the places. We liked the sound of Cape Lookout State Park in Tillamook so we decided to check it out.

I can’t count all the places we stopped to take pictures on our way to the park. There were so many beautiful views of the ocean and the rugged coastline each one more beautiful than the last.

When we finally arrived at the campground, we were pleased to see that there were sites available right next to the beach. We picked a site and set to work making some dinner. The camp hosts came around with bundles of firework for sale and spent some time sharing stories of their visit to Africa.

After dinner, we started a campfire as the evening turned chilly. We decided we wanted to walk out onto the beach to see the sunset but did not want to leave our fire unattended. We asked our camp neighbor Maureen, to keep an eye on it for us for a few minutes. We discovered that she and Francis are in the same line of work so they had a lot to talk about. She joined us later around the fire so they could continue talking. Even though I could not understand most of what they were saying, I know how much I love to talk with other teachers so I was happy for Francis to have the opportunity.

By the time the fire died down, we were ready to head to bed after a lovely day in Oregon.