06-18-2010 Exploring Pacific City and Lincoln City Day 2

 Such a leisurely morning!  We slept in till 9am, something that never happens at home, and then had a simple cereal breakfast.  The weather was sunny and cool, with no fog or rain.  Pacific City was north of us, and we wanted to explore it after reading about what a delightful, quiet beach getaway town it was.

Once there, we discovered Cape Kiwanda, with its gorgeous beach, and the home of Haystack Rock.  Another big attraction there is the fact that you can drive and park down on the beach, and there is a single huge sand dune mountain for climbing and sand sledding.  There were many people enjoying the sunny day, but it still didn’t seem too crowded. There were also a lot of dogs enjoying the beach as well.  It’s nice to have a place where your dog can be on the beach.  So many times when we would go to the beaches in California we couldn’t take Abby. We had a great time walking again, and this time the winds were really blowing, but it was still not terribly cold.  This beach is famous  for it’s dory launching site, and after watching some dory landings, we read the commemorative plaque about the history of the dories on the Oregon Coast. 

After our walk, we explored the Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge and looked for other camping and kayaking possibilities.  North of Pacific Beach we hunted down some small county campgrounds we found on the internet.  They are cheap, quiet, and off the beaten track, but not something we would choose.  Woods Campground in Pacific City isn’t much more than a parking lot, and the Wehalin Island Campground was barren and open, with less than a dozen sites.  It seemed to be filled with long term campers in vans and tents and wasn’t really very inviting.  It was also surrounded by a tidal flat, that might be lovely when the tide was up, but was rather yukky at low tide. These campgrounds are operated by Tillamook County, and for us would be a wide spot in the road to use for emergencies only.

Back to Lincoln City to find Mo’s Chowder House for supper.  Of course, we would want to eat at Mo’s!  After supper we checked out the flag shop, of which there are several, and bought a wonderful flower whirligig for our campsite.  We also put up the chili pepper lights around our awning and hung the wind chimes.  Ahh, camping at it’s finest.  I did my share of tent camping and ground sleeping, but these days all the little delights of motorhome camping are great.  I guess it really isn’t camping, though, but it is wonderful.  A couple pulled in next to us this evening in their big Class A, and when I complimented him on his parking skills (these sites are small!) he laughed and we talked about how this really isn’t camping, but it really is fun. Now, the photo on the left may be a bit strange, but I found myself laughing as I realized that it’s hard to live without a “junk drawer”.  Even in a motorhome.  Doesn’t everyone have one?

Another campfire after our spaghetti supper ended another perfect day at the coast.