Cannon Beach, OR

Park Drive

And so the day came that I had been waiting for for a long time. We drove to Canon Beach. We initially drove through Ecola State Park, and thoughts of The Goonies bike trip from Mikey’s house to the beach and Brand riding the neighbor girl’s bike with training wheels and being launched off of a cliff were clearly filmed along this road. I was reliving my childhood through this drive. I watched The Goonies so many times growing up in the 80’s on VHS, that this was like the time I walked into Hobbiton in New Zealand. You suddenly felt like you were a part of something that only existed in your dreams or on a TV screen, but you were actually there.

We ventured back into the town along that iconic piece of road and eventually found some parking. The walk into town was slightly cool and windy. When we found a place to enter the beach, we took off our shoes and started walking toward the water, which was a long way from where the beach began. Apparently, we found out later, it is one of the longest beaches in the country from the beginning of the sand to where you meet the Pacific ocean’s waters.

Cannon Beach

I was obviously excited to see that iconic rock Haystack Rock that fit so nicely into that iconic doubloon.

After getting out to the beach, Jill and I were both determined to get closer to the rock. We decided to take turns walking to it, since it was so far down the beach from where we were. I decided to go first. It took a good 20 minutes to get to the rock, after dodging the clear jellyfish that were lining the beach that could easily could have been mistaken for water along the beach.

Even though the beach was crowded, I managed to get this picture without anyone in it.

Well, Jill had the kids and it had been nearly a half of an hour getting to where I was, but I was determined that I was going to get as close as I could since I was probably never going to get this close again in a long time, so I ran all the way back in about 10 minutes so Jill could have her turn.

The kids enjoyed playing in the sand tremendously while Jill was walking. A storm blew in quickly while Jill gone.

So, we decided to go get some lunch. Tom’s Fish & Chips was busy, but we waited and had a yummy lunch before exploring the town a bit more. I had the fish and chips, fresh off of my Fish and Chips that I had in La Conner, and it was good, but nowhere near as good as the Bar & Grill in La Conner.

We explored some tourist shops before heading back to the car to drive around and see more of the super cute beach town. We decided not to go to Astoria as the day was getting late and we have three kids to take care of, but I hear that the Goonies museum is inside of the jail from the movie and that Mikey’s house is privately owned fenced off to keep people from doing what some people have apparently already done. Apparently people have trespassed to take pictures on the property to get pictures and tried to get into the house. So, we have a reason to go back.