Day 3 - Sandcastles, Cheese and Camping!

After spending 2 nights in the sleepy town of Warrenton at the ShiIo Inn that was definitely still stuck in the ‘80’s, we were more than ready to move on to our next destination. We made a quick pit stop to fuel and food up, and headed south on 101.

Our end destination for the day was Newport, Oregon but if you’ve ever driven down the Oregon coast, you know that 100 miles can quickly turn into an all-day event. Every turn around the winding highway opens up to unbelievable views of the coast. Fortunately for me, Dan was driving, so I could enjoy the views. Unfortunately for me, Dan was driving, and was also enjoying the views.

Hard to beat the views from Highway 101

The day before in Seaside we saw a poster for the Annual Sandcastle Building Contest in Cannon Beach. Since we were driving through anyway, we decided to stop and check it out. We parked in the parking lot and walked down the beach towards Haystack Rock (see Goonies). We were lucky enough to see the tidal pools full of sea stars, anemones, and crabs.

Just hanging out with my friends

Further down the beach, the Sandcastle Contest had entries varying from Beginners to Masters. It was pretty amazing to see what some of the teams were able to accomplish. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stay until they were all finished, but it was fun nonetheless.

Hard at work

Next stop, Tillamook Cheese Factory. Yes, it sounds lame, but it’s actually worth the stop if you’ve never been - I mean who doesn’t love free cheese samples! We took the speedy self-guided tour, shot some photos with Squirrelly and gorged ourselves on ice cream.

Dan trying his hand at dairy farming (and Squirrelly the cow!)

The Team, wish we had one of these vans for the road trip!

Yum!

Then we were on our way to Newport, and almost made it except for realizing that the Pelican Brewery is in Pacific City about 50 miles North of Newport. Clearly we had to stop. We had a quick taster and then we were really on our way to Newport.

Dan loves his breweries!

We got to our campground, South Beach, around 6 pm. Since Dan and I have never camped together, I wasn’t sure how it would go. But about 45 minutes later we had set up the tent, unpacked the car, had dinner started and the early makings of a fire going. On the menu was spaghetti, French bread and a bottle of Cabernet – not too shabby for camping!

Dinner is served!

After dinner we decided to break out my new cribbage board (thanks Dad!). Dan put up a good fight but I came out on top by just 2 points. And if you know how competitive the two of us are when it comes to leisure sports, you know how big of a victory that was for me.

Squirrelly wanted to join the game

Day 3 was another fun packed day. At this rate, we’re going to have a lot of memories under our belt by the end of the trip.

-Lauren