NP #11 - Day 6 - August 14, 2014

Day 6: August 14, 2014:

We had breakfast in our cabin then got on the road again, heading just a little bit more west on Hwy 101.  We drove through Forks, WA and went down to see Ruby Beach.  We got out and walked around but there was fog everywhere and couldn’t see a thing. 

 I was finally disappointed.  I am guessing that it would have been a spectacular view but it was completely fogged out.  There were, however, thousands of these little blue critters on the beach.  They are somehow related to jelly fish but I don’t know what they are called.

Our next stop was in the Lake Quinault area.  We drove back on the South Shore Road to see the Merriman Falls, which were really not so dramatic, relatively speaking.   

I was wishing we hadn’t taken this road but it ended up being worth it because we came across the “Moss-sqash”, a sasquash made out of wood and covered in moss.  

 And we also came across a .3 mi hike down to the largest spruce tree in the world.  We parked in a parking lot across from the trailhead, ate PB&Js and Cheetos, and hiked back to see the tree.  It really was big and over 1,000 years old.

Around 11:30 we got back on the road and finally started officially heading to Cannon Beach!!

We stopped at yet another Dairy Queen and got gas in Raymond, WA, then crossed over the Astoria-Megler bridge and FINALLY entered Oregon.   

We had a perfect view of the Astoria Column as we crossed over the bridge.  We were scheduled to arrive at Cannon Beach at 3:30 and check-in wasn’t until 4:00 so we stopped at the Fred Meyer in Astoria to get groceries and new sunglasses.

We arrived at the Ecola Creek Lodge (aka the Bunny Motel) at a few minutes past 4:00 and checked into “room” #2.  The room was basically the size of a small house and only touching another person’s room on one wall.  We had a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, one with a king bed and one with a double and a twin, and a bathroom.  The king bedroom even had a sink in it.  Considering it wasn’t Haystack Haven, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.  Everyone seemed pleased.

We completely unpacked the minivan, at which point I found my sunglasses hidden in the center consol. – I’d taken the price tag off of my new, hold-me-over sunglasses about 10 minutes prior.  After we got settled in, the kids attempted to feed the one or two remaining bunnies that roamed around, then we walked into town. 

Our first stop was Bruce’s candy store – they were in the middle of making peanut butter chocolate taffy.  I think Grant could have stared at the machine for hours. Then we walked down to Gepetto’s (the toy store) for just a few minutes before walking over to the Lumberyard for a very good dinner. After dinner we walked over to the other candy store in town, the Picnic Basket, and got ice cream. 

After a nice walk back to the room, we tucked in early.  I for one, finally relaxed for the first time on this trip when we stepped into Bruce’s.  It’s so good to be back.