Cannon Beach to Eugene, OR

     Sunday morning in Cannon Beach was phenomenal.  I ran on the beach while Faris stayed with the kids so they could sleep.  The sand is well packed so running is easy on the beach.  I ran right past Haystack Rock and could not think of anything other than the words to an old song called "The Majesty and Glory of Your Name".  There's a line that says "Oh what is Man that You are mindful of him?"  To think that God created this earth for our enjoyment and for us to explore is very humbling.  The fact that we are enjoying it so much right now is such a blessing.
     Mary Logue had her first haircut today by me.  I was careful not to disturb the mullet, only took a little off the front - now she can see instead of walking around with hair hanging in her face all the time.  We packed up and headed further down the coast.

Outside of Girabaldi

 Faris rode and flatted along the way so we stopped to give him the supplies he needed and rolled on to Netart's Bay.  Nothing much to speak of except for a beautiful sunset that we all watched in our pj's after a great dinner of grilled pork chops, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans.  The next morning we drove to Oceanside and had a phenomenal breakfast at Blowin' in the Wind.  Huckleberries, boysenberries, and blackberries are all in season right now and they picked the huckleberries for my pancakes right there by the beach next to the restaurant.  Faris had fresh dungeness crab scramble and I mean it was fresh.  Great little town and restaurant. 

Cape Meares

Cape Meares

We stopped at Cape Meares to see the lighthouse that was built in the late 1800's as a series of nine lighthouses along the Oregon Coast.  It has a French prism in it that was lit by kerosene until the 30's.  After packing up camp we headed to Cape Lookout for lunch while Faris rode on.

Cape Lookout

 Eli and Mary Logue played in the rocks on the beach, that is when Eli wasn't stressing about the birds eating his lunch.  I mentioned one thing about the birds getting our sandwich and that was all it took - he was guarding his sandwich with his life! 

Cape Lookout - they are big buddies now! 

We rolled on to Rose Lodge Salmon River RV park for our lodging.  Let's just say this one is not on the list of "preferred" RV parks for a reason.  Fine for us because we were the only ones there that did not take up permanent residence there!  Quite a cast of characters.  We had the whole "renter's circle" to ourselves!  It was pretty and right on the Salmon River.  Eli was in charge of saying the blessing at our dinner of red beans and rice tonight but he would hold our hands, close his eyes, and start singing "Ring Around the Rosy" and die laughing at himself.  We toasted marshmallows for s'mores which I think has been the highlight of this whole trip for Eli.  He sat in his chair and ate it without saying a word, which is a lot for him right now.  He.never.stops.talking.

Salmon River

     Tuesday was my favorite day so far on the trip.  We picked a bowlful of blackberries to be made into fried blackberry pies at a later date.

Salmon River

  We all rode into Sherwood and stopped at a local farm to pick up vegetables and fruit.  Everything we bought was grown right there on the farm - peaches, apples, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, and yams.  We rolled on into Mcminnville, OR which is known for its quaintness and its pinot noir.  We inquired about lodging at the Hotel Oregon, a McMennamin historic hotel and learned we could get a "European" king suite at a great rate, all you have to do is walk down the hallway to your bathroom!  Not a problem, we'll take it!  We went up to the rooftop bar and had some "Oregon pinot noir" which just means the grapes come from different regions of Oregon rather than just one region.  Dinner was great and the view was amazing - the Cascade range was visible from where we were sitting although it's about 60 miles from there.
     Breakfast at the Red Fox Wednesday morning was incredible.  The bread was still warm from baking and we had a baguette with homemade strawberry preserves and lattes in those white cups with the wide round rims - heaven. 

Red Fox in McMinnville

We loaded up and headed towards Corvallis, stopping at Eola Hills Vineyard on a recommendation from a local McMinnvillian.  Their pinot noir was nice so we picked up a couple of bottles and headed to Eugene.  We picked a couple of stems of grapes right off the vine for a snack in the car. 

Eola Hills

Park in Eugene

     Eugene is cool, home of the University of Oregon Ducks.  What a campus.  A lot of it feels urban because you cannot drive onto the campus, only around it.   As we hauled our camper right through the middle of the restaurant and bar area which is teeming with students just getting out of class at 4:50, we really did look like country come to town.  We got a couple of honks and I think they meant "get out of the way" not "welcome to the U of O".  We got Eli a t-shirt though dang it.

Autzen Stadium, football

 One interesting thing we noticed is that their track and field stadium (yes, stadium) is the size of most school's football stadium.  Unbelievable if you are a runner.  We took the kids to the Science Museum right there on campus which they loved, mainly because it had a train table, not because of all the other cool stuff they had.  I've decided we could have a train table and some rocks at our house and that would be plenty of toys for our kids. 

Cousin Eddie

     Both kids went to bed easily tonight and we are enjoying our new wine.  Tomorrow we start getting into Three Sisters and Mount Washington Wilderness.  Can't wait.  Everything is so good and we are loving this experience.