We couldn’t wait to go.  We’d been looking forward to this two day get away for months.

Cannon Beach.  An idyllic coastal village an hour and a half from Portland. 

It has a spectacular beach, a cute village, good restaurants and we had it all to ourselves.  A week before Memorial Day weekend which brings the crazy crowds of summer.  The weather left a lot to be desired.  Fog, clouds and mist.  Did we care?  Not a single bit.  We were at the Coast! 

This cute café is in the Cannon Beach Hotel where we stayed.

Not even a hike through mud, water and fallen trees could dampen our spirits.  The first mud we encountered I tried to go around.  Then you reach the point where you don’t even care.  Maybe it’s good for you, maybe you should just sit in it and smear it all over your exposed parts.  Nature’s mud.

If you go to Google images and put in Cannon Beach, Oregon, you will  see a picture of Haystack Rock.  It’s famous.  Do I have a picture to share?  No.  I took several but did I mention that it was cloudy and foggy.  Even though I took an iPhone photography class, it didn’t help me with that picture.  In fact, if you Google it you will see lots of gorgeous pictures of Cannon Beach, so you will find it worth doing.

One you won’t see is me at the top of the Astoria Column in Astoria, OR which is about a half hour from Cannon Beach and has a famous bridge crossing the mouth of the Columbia River, an incredible expanse of water, connecting Oregon with Washington.

We climbed to the top.  400 steps, after a few beers in a brewpub.  Something we hadn’t planned to do, but upon leaving the brewpub we saw a small road sign that read “Astoria Column”.  Of course we had to follow those signs and all of a sudden found ourselves at the Astoria Column which we didn’t know existed. There are scenes from Oregon painted (actually Sgrafitto, a technique of wall décor produced by applying layers of plaster tinted in contrasting colors) all the way up the tower.  Amazing.   The views from up there are incredible.  Even with the clouds.  More pictures I don’t have.

Oh sad, sad, we had to leave after two very short days, shorter than normal everyday days.  I filled my pockets with salt water taffy from the candy dish at the hotel and off we went for the short trip back to Portland.

This is completely off the topic of Cannon Beach, but I have to show you the great picture I took of Multnomah Falls last week.  It’s about 30 miles out of Portland, with great hiking and wonderful vistas.  I went there with my photography class (everyone has fancy cameras with big lenses).  I only have my trusty iPhone.

It’s sunny!

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