Today was another mileage day. A kinda ambitious long mileage day. The final grand finale of our time on the coast was one finishing up in Cannon Beach in Oregon. The only problem was, we were still in CA. So we had like, 417 miles to go on a twisty turney two lane coastal highway that google maps says will only take nearly 9 hours, no biggie right? We got a pretty decent start in the morning, finishing up our camping breakfast foods like bagels w/Brie and muesli w/ yogurt. Triina a brewed pot of her mountain goddess tea and we got on the road. 
Up the coast we went, trying not to stop till we at least got out of CA. We didn’t make it, we had to stop in Klamath for a restroom break. We stopped at this really kitschy site that had a giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues that moved and talked to the people passing into the gift shop. Inside there was a surprisingly well put together Native American museum with a pretty impressive collection of local and regional north American native costumes, jewelry, and photos, presented in a collage type display. It was really well done and complete surprise, as we were just expecting elk hats and bear themed candy. We probably ended up spending a full hour out there in total before moving on. When we finally got to the OR-CA border, I made a quick dash into the visitor center to pick up some Oregon info, specifically where the Willamette Valley was that had made the “2013 Best places to go wine tasting in the world” in Wine magazine were located and to see if any would be on our path. Turns out, that that whole region was along the I-5 corridor and there was only 1 located along the 101 coastal highway. We were kinda bummed, but I really wanted to see the full Oregon coast instead of just hitting the boring interstate all the way to Portland and missing all the amazing coastal views. So we had to choose: wine or views. I, the all powerful driver that day, went with views.
From there we made great time to our next stop which was for what was rated the best fish ‘n chips on the pacific coast. It was this little tiny place called, The Crazy Norwegian’s Fish & Chips in Port Orford, OR. This place seriously was all that it was cracked up to be. I got a fish n’ chips and Triina got a massive seafood dinner plate. We also got a cup of the clam chowder to share and sample and to top things off I got a razzleberry pie (raspberries and blue berries and some other berry). Everything was excellent. The fish was flaky and lightly breaded, the pie was that combo of berries that led itself to be sweet and tart, the chowder was creamy and comforting without being heavy or too rich. The cold slaw had crunch, the fries were golden, and Triina had to massive pieces of shrimp in addition to her fish and fried oysters and clams. Niina was super excited to get a monster sized root beer float with a whole mug full of ice cream and the beer to just pour on top. We The whole place was cutely decorated with Norwegian memorabilia and kitschy Scandinavian troll and elf items. It was adorable. were suffice to say, completely stuffed when we left and completely satisfied.
The next town we stopped at was an effort to walk off some of the food and to help Niina find a replacement charm bracelet for the one she had bought in Monterrey and had lost. We had been doing this search somewhat informally for a while looking at small gift shops along the way with no luck. We stumbled upon an exhibit about sculptures made of washed trash found on the beach made into amazing sea creatures. It was really fascinating all the part and information about trash that washes up on the shores from things dumped or blown into the ocean. We kinda took too long in this small town and with no luck had found no bracelet.
So we got bak in the car and started up again. Our next stop was this tidepool state wayside area along the highway. We stopped and took fun picks and tried to get Niina closer to the ocean (which while was churning up waves was at low tide so she could see the sea anemones and starfish. We had a good hour here as well. . . . . You can see the trend here. Tik tok, time was going fast!
After we finished that walk, we got back in the car and start up again. Our sunny day was fading fast and clouds were moving in. At this point, we had to figure out where we were going to stay for the night. I had planned to just stay at a campsite at one of the many coastal state parks along the seashore. However as the skies got darker, it began to drizzle and get even darker. We all agreed we really didn’t want to camp in the rain and we all agreed we probably weren’t going to make it in Cannon Beach that night. We decided to keep driving till it got too dark, to make the best our light situation and the windy road. We finally stopped for dinner in the small town of Lincoln City at a roadhouse (meh dinner review) and decided we better make a hotel reservation in Tillamook and just call it a day from there. We found a place with two queen beds at the Shilo Inn. It was getting late and we were all tired. Once we got there, we all pretty much showered and went to bed. The long day of mostly sitting and power-stops had tuckered us out and we had an early morning to make up the time of not getting to Cannon Beach that night.
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