One of our adventure planning traditions is to plan fun trips for our birthdays each year. We’ve done this every year since we met, and working with time and budget, we always fit something in to celebrate each other’s birthdays each year. Sometimes it includes air travel and big cities, others may just be a day at a new beach, or a camping trip to one of our favorite places. 

For this particular trip, we flew up to Portland and aimed straight out to the coast. We had some State Parks, a shipwreck, a big rock called the Haystack (and Needles) and a couple of breweries to visit, on only a long weekend in which to cover it all!

 Our Airbnb was an adorable little house in Seaside, Oregon. We enjoyed the rain falling outside while we hid inside next to our little stove for heat. We had initially planned to stay in Cannon Beach, the “hot spot” on the coast, but when we started looking, we found perfectly lovely options for less money just a bit north and south. We were happy with our Airbnb and it’s location for everything we wanted to do, and Seaside is a super cute town (with a really good breakfast diner, or two)!

What We Saw and Explored

Wreck of the Peter Iredale - Hammond, OR

We first saw this crazy shipwreck on Instagram, and it looked like a fun spot to visit. It’s fairly easy to access, a short walk out to the beach, and then the beach is open to explore. This rusty old ship frame rests in the sand, just begging everyone to take photos. We got there early in the morning and had just a few minutes to ourselves, then more and more people started streaming in. It was fun to see, but we really enjoyed the wide-open beach even more. We walked along this beach for quite some time, just enjoying the calm and quiet.

Ecola State Park – Astoria, Oregon

We drove first to the main parking lot of Ecola State Park, on Ecola Park Rd. This road goes out to a loop with parking at the end, and a short trail system connected. The trail is a very easy walk amd leads to some stunning views of the coastline.

Next, we drove over to the Indian Beach parking area and went out on that beach for couple of hours. We enjoyed exploring some tide pools, walking on the black sands, watching some surfers, and generally enjoying the beautiful views at every angle here.

Fort Stevens State Park - Astoria, Oregon

We had most of the day available to explore whatever we wanted, so we spent a lot of time just seeing what we could find. We had no real agenda for this park, but rather, grabbed a map when we paid our day use fee, and went on our way, stopping at every spot we could to see what we’d find. 

The views of Trestle Bay were just as nice as the views of the coastline. We walked out the Trestle Bay Trail (1.1 miles) towards Swash Lake, which has a Wildlife Viewing Blind. We were a little perplexed by this, not being familiar with wildlife viewing and blinds. Now that I’m a birder in 2019, I think I missed out on a cool thing here. Guess we’ll have to go back?!

We saw several of the “batteries” from a distance, but didn’t get too close to any of them, as there was a a variety of construction blocks and periods of rain throughout the day.

We drove to each of the main parking areas – A, B, C, and D. 

• From Lot A, there are some great views and a couple of trails that lead either down the coast, or in towards the Wildlife Viewing Blind. 

• From Lot B, we trekked through sand dunes and found our way down to a beach with literally no one else on it. We spent a good amount of time wandering around on the beach, until we got hungry and headed back to the car for a snack!

• Lot C has a really fun Observation Tower that you can climb and really get an amazing look down the coast! Gives an interesting view of the long jetty here, too! Again, we were all by ourselves here, so we enjoyed the view, and the wind, and the quiet! 

• From Lot D, we headed out the furthest point we could reach in this park and ended at another Wildlife Viewing Bunker. Looking over the bay, I’m sure this would be an amazing spot to see some great birds, on our next trip! 

Haystack Rock - Cannon Beach, Oregon

This was an obligatory stop that one must make when visiting this area, but a stop that we ended up really enjoying. We expected to stop, go see the Haystack rock, and leave… a “been there, done that” kind of thing. Little did we know, it’d start raining and sunset would be electric orange, and we’d just love it. We got out our umbrellas – thanks Airbnb host for providing those – and went out to the beach. My first time being on a beach in rain, and it was really fun watching the raindrops texturize the sand all around me. When sunset started to glow, we decided to stay as long as we could, so we walked down to the rocks and had a closer look. It’s a really pretty beach, even with its “tourist stop” status! 

Tillamook Creamery - Tillamook, Oregon

Talk about a touristy thing to do, we dove in headfirst on this one and enjoyed every minute of it! The Tillamook Cheese Creamery is in Tillamook, Oregon and is a really fun place to visit. They offer a self-guided tour to see how their cheese is made, handled, and packaged. It even includes info about the cows, and how they care for their herds! The tour includes a cheese tasting, so duh, it was worth it!

After the tour and cheese tasting, we took a lunch break at their on-site restaurant and it was a delicious meal. Of course, we had grilled cheese and mac n’ cheese, and it was delicious. On the way out, we grabbed a couple of scoops of fresh ice cream (I had Huckleberry, and Kim had Rocky Road) and it was seriously some of the best ice cream we’ve ever had! Oh, and of course, we grabbed a couple of little souvenirs from their massive gift shop!

Where We Ate & Drank

Firehouse Grille – Seaside, Oregon

This was a great place to grab breakfast. The plates were full, the staff was very friendly, and they had some delicious mimosas, which are even better on a birthday!

Pig n’ Pancake – Seaside, Oregon

Think old school, huge menus, vinyl seats… and delicious food. Bacon and eggs, toast and jam, biscuits and gravy, bottomless hot coffee… that sort of thing. And it was really yummy!

deGarde Brewing – Tillamook, Oregon

I was so excited to visit this very unique brewery. When I first learned that “sour beers” existed, it seemed I heard the name deGarde at every turn. A truly unique brewery, they have a variety of “spontaneous wild ale” offerings. They age their beer in barrels, not adding lab cultured yeast to their fermentation, but letting it slowly ferment on its own, in the barrel. This makes for a truly unique beer. I tried several, and each had a distinct, yet unique flavor profile – from the fruits added in, to the wine flavor from the barrel, to the wood from the barrel. These beers were all unlike any beer I’ve ever had before, and it was a treat to get to taste so many! “Boysenberry Bu” was my favorite, a Berliner Weisse style ale aged in oak barrels with boysenberries. They have guest taps for those who may not like the spontaneous, wild, and sour! 

Public Coast Brewing - Cannon Beach, Oregon

After a day full of walking and driving all around the coast, we enjoyed a couple of hours on the actual Cannon Beach, getting rained on and watching the sun set. After that, we wanted something nearby, and Google Maps led us right to Public Coast. We had some delicious burgers and fries and enjoyed a cold beer with our dinner. Public Coast is easy to get to, not in the main hub of things, so it was really easy to park and get in for dinner.

Fort George Brewing - Astoria, Oregon

This was our planned dinner spot, after going north along the coast for the day. We were happy to land in a warm, inviting, although large place ready to serve up hot pizza and cold beer! We were so hungry, and their service was fast. The pizza was really good, and the beer was great with the food. 

Reach Break Brewing - Astoria, Oregon

We found this brewery by happy accident – we had pizza and a beer at Fort George but weren’t ready to head back to our Airbnb just yet. We did a quick Google search and found this little brewery, just down the street within walking distance. This was a wonderful surprise – their beer is just delicious, and we tried quite a few of what they had on tap! Great bartender, cozy space (especially with the rain falling outside when we were there), and really, really good beer. We’ve frequently thought of this brewery and really look forward to visiting again! 

I enjoyed a “Spanspek” – a barrel aged mixed-culture sour ale w/ cantaloupe – it was amazing, a little funky, with a note of melon. I also had a “Separated at Birth”, characterized as a bière de garde. From Reach Break – “an extended five hour direct fired boil gives this beer a deep orange hue. After the boil, this beer was fermented in French Oak barrels with wild yeast. Tart, citrusy with an oaky backbone.” Truly, a delicious beer. Kim had a “Sun Rays and Haze”, an Imperial IPA. Very drinkable with great flavor and not too hazy!

On our way home, with a few hours to spend in Portland, we enjoyed a quick stop at Powell’s Books and Bailey’s Taproom. No trip to Oregon for us is complete without browsing Powell’s, possibly for hours, and leaving with at least an additional few pounds of books added to our carry-on bag! I liked Bailey’s so much that I bought a glass to bring home. They have a long tap list, featuring breweries from all over the place. They have quite a list of sours to try, which is what caught my attention, but also, lots of IPA’s, and some lagers and stouts. Everything we had, in small flight sized pours, was a delight. And a great way to end our Oregon adventure!