A Foggy Beachfront Interlude

Beachfront camping--a sun-drenched campsite, with towels and wet bathing suits strung up and hung everywhere, driftwood crackling in the fire pit and cold beer being pulled from an icy cooler.

One out of three isn’t bad. This is, after all, a beach on the Oregon coast, and as we learned, this place makes its own weather. We found it astounding that just ¼ mile inland it was sunny and 75-80, but at our campsite, which was literally a few hundred feet from the beach, it stayed stubbornly in the low 60’s, dipping into the 50’s when it felt particularly cheeky. Swimsuits were packed away, jackets and warm hats were extracted, and we adjusted.

 

    The campsite was idyllic, even if the weather wasn’t, and it was nice to have the constant soundtrack of waves in the background, tapping into that primeval draw of humans to the mighty sea. It had decent showers, plenty of space, and, as mentioned, free firewood for the taking from the beach. We spent our first day relaxing, and the kids and I built a huge sandcastle using whatever tools and containers we could scrounge. Here’s a tour:

    And while it was overcast to the point of socked in all day, we still managed to get sunburned. Very funny, Oregon.

I swear that pirate ship from The Goonies was going to appear at any second.

    A highlight of our trip to the coast was a trip to the Tillamook Creamery. Originally famous for their cheese, which is fine, we are recent converts to their ice cream, which is unfathomably good and has slowly started to appear in local grocery stores over the past couple of years. If you haven’t tried it, you should. But be warned: you will be fatter for it.

For some of us, this was a religious experience.

    All in all, the fog kept us reigned in a bit as far as hikes or sightseeing, which was fine. It was a cool place to spend a couple of down days, teaching the kids to whittle, goofing on the beach, lighting fires with flint and steel, and just listening to the waves.