Long Beach, Washington

With my father’s recent passing and the emotional exhaustion of the week, the very next day after I returned from Las Vegas, we headed to the coast. There is nothing like the fresh ocean air to help you heal and process what is going on in life, at least for me.

Even though it was a last minute trip, we still wanted to take Samantha. Our RV still remains unregistered (gotta love a bank and two states trying to figure things out), so we needed to find a dog friendly hotel.  After checking into some hotels at Cannon Beach and Lincoln City and finding them full, I was a little bummed. Keith suggested we could just drive out and back for a few days, but I wanted something a little more relaxing.

I looked at the map & found that we hadn’t been up to Long Beach in Washington yet. A quick check into dog friendly hotels and we were on our way, since Adrift had some affordable rooms, basically on the beach.

We made a brief stop in Astoria for lunch and had an amazing clam chowder bread bowl at the Wet Dog Cafe. Dog friendly, good food  and cold beer always makes us happy. They even had a ‘doggie’ burger for $1 that Samantha devoured. Surprisingly, she didn’t snub her nose at the bread bowl either, devouring chunks of chowder soaked bread like it was steak. There was a family across the patio that we chatted with as they had a dog as well. They had just come back from Long Beach and mentioned it was still foggy there when they left, but that maybe it would burn off by the time we got there.

Amazing clam chowder in a bread bowl

It hadn’t and the remaining two days we were there happened to be the most foggy & freezing cold we had ever seen on the coast to date. You never would have know it was August – at all! You know what? It was perfect! Of course, part of me wanted the beautiful sunny days, but  on the other hand – this coast is known for it’s moodiness and we just hadn’t experienced it yet. The only downside is we didn’t bring winter jackets, or jackets at all for that matter. Next time we will be better prepared!

We found the Adrift Hotel to be quite nice overall. Very sparten and modern, this hotel had a great location just steps to the beach. While some of the workmanship seemed to take shortcuts that detracted from the room (the problem with being previous homeowners that have fixed everything including the kitchen sink – we notice the darnest things), we liked the beachy environmental feel. The staff was amazing, very generous with lending items out and being very attentive to Samantha. The cleaning crew happened upon us trying to coax Samantha out of the room (the floors were extremely slippery and while we were able to cover some of it with Samantha’s large twin comforter, we couldn’t cover enough). She questioned what the issue was, and then promptly brought us 3 large blankets so we could cover more of the floor.

View of Adrift Room

Long Beach is the first area that reminded me more of the East coast beaches. No super dramatic outcroppings here, just large swaths of grassy dunes and sand. Despite the windy foggy weather, we walked the beach and the paved path several times, enjoying the sounds of the ocean.

A rare glimpse of the sun!

We also made an effort to see two lighthouses here – and finally found a ranger to buy our Discovery Pass! We are starting to think Samantha loves the ocean just as much as we do, and I had fun trying to capture a perfect doggy shot.

My favorite doggy shot

We ventured to Cape Disappointment State Park and took in two lighthouses, North Head Lighthouse, and Cape Disappointment. Through the fog, it was otherworldly looking out, hearing the fog horns from the ships and feeling the winds whip us but not being able to see a thing. At that moment I knew we had to come back to the coast in the winter time – hopefully to see a storm roll through.

North Head Lighthouse in the Fog

On our way back to Portland, we also stopped at Fort Columbia State Parkand checked out an old army coastal artillery fort. I am always amazed at the views of forts, and how secluded they once were. It was set up like a small town, and even though the buildings were closed, many were in decent shape.

Homes at Fort Columbia

That small trip made a world of difference and I love that we are so close to so many things to do here in Portland!