Let's Just Go Somewhere: Nehalem Bay

Our drive from the KOA in Hammond to Nehalem Bay, Oregon, was only a little over an hour. It was not an easy drive because Hwy 101 was rough, curvy, narrow, and hilly. Plus with it being Sunday, there was more tourist traffic on the road and in several of the little towns we went through.

There was also a place where the fog got so thick we could hardly see in front of us.

The coast drops off to the right here but we could not see it.

We checked in at Nehalem Bay State Park and drove to the site I had reserved online: A-14. We had to change sites because we could not let the sides out on the driver side because of the trees. It took a little time finding another site but with it being a Sunday and in the fall, we had plenty to choose from and decided on site D-49. The campground is very nice with plenty of privacy between the site.

On Monday, we took a day trip starting with a ride back up to Cannon Beach to see Haystack Rock which is probably the Oregon Coast's most famous landmark. The GPS took us right to it but there were houses between the road and the rock. We were kind of surprised that with all the state parks along the Oregon coast that this was not a state park also. We drove a little further up the road and found a place where we could see it a little better without houses obstructing the view.

Haystack Rock is a large sea stack that is 235 feet tall and is accessible at low tide (Wikipedia).

There were a couple of other smaller sea stacks on the south side of Haystack Rock.

As we looked up the coast to the north, we could barely see the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.

There were more sea stacks off the coast to the north...

...and a few off the coast to the south.

We drove a little further down the beach and pulled off at a public beach area hoping to get a little better picture of Haystack but it was too far away and too misty.

We did see this cute little bunny come out of a bush next to the beach. His coloring helps him to blend in with the sand.

We continued heading south on Hwy 101 pulling off at different viewpoints.

This pull-off area had a referee! (Just kidding. But his shirt made him look like a referee.)

Unfortunately, the fog was thick again today along the same portion of Hwy 101 we traveled yesterday in the motorhome on the way to Nehalem Bay.

We headed on down the coast past the turn-off to our campground at Nehalem Bay and drove through the town of Garibaldi where there were a lot of fishermen. We're guessing they were fishing for salmon.

What's that? A hint of blue sky? Maybe we will get to see the Oregon coast after all!

We drove on further south and stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Company, home of the most famous cheese in the northwest. And finally, the sun started to pop out. We've learned they don't see the sun much this time of year in Oregon.

Tillamook Cheese is a cooperative that is 100% owned by the farmers.

We were able to watch them packaging the cheese from above the plant floor.

That's a lot of cheese.

After watching the packaging for a few minutes, we were able to try several samples of the cheese. Our favorite sample was the Medium Cheddar. We have been buying their Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese on our last couple of grocery runs since we have been in the northwest and already knew we really liked it.

We had lunch in their cafe and then had some of their ice cream which was very creamy and very good. While at the plant, we bought some more cheese to take with us at what seemed to be lower prices than what we would have paid for it in a grocery store and we also bought some fudge that was very, very good.

After leaving Tillamook Cheese Company, we drove out to the lighthouse at Cape Meares.

You can barely see the lighthouse in this picture.

The clouds and fog were still hanging around as we drove down the road to the lighthhouse.

But after we parked the car and began walking the trail down to the lighthouse on the north side of the point, the sun started to come out so we could really get some awesome views.

This sea stack had a hole in it where the waves would splash through.

As we walked further down the trail to the lighthouse...

...the moisture and the moss on the trees almost -made it look like the trees were covered in ice.

We saw the top of the Cape Meares Lighthouse in front of us at the end of the trail.

We arrived just in time to go on a tour inside the lighthouse.

The views from inside the Cape Meares LIghthouse were pretty amazing.

After several minutes of looking out at the coast, we walked back down the winding staircase.

Cape Meares is no longer a working lighthouse and at only 38 feet tall, it is one of the shortest lighthouses we have ever seen.

We walked back up a different trail to the parking lot on the south side of the point that provided a view of the Three Arch Rocks to the south...

...and a beautiful view of the coastline to the south.

After leaving Cape Meares, we drove a little further south to Cape Lookout State Park. Now that the sun was coming out more, we could get an even better look at the Oregon coast.

We parked in the day use area of Cape Lookout State Park and walked down to the beach.

Chuck on the "lookout" at Cape Lookout! :)

After leaving Cape Lookout, we drove back to where we were camped at Nehalem Bay. Since it looked like we might get a pretty sunset, we walked out the beach access from the campground...