Day 9, Rockin' n Rollin' all Night Long

Our crash wrap survived the night. The forecast called for a high wind warning with gusts up to 50 miles an hour. We are pretty sure that wasn't an exaggeration. That was accompanied by heavy rains. Our RV developed a small leak around where the slide comes out but it only required a rag on the floor to keep the water from spreading in the night. We were really relieved and thankful that the temporary fix held. 

Ardith and Jim decided to head back to Ashland today. They'd planned to stay an additional night. Tomorrow we would continue north and theywould head back inland and south. If the night's storm and the forecast for continued rain, wind, and chilly temperatures (as I write this at 6 pm it is 46°) wasn't enough to convince them to leave, the standing water in their campsite was.

We didn't have too much on our list of things to do given the weather but we headed out to Oceanside Beach. We got there during a break in the rain. Luckily, it was low tide. A walk down the beach leads to a tunnel that is carved into the cliffs and leads to Tunnel Beach. I think it is the only way to get there. 

The tunnel is short, no flashlight is really required, but the footing is very uneven. The walk through the tunnel leads to an even more spectacular view of the Three Arch Rocks. I don't think this photo does it justice.

The tunnel was built by the Rosen family when they were building the first vacation resort in the area. They wanted to give their guest greater access to the beaches. Today, it is the site of agate hunting.

We walked along the beach. The beaches are a great place to watch kite flying and we wished we had one along with us. Definitely when we camp with Olivia.

We started out heading to Bay City, partly because we hadn't made it that far north yet and partly because there is a seafood market there. On our way, we needed to go through Tillamook. We'd seen a parking lot of food trucks the day we'd gotten here but had already had lunch. Today, we decided to stop and give it a look-see. 

Despite the weather, three food trucks were open. We decided to give the Thai truck a try. While we were waiting for our food to come out, the skies opened up and treated us to a hail storm. Luckily, there is a covered area with picnic tables where we could take refuge. When our Druken Noodles and Sticky Rice with Mango came out, we headed to the car to eat. The food was good and we were happy to have supported a local establishment willing to be there in the stormy weather. There was also a sandwich truck open that sells home-baked bread. That was really the only thing we needed for tomorrow so we bought a loaf. 

We headed back to the Tillamook Creamery. Luckily, we weren't there for ice cream because the line snaked around. We hadn't taken advantage of the self-guided tour last time. It was interesting to find out that Tillamook is a dairy cooperative with about 90 family members. It has been farmer-owned since it was established in 1909.

It was really interesting to watch the packaging of the cheese. So much of it is done by people performing repetitive tasks. I guess it is nice to know that robots haven't taken over all those jobs, but on the other hand, we watched one woman in particular stretching and reaching and working at a fast pace. I couldn't imagine how her back felt at the end of the day.

Before returning to our campsite, Denis thought we should hike the short muddy trail to see Big Spruce. It is a 750-800 year-old Sitka Spruce and is the largest of its kind in Oregon. The trail had only one really muddy spot, most other places we managed to walk along the edge and keep our shoes fairly clean. The tree is definitely impressive.

We were really close to the Cape Meares Lighthouse where we spotted whales on Saturday. We made another stop but the water had so many white-caps that if there was a whale spouting, we were likely to miss it. Instead, we watched the birds for a short time, before we thought it was about to rain again. We made it back to the car before getting wet.

The Skunk Cabbage flower is found in Pacific Northwest wetlands. It is one of the first flowers to emerge in the spring. When you bruise the leaves, it is said to smell like a skunk but we didn't notice it. It was used by Native Americans for numerous medicinal purposes. It is all over the campgrounds, which is very wet at this time of year.

It has continued to rain on and off all day. We are looking forward to a break in the weather over the next few days as we travel north into Washington tomorrow.