Then we headed out of the park back to Hwy 101 and went south through Nehalem...
We cross the bridge over Nehalem River...
A rather unique house...tall (4 stories) and skinny...
Just past Rockaway Beach, we turned off the highway onto Cedar Road and then Barview Jetty Park Road. We had heard about the county campground at Barview (on Tillamook Bay) and thought we'd take a look. We drove out to the jetty and took a few pictures.
This would be a great place to camp if you're a fisherman...
...and then drove through the campground...
We continued south on Hwy 101...
Crab Races in Garibaldi...interesting...
Pacific Seafood and Pacific Oyster in Bay City.......along with a huge pile of oyster shells, reminds us of Oyster Bay back home on Vancouver Island...
Our first destination for today was the Tillamook Cheese Factory....
We took a self-guided tour...
After our tour, we went downstairs, through the cheese tasting line, where we tried about six different varieties...and then on into the store...
Of course, we had to have some Tillamook ice cream! You'll notice we also bought a couple of blocks of cheese...Sharp Cheddar and Extra Sharp White Cheddar...yum!
Hey Conner...look at grampa!
The next thing on our to-do list today is to take the Three Capes Scenic Route. The route follows a stretch of coastline between Tillamook and Pacific City while the Coast Highway (101) runs inland. In Tillamook, we took Hwy 131 towards the coast.
Not sure of the name of this river that we crossed over...it runs into Tillamook Bay, so it is likely Tillamook River...
We're approaching the community of Oceanside...(we'll check it out later...after we see Cape Meares)...
After a very windy road going up and up, we arrived at the entrance to Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint and Lighthouse...we had another half mile drive to the parking lot.
We went to one observation deck...
Not sure of the name of this river that we crossed over...it runs into Tillamook Bay, so it is likely Tillamook River...
We're approaching the community of Oceanside...(we'll check it out later...after we see Cape Meares)...After a very windy road going up and up, we arrived at the entrance to Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint and Lighthouse...we had another half mile drive to the parking lot.
We went to one observation deck...
Took some pictures...
And then walked down to the lighthouse (in the distance)...
Cape Meares Lighthouse sits 200' above the waves...great area for bird and whale watching during the twice a year migration...
Three Arches Islands...not visible on the middle island...
After walking back up to the parking lot, we took a trail that led to the Octopus Tree...very interesting...
We made our way back down and drove into the community of Oceanside...
The view as we headed south towards Cape Lookout...
Cape Lookout State Park has a campground as well as a day-use area. We took a drive through the campground first. We really weren't impressed. There are sites in the forested section that are more suitable to smaller RV's and tents and the 2 way roads are extemley narrow. The Three Capes Loop road is very windy, narrow, lumpy, bumpy and full of pot holes in sections. We're glad we didn't bring our home to this campground.Entrance to the campground...
The sites near the beach dunes are a little longer but have very little privacy...
The beach and day-use area are very beautiful though, wish we had time to explore the trails...
It's quite a hike (almost 5 miles one-way) out to the Cape Lookout...hmmm...don't think we'll do that today, not enough time. There's a B-17 Bomber crash site at the Cape where 9 of the 10 crew members perished...
Enjoying the incredible views, we continued south on the windy road to our next stop. Cape Lookout State Park below, Netarts Bay to the right of the long spit...
We drove by the Sand Lake Recreation Area...The Dunes area...
Ariving at Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area in Pacific City...
Another Haystack Rock (not to be confused with Cannon Beach Haystack Rock) and Cape Kiwanda...
Time to go into the Pelican Pub and Brewery...
We had a short (10 oz) glass of their award winning (Gold) Kiwanda Cream Ale...
As we continued south through Pacific City to Hwy 101, it started raining. Well, we've been very lucky with the weather. Once we hit the 101, we headed north back to Nehalem Bay State Park.
It was just after 5:30 when we got home. This map shows our 210 km/131 mile route from Nehalem Bay to Three Capes Loop to Pacific City and back. A great day!
Very nice recap of your day trip! When we were there a few years ago the Three Capes was my favourite drive!...and of course the 'cheese'!
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