coastal adventure

I forgot to post about our day trip!

We had what looked like a rainy day happening so we decided to have a day trip! We headed North through Netarts, Oceanside, and landed at Cape Mears.  We also stopped at Cape Lookout state park for some pictures at the lookout.  It was fun and we even saw boats out in Netarts Bay fishing. We ended at the Cape Mears lighthouse.  It is a neat little area.  It has a small parking lot. You can stop in several overlooks and even hike .1 miles to an 'octopus tree' which is a tree with lots of branches going out every direction. 

We went to the first overlook and were awed by the sheer cliff we were at the edge of. There were informational signs about birds and nesting that they did all over the cliff.  We headed on towards the lighthouse to go the .2 miles .  I was a bit worried when I realized it was .2 at a steady decline.  But we went anyway.  I refused to go the last steep ramp however. I knew that I had to walk out of there and didn't want die trying :).  Besides where I stopped you could see the top part of the lighthouse.  the ramp was steep and I sent the kids down to check things out.  They said that there was a giftshop and some more views.  I could see the views from where I was, and was satisfied by seeing the top of the lighthouse. 

After admiring the views and taking some pictures, we headed up.  I started out strong and slowly petered out.  I stopped a few times for a brief rest, but eventually made it out.  We then headed over to the octopus tree .1 mile.  Imagine my unhappiness to see that this trail was steep.  Not crazy steep, just steeper than the other trail.  And only partly paved.  But I made it!!!  Got a little muddy, but I made it!  The tree was pretty cool.  I need to post some pictures!  There was a bench at the top, and after a quick rest, we headed down.

On our way back, we were hoping to find somewhere to eat lunch.  We ended up stopping at a restaurant where we had seen lots of cars on our way in. Typically if you see lots of cars that look local at a restaurant, it should be a good place to eat.  This place was near Netarts Bay and was called "Down by the Bay".  We all thought 'seafood'. As we approached the door we realized it was Mexican.  Well, we thought we were there, lets give it a go.  We sat down and were the only patrons (at 2pm).  It was interesting.  they had a good fish taco. The chicken fingers A ordered were good and done to perfection.  C ordered a bean and cheese burrito and seemed to enjoy it.  I ordered a fish taco that was good but the chili rellano was awful. It was fried (I didn't realize they were) and very very oily.  So I tried a few bites and ended up leaving most of it. It had a good flavor, but the oil! yuck!  The rice was really good.  Hubby ordered a burrito grande. And it was huge! He finished almost half of it and left the rest due to the lettuce inside. Lettuce just doesn't reheat well.  The salsa (what is that stuff called when its freshly diced ??) was really good, but they only gave us a little. 

We headed home after that and relaxed for a few hours. by then it looked just overcast so we headed for the beach!