Goonies Never Say Die

Disclaimer: I've only seen Goonies once and that was earlier this year. I just don't think it's that good of a movie but I know everyone else loves it. That said, I am familiar with it and I know it's a great childhood memory for Jess.

Today was our last day in Oregon so we decided to head to the coast. It was a cloudy day today, which is remarkable because between our last two big road trips, it's the first cloudy or rainy travel day we've had. It only sprinkled a few times too and by late in the day it has cleared up so we've been extremely fortunate. I think this is all evening out that rainy California trip a few years ago when it rained for the first time in like 18 months the entire time we were there.

Our first stop was in Cannon Beach. It has the famous Haystack Rock and it's just a very interesting place since it's so different from our NC beach towns. It was very busy despite it being cloudy and in the high 60's today and the beach had a lot of people on it. After finding a place to park and walking to the beach, we were right next to the rock. It was misty and foggy and looked just like you'd think the Oregon coast should look, especially if you've seen Goonies. We waded into the ocean which was dicey because a) there were little jellyfish everywhere (I don't know if these dead ones can sting you, but I didn't want to find out), b) the water was really cold and c) Jess had jeans on while I was wearing shorts. The water was pretty choppy and even though we only wanted to get our feet in the water, a wave came up and got the bottom of Jess's pants and it didn't dry for hours.

The next stop was another historic site. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Park is where the expedition wintered after making it to the coast. There are multiple sites but we went to the main one called Fort Clatsop. They built a replica fort on the site of the original one and while that was ok, the park did have a decent visitor center/museum along with a bunch of trails that visit various historic sites (like where the canoe landing was). For some reason the Lewis and Clark sites we've visited have nicely done museums - I guess folks out here are extremely proud that someone (white) braved the trip to "discover" the west. The good news is we got more passport cancellations and a token so it was a successful trip. Also, Jess made another animal friend when a squirrel ran right up to us so yes, we have a bunch of pictures of that.

On the way out, we drove through Astoria which was the setting for the movie which was obvious because the houses and everything looked like you'd expect. After driving out of town, we were on a road with a bunch of houses and businesses when we noticde something on the side of the road. It was 4 elk with huge antlers just grazing on a lawn! After all the parks and forests we've driven through, it took us going through a town to finally see them. We turned around to take pictures but other people spooked them and they were gone quickly so we didn't get any visual proof. A little up the road we saw a deer near the road too but we never saw elk again.

Finally, we drove over the Columbia River into Washington and made our way to the hotel. This took way longer than necessary because of an accident around Olympia so that sucked. The good news was we stopped at Shari's Cafe and Pies and got dessert for dinner. We've seen signs for this pie place since Oregon and it was in our heads so we had to stop. I will say it was pretty good (I had chocolate lava cake and Jess had the Banana Split pie) and if we have time we may stop there again because I may have a cake problem.

As they say in Washington, "May you dream bigger than the Space Needle." Note: no one says this.