The Pacific
North West
Embedded Files
A Visit with Friends & Family May 3 - 13, 2025
Sunday 5/4 - Arrive in Vancouver
Sunday 5/4 - Arrive in Vancouver
Vancouver skyline from our apartment window.
We usually drive to the Logan Express bus stop in Framingham, Mass when flying out of Boston. Then we wait for the bus. This time we drove all the way to Logan Saturday afternoon and stayed overnight at the nearby Hilton Garden Inn and took advantage of their "Park, Sleep, Fly" package. The package includes parking and a five-minute shuttle ride to the airport. Our flight left early enough in the morning to justify the splurge. We were flying Alaska Air nonstop to Seattle where we then had a three-hour layover until our 28-minute connecting flight to Vancouver.
Sunday
We arrived at our 33rd-floor Airbnb rental at the “The Mark” building in the Yaletown section of downtown Vancouver around 5 PM. Yaletown borders a saltwater inlet called False Creek. Yaletown was a bustling place during BC’s mid to late 19th century gold rush, and then a commercial and industrial hub at the end of the line - the Canadian Pacific Railway line. Eventually the businesses that fueled the area’s prosperity closed and buildings went vacant.
View from our apartment's balcony. We were high enough we barely heard the city below.
The 1986 World's Fair helped revitalize Yaletown, and it has now been transformed by largely Hong Kong developers into one of the most densely populated, trendy neighbourhoods in the city, filled with high-rise condominiums, parks and affluent white-color workers. Wikipedia (see False Creek and Downtown Vancouver) reports that the section of Vancouver we were staying in, now called Downtown Vancouver, had a population surge from around 6,000 in the 1970s and 1980s to over 43,000 by 2006. Interestingly, little or no original housing from the 19th-century survives.
The night view from the 33rd floor of The Mark.
The Mark (where we rented) is considered a notable or architecturally significant building. It’s a 41-storey high-rise, located on the cross streets of Seymour and Pacific. The Mark was the tallest building in Yaletown when it was completed in 2009 - but no longer. Our rental had expansive, elevated views of Yaletown, David Lam Park, False Creek and in the distance, Mount Baker. From our balcony and living room and bedroom windows we could look into the windows of numerous neighboring apartment buildings where we saw smartly furnished living areas with large screen TVs, exercise equipment and potted palms, but very few people.
Left: The Mark.
The apartment was small and simply decorated, with a bedroom, combined kitchen/living area and separate closet-sized office area. It had everything we needed for a short stay, including a Playstation 4.
Yaletown was a very modern, safe and sparklingly clean "neighborhood." It too had everything we needed for a short stay.
Here's the link to the apartment's Airbnb listing.
We ate Sunday night at the nearby Alchemy Bar and Kitchen on Hamilton Street. We sat outside, travel weary, and ate perfectly fine pizza.
Our bedroom with a view. We had the feeling that more than one apartment in The Mark was used for short-term rentals. In the elevator we regularly met people with suitcases in tow.
The Vancouver House.
The Spinning Chandelier.
Our stay in Vancouver was brief and we mostly explored downtown. Downtown seemed very "new." Someone described the architecture of its most famous buildings as neo-futuristic, which is way better than post-modern and far, far superior to brutalist. My favorite buildings were part of the "twisted tower" school.
Vancouver House
Downtown Vancouver had multiple futuristic-looking, internationally recognized high-rises. The 59-storey Vancouver House, a residential skyscraper, is one of them. It looks like an upside down skyscraper. It starts as a narrow triangle at the bottom and becomes a larger, top-weighted rectangle at the top. It looks as if it could topple over in a strong breeze. It was completed in 2020 and has yet to topple.
Spinning Chandelier
As we were bicycling through downtown Vancouver we unexpectedly came across the Spinning Chandelier hanging from the underside of the Granville Street Bridge. An over-sized, 14 x 26 foot, 7,500 pound, 18th-century glass chandelier under a bridge? The work was designed by artist Rodney Graham. It was funded as the public art component of Vancouver House. What we didn’t know was that the chandelier puts on a show three times a day, at 12 p.m., 4 p.m., and 9 p.m. The chandelier lights up, drops, rotates for four minutes, slowing down, stopping, and rises back up to its original place.
The Erickson
The Erickson, at 1560 Homer Mews, is another twisting residential building in Yaletown. It was designed by a Canadian architect, Arthur Erickson. It’s only a modest 17-storey's high. Its facade undulates vertically. It rotates first counter-clockwise and then clockwise. They say the tower’s eye-catching structural twist is reminiscent of a wave. Vancouver has more than one twisty building referred to as The Erickson. Arthur Erickson also designed a 63-story skyscraper that opened in 2017 (after his death). According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, in 2017 there were only 28 twisting structures either built or under construction throughout the world.
Monday 5/5 - Granville Island and Biking in Stanley Park
Monday 5/5 - Granville Island and Biking in Stanley Park
The Aquabus ferry (for people and dogs) and the bus stop (below) at Granville Island.
The Aquabus route map. We took the Aquabus from #3 David Lam Park to #2 the "bus stop" on Granville Island. The Aquabus company started in 1985 with one ferry. It now has 14 ferries, some of which will transport bicycles.
Monday morning, after exquisite pastries and croissants from Perfecto Cafe on Davie Street, we set off for Granville Island. It was a sunny, pleasantly mild day. To get to Granville Island, we accessed an Aquabus (ferry) from David Lam Park on False Creek, not far from our rental. Granville Island is near the top of every Vancouver tourist list.
Along the working waterfront of Granville Island.
Heidelberg Materials has produced concrete on Granville Island since 1920. The factory has painted silos that can be seen along False Creek.
Granville Island was once a simple sandbar, a place to dig for shellfish. From the sandbar an island was made. It was completed in 1916 from material dredged from False Creek. At the time, Vancouver wanted more land for industry. At its height in the 1930s, there were 1200 people employed by 40 companies on Granville Island. These companies manufactured materials for logging, mining and shipping, among other things. In the 1950s the city needed more industrial space, so they filled in a back channel and Granville Island became a peninsula, though it kept its island moniker.
By the 1970s, Granville Island’s industrial output had faded and starting in 1975, Vancouver redeveloped and repurposed the corrugated-tin clad factories and warehouses for cultural events and tourism. Not all the industry is gone. If you access the island by Aquabus you’ll pass by a busy concrete factory with six colorful silos decorated by the Brazilian artists "Os Gemeos," identical twin brothers, Gustavo and Otavio Pandolfo. But much of what the island is known for today are the art and craft galleries, restaurants, brew pubs, shops of all sorts, performing arts venues and the famous Public Market which opened in 1978.
A vendor stacks pyramids of fruit at the Granville Island Public Market.
The Public Market is open daily year-round from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and is home to more than 50 independent food purveyors as well as craft vendors. We arrived around 10 a.m. and were amazed by the variety. We returned around 1 p.m. and were amazed by the crowds. The Public Market attracts over 10-million visitors each year. The Island also has a marina, a hotel, parks and whale watching tours. Becky purchased hand-painted silk scarves and we tasted whisky at The Liberty Distillery, purchasing a bottle of Trust Whisky (Southern Style) to bring on our travels.
A whiskey tasting at the Liberty Distillery on Granvillle Island. Supposedly, Canadians spell whiskey without the "E" like the Scots. But not on Granville Island.
After returning from Granville Island we rented bikes from BSP Bike Shop on Pacific Street near Stanley Park. The bike shop was not in the park or even next to the park, so we had to navigate some city streets, most with bike lanes, to get to the English Bay area and connect with the Beach Avenue bike lanes that would take us to the park.
The beach and barges of English Bay.
Stanley Park is a 1,000 acre park, the third largest city park in North America (larger than Central Park). It was opened in 1888 and named after a Canadian governor, Frederick Stanley - the Stanley of Hockey’s Stanley Cup.
The Stanley Park Seawall Bike Route/Loop.
Unlike many urban parks, Stanley Park was not designed by a landscape architect. It was and still is largely forested. The tallest tree in Stanley Park is currently a 206 foot Douglas Fir (about 20-storeys high). The park has trails, picnic areas, playgrounds, tennis courts, ballfields, a short scenic railway ride, a cafe, three beaches, an aquarium, totem poles and a bike and pedestrian path along a seawall.
The seawall bike loop is about 5.6 miles long and very popular, affording views of Vancouver Harbor and English Bay. The bike path is used by pedestrians, skate boarders, scooters, and rollerbladers too, so you have to pay attention to avoid a collision. Luckily, the bike path is one-way (though not everyone seems to know or care).
We ate Monday night at nearby Zaab Zaab Thai Cuisine on Hamilton Street. Many of the diners were Asian, which we took as a good sign. We had spring rolls, Panang curry, pad thai and tamarind whisky sours.
The Seawall Bike Loop with Lions Gate Bridge in the distance.
Tuesday 5/6 - The Sunshine Coast and Halfmoon Bay
Tuesday 5/6 - The Sunshine Coast and Halfmoon Bay
Tuesday
On Tuesday morning we set off to visit my college friend Lise who lives in Halfmoon Bay on the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver.
We caught the 10:15 a.m. #257 semi-express bus from downtown Vancouver at the corner of Dunsmuir Street and Cambie Street. The bus goes all the way to the Horseshoe Bay Ferry 45 minutes to an hour away (depending on traffic). You can pay for the bus with a credit card as you get on. But each passenger needs their own card with a distinct number. We tried to pay with a shared card and it didn’t work.
Three ferries leave from picturesque Horseshoe Bay, each headed to a different destination. We arrived with almost an hour to spare and took the 12:00 ferry to Langdale.
The ferry was big and modern. The ferry ride to Langdale is roughly 45 minutes long. The ferry passes by Bowen Island and Gambier Island along the way - also popular tourist destinations. The views of the snow-capped Pacific and Coastal mountains in the distance are spectacular. Interestingly, the rugged mountains bordering the Sunshine Coast cut the peninsula off from the rest of the province. There are no direct overland roads to and from the Sunshine Coast. You can only get to the Sunshine Coast by ferry, private boat, or plane.
When Lise first told me she moved to the Sunshine Coast I thought it was a made-up name, meant to be ironic. The Pacific Northwest isn’t generally known for its sunshine. But the Sunshine Coast actually has mild winters (rarely going below freezing) and dry summers. The Sunshine Coast is statistically sunny more often than not.
Lise's log cabin built in 1975. Halfmoon Bay is supposedly a haven of sorts for aging hippies.
Christopher Norman Chocolates now made in Halfmoon Bay. Chocolate doesn't get much better.
Lise met us at the ferry and drove us on a tour of the peninsula through quaint towns and up the rocky shore. Along the way we visited the large-scale Roberts Creek Community Mandala, which has been designed and painted on a pavement canvas annually by community volunteers for about 28 years. We ate lunch at the Gumboot Cafe in Gibsons and bought fresh fish (steelhead) from a fish market in Sechelt. While waiting for the fish to be filleted, we bought an array of Christopher Norman Chocolates from a nearby shop. The chocolatier moved from New York to the Sunshine Coast a few years back. The blood orange dark chocolate was heavenly.
Lise and Juliet's log cabin in Halfmoon Bay had three cats in the house, a doe and a fawn in the front yard, and more books and musical instruments than I have ever seen in a single home. It also had stained glass and 19th-century oil paintings - one painting was as big as my dining room table. Before dinner, we walked from the log cabin down the Fullerton Road Beach Access Trail to a rocky beach that looked out on distant Merry Island. No one was on the pebble beach. Living so close to a secluded beach is a dream of mine. The 130 steps that make up the Fullerton Road Beach Access Trail staircase are not part of that dream.
On the beach at the bottom of the stairs. Lise lived across the hall from me my freshman year of college. She grew up in the Vancouver area and vacationed on the coast as a kid.
Wednesday 5/7 - Vancouver Art Gallery and Bloedel Conservatory
Wednesday 5/7 - Vancouver Art Gallery and Bloedel Conservatory
A Brian Jungen totem pole made from golf bags.
Wednesday
Our visit to Halfmoon Bay was short and sweet. Lise drove us back to Langdale in time to catch the 10:50 a.m. ferry back to Horseshoe Bay. We wanted to have another half day to explore Vancouver before our flight to Portland. From the ferry terminal we took the #257 bus to the Vancouver Art Gallery in Robson Square in downtown Vancouver. You can’t go to a major city and not visit their flagship museum. The Vancouver Art Gallery is in the former provincial courthouse. It's the largest art museum in Western Canada… by building size. The museum has approximately 12,000 works in its permanent collection by artists from Canada and around the world and curates seasonal exhibitions and hosts traveling shows. Our visit was thorough but short, in part because their cafe was closed and we were hungry. A swath of the museum was also closed as they were installing a new exhibition. The highlight of our visit was “Murderers Bar,” a video installation by New York City–based multidisciplinary artist Lucy Raven exploring the demolition of a century-old hydroelectric dam along the Klamath River in northern California. The before and after bird’s-eye helicopter video was mesmerizing. Another highlight (for me) was Brian Jungen’s totem pole. According to AI, which may or may not be correct, “Brian Jungen is known for his innovative art that combines Indigenous art forms with mass-produced objects, often exploring themes of globalization and cultural appropriation. His totem poles, for example, are constructed from golf bags, drawing attention to the intersections of Indigenous territory, land use, and the leisure industry.” Yes, his totem pole in the Vancouver Art Gallery was made from new golf bags. Brian Jungen is a BC artist from Doig River First Nation. First Nations in BC are the Indigenous peoples who have lived in the region since forever. Totem poles are a central part of the art and culture of the First Nations. Brian Jungen’s totem poles made from golf bags (he has created more than one) are brilliantly subversive and ironic.
This 1984 bronze sculpture by John Seward Johnson called the “Photo Session” sits atop Little Mountain in Queen Elizabeth Park.
After we were finished at the Vancouver Art Gallery we went back to our apartment in The Mark for a lunch of leftover pizza. Then we headed out to the Bloedel Conservatory on 4600 Cambie Street in Queen Elizabeth Park atop Vancouver’s highest point (Little Mountain) which serves as an impressive city overlook. Bloedel Conservatory is a large, domed greenhouse with tropical birds, koi fish, and over 500 exotic plants within a temperature-controlled triodetic dome – a structure inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s iconic Expo ’67 dome in Montreal. The Bloedel Conservatory's structural framework was manufactured in Ottawa and shipped 3,000 miles across the country to Queen Elizabeth Park. Once it arrived, the framework was erected in just 10 days. The entire dome and plaza took 18 months to complete. The grand opening of the conservatory took place to much fanfare in1969 and the Bloedel hosted over 500,000 people in its first year of operation. Oddly, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Bloedel Conservatory are some of the oldest structures we visited in Vancouver.
Photos taken inside Bloedel Conservatory's dome, which was crawling with mice living the good life. The conservatory had signs telling visitors to disregard the mice.
Thursday night we decided to eat in a fancy place. After looking at a number of online menus we picked Ancora on Howe Street overlooking False Creek. It was walking distance, on the water with a view and had a limited, expensive menu. I wanted to try the "halibut cheeks” - which are just what you would expect. Upon arrival at 6:30 the restaurant was practically empty. Perhaps there was one other couple dining. The restaurant remained mostly empty until we departed for home. Much to my disappointment, they were out of halibut cheeks. Becky ordered the only other fish on the menu, sablefish (aka black cod) with "aji panca, miso squash quinotto, bok choy saltado, and quinoa chicharrón." We were not familiar with sablefish and it turned out to be delicious. I ordered beef tenderloin instead of halibut cheeks, which to my surprise came with no sides, just meat with two different dipping sauces. The beef was fine but made me feel a bit like a caveman. For starters we had grilled octopus anticucho, which Becky deemed grossly rubbery and inedible. Our attempt at fine dining ended up a mixed bag at best.
Thursday & Friday 5/8 & 5/9 - Portland and Oceanside, Oregon
Thursday & Friday 5/8 & 5/9 - Portland and Oceanside, Oregon
Thursday
On Thursday we flew from Vancouver to Portland. We arrived in Oregon in the afternoon and our son Riley met us at the airport. We spent Friday night in Milwaukie (just south of Portland on the east side of the Willamette River) at Riley and Jessica’s house, where we stocked up on supplies and then headed back into Portland for dinner with our nephew Ryan at a Cuban restaurant named Pambiche. We sat outside and enjoyed empanadas, palomas and other Cuban fare.
Friday
We set out for Oceanside, Oregon Friday afternoon, stopping en route for lunch at a McMenamins Hotel - McMenamins' Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, Oregon. It was was originally a Masonic home and later an orphanage before McMenamins renovated it and opened it as a hotel in 2000. McMenamins operates 46 establishments (breweries, restaurants etc.) in Oregon. Twelve are hotels, most all of which are in repurposed historic buildings. We have been to three of them. We once stayed at McMenamins Old St. Francis School in Bend. The hotel utilizes the campus of a former Catholic school.
In Tillamook we bought groceries before continuing our journey to the Airbnb rental in Oceanside. Oceanside is about 1 hour and 45 minutes from Portland, located 9 miles west of Tillamook and 3 miles north of Netarts.
We made dinner in the rental Friday night - pasta with plant-based sausage - and watched the sun set.
Tenters in Oceanside in the 1920s or 1930s.
At least in name, Oceanside did not exist until the 1920s. The land that constitutes Oceanside was purchased by a pair of brothers in 1921. They set out to build a resort town and named it Oceanside.
Oceanside Beach had been a popular tenting destination for years. Occasionally, tent cities of 500 or 1000 tents would sprout up in the summer months.
The first building the brothers erected in Oceanside was a large dance hall (of course), later converted to a skating rink (now an empty lot next to Rosanna’s Cafe).
Oceanside
Riley chose Oceanside for our Weekend on the Shore because the town is relatively close to Portland, has a long, uncrowded, sandy beach, and the town itself is largely devoid of the normal trappings of tourism.
The unincorporated village of Oceanside feels like a small town. The 2020 census listed its population at 366. But the population explodes in the summer. The houses in town seem like summer houses - empty summer houses in May. I suspect that many of these summer homes are Airbnb short-term rentals during much of the year.
Most of the town is perched precariously on the hillside that bottoms out on Pacific Avenue, the town’s main drag. On the western side of Pacific Avenue there is a row of buildings and then a massive, sandy beach.
Oceanside boasts two cafes that close in the afternoon and a third that stays open for dinner. That’s about it for commerce. No T-shirt or souvenir shops. No craft galleries or ice cream vendors. No bars or clam shacks or banks or gas stations or grocery stores. Despite the lack of commercial amenities the population of the town supposedly swells to near 2,000 during the summer. People come for the beach.
By 1923 there were 30 buildings in Oceanside. By 1924, 200 house lots were available for purchase.
Before 1925 one traveled to Oceanside by foot, hoof or automobile - via the beach. There were no roads in or out. The brothers financed a wood plank road from Netarts to Oceanside which opened in 1925. The forty Oceanfront Cabins (formerly Minaker Motel) were built near the beach in 1925, and they still operate today. The brothers also built a tunnel through a rock ridge called Maxwell’s Point in order to connect Oceanside Beach with the beaches farther north. The tunnel opened in 1926. The resort of Oceanside seemingly chugged along until World War II, when it became more of a military outpost. And then time stopped.
The building that housed our Airbnb rental was an old hotel. Our apartment was behind the top windows. A long staircase led to the beach.
We stayed in a Airbnb condo that was once part of a hotel called the Oceanside Inn. The Oceanside Inn looked to be from the 1950’s but may actually be older. It seems that parts of the Oceanside Inn were originally from the Hillcrest in the 1920s. The Oceanside Inn condos looked out on Oceanside Beach and Maxwell Point, a 258-foot bluff and popular launching pad for hang gliders and paragliders. On top of Maxwell Point is the Clifftop Inn (formerly named House on the Hill Hotel) built in 1969. At least two other hotels enjoyed the view from Maxwell Point and the knowledge that they sat above the connecting tunnel. The Clifftop Inn is now closed and for sale.
Our Airbnb rental was in the building on the left. You can see the building's signage which reads Hillcrest Apartments. This photo is from the 1930s.
Our rental's windows looked out on the beach. There was also a large shared deck on stilts for outside beach viewing.
The view of Three Arch Rocks from our rental.
Riley and Becky walk along the beach at sunset with Three Arch Rocks in the distance.
What made our condo in the Oceanside Inn so spectacular was the view of Three Arch Rocks and a staircase to the beach. From our condo windows we could see the three massive sea stacks. The largest is over 300 feet tall. Each has a natural arch that cuts through part of the rock - though only one arch is visible from shore. The area on and around the stacks was designated a wildlife refuge over 100 years ago: Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge.
Three Arch Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1907, was the first National Wildlife Refuge west of the Mississippi River. The refuge was established by President Theodore Roosevelt. At the time, the resident birds were routinely killed for sport and their eggs harvested and eaten; Sea lions were killed for skin and oil.
Three Arch Rocks consists of 15 acres on three large and six small rocky islands located about a half mile offshore from Oceanside. It is one of the smallest designated wilderness areas in the U.S., but features the largest colony of breeding tufted puffins and the largest common murre colony south of Alaska. It is home to a cormorant colony and the only northern Oregon pupping site for the threatened Steller sea lion. We watched bald eagles circling above, clutching their lunch (birds of some sort) while we walked on the beach, but the nesting birds were too far away to see with the naked eye.
Saturday 5/10 - Cape Meares and the Beach
Saturday 5/10 - Cape Meares and the Beach
Three Arch Inn, formerly the Anchor Tavern, was the object of a famous dispute and boycott in Oceanside, Oregon.
Saturday
Saturday was a mix of sun and clouds and the shore was definitely cooler. We got take-out breakfast Saturday and Monday from the Current Café & Lounge on the ground floor of Three Arch Inn. The name Current Café is interesting because the space has been home to at least three businesses in the past 20 years.
Businesses come and go everywhere. But this building was home to a famous neighborhood dispute and effective six-year business boycott that started in 2004. Which sent two business owners packing.
Boycott the Anchor! I love local lore so I have to tell the story. The building, which was a pub in the 1940’s, was purchased by an out-of-state developer in 2004 after it sat vacant for a number of years. The developer expanded the footprint and added a third floor and eight guest rooms. The new establishment became the Anchor Tavern. The problem? The third floor blocked the neighbor’s view of the beach. The neighbors filed complaints. The Anchor Tavern was properly permitted and the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals sided with the developer. So what can a neighborhood do? Organize a boycott and decorate their yards with signs that read “Boycott the Anchor.” The Anchor began to fail.
The original developer sold the Anchor after just two years. In 2006 a local entrepreneur traded a house he owned in Oceanside for the down payment on the building and financed the rest of the $1.7 million asking price. The Anchor boycott continued - the signs did not come down - despite the new owner’s ties to the community.
So the frustrated new owner turned the restaurant into a strip club. Now the neighbors really had something to complain about! But the strip club failed too. The club closed, the building went on the market, and the bank foreclosed. It was then leased by another seemingly more likable local businessman and the six-year boycott ended. After a few years as The Schooner Inn and Guesthouse it became the Three Arch Inn and the Current Café & Lounge.
Visit Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint & Lighthouse
From Oceanside, the Cape Meares Lighthouse and Viewpoint is about an 8-minute drive up the Cape Meares Loop Road. Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1938 as a refuge and breeding ground for seabirds and other marine and coastal wildlife. At only 38 feet tall the Cape Meares lighthouse is recognized as the shortest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast but its light can be seen for 21 miles out to sea. This is due in part to the fact that the lighthouse is situated on a bluff 200 feet above the ocean.
We had a lively tour of the diminutive lighthouse by a witty and animated docent. The lighthouse was built in 1889. The lighthouse lens was a premier-quality, kerosene-powered Fresnel lens made in Paris. It was shipped around Cape Horn, up the west coast to Cape Meares. It was then hauled 217 feet up the cliff by a wooden crane. The lighthouse operated until 1963. During the tour we learned more local lore. In 2010 two drunken jackasses made their way down a blocked maintenance road to the lighthouse and shot out 15 windows, doing $50,000 dollars worth of damage to the century-old Fresnel lens. The men were eventually identified and tried and ordered to pay a fine and serve three 16-day jail terms over three years. Each jail term began on December 27, which coincided with the date of the vandalism (and the start of the men's winter break from college). The Fresnel lens is slated to be repaired in 2025, 15 years later.
After touring the lighthouse, we walked to the "Octopus Tree"—Indians called it the Council Tree—a sitka spruce now with six candelabra limbs (it used to have eight) and a fifty-foot circumference, featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not.
Measuring 100 feet tall and 14 feet across at its base, the Octopus Tree is much larger than its neighbors but its strange shape is what makes it stand out. Rather than a central trunk, six thick limbs radiate out from a central hub like the tentacles of an octopus.
A short walk past the Octopus Tree one stumbles upon a spectacular viewpoint with sweeping views of the Oregon Coast.
Agates. (Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)
We got take out samosas from Naveen's Bayside Market & Deli in Netarts for lunch. Naveen's is the closest convenience store to Oceanside. It's where you go to buy milk. And oddly enough, samosas.
We spent the rest of the afternoon combing the beach for agates and jasper. Seemingly, the most popular spot for agate hunting on the North Oregon Coast is the Oceanside Beach State Recreation Site. Tunnel Beach, on the other (north) side of Oceanside Beach, is especially popular.
I can’t say I knew what an agate was before our trip to Oceanside. And after Googling for more information, I’m still not sure what an agate is. That’s because they are so similar to other rocks in the microcrystalline family, like jasper. Geologists define an agate as a variety of chalcedony, a microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline form of quartz, meaning they have crystals too small to be seen with the naked eye.
Agates can be many different colors, have patterns and banding, inclusions, and degrees of translucence. According to my not-thorough research, traces of iron, manganese, titanium, and chromium oxides create the stone's coloration. I am not sure how many true agates I found. I mostly picked up rocks that seemed translucent. I read you can tell an agate from other beach rocks by its translucence. Hold it up to a light and you’ll be able to see it glow. When you see an agate in wet gravel, it will be the one that looks like it’s lit from within. I did not check my findings for banding, also a standard characteristic of agates. So some of the rocks I plucked from the surf might be quartz. I also picked up green and red rocks with a waxy surface. I thought these might be jasper. Jasper is not translucent. But it looks great, especially when wet.
Why are agates and jasper collected by anyone? They were formed millions of years ago in volcanic rock. Which is kind of fun. One website about agates stated, “You’re not just holding a stone—you’re holding time.” Agates and jasper are renowned for being hard and durable and taking an exceptional polish and were often used in making jewelry. And they are said to have mystical and talismanic properties. Supposedly, for centuries, agates have been used for grounding and calming energy, protection, clarity and stability, and emotional healing. One more piece of trivia that I learned: people who comb the beach for agates and other stones are called Rock Hounds.
Riley rockhounding in a cave on Tunnel Beach.
An agate (?) in the rough.
Some of the agates and jasper we brought home to Connecticut in our luggage.
Not a plate of agates. It's Dungeness crab mac & cheese.
Saturday night we ate at a pub in neighboring Netarts called The Schooner. Our Schooner fare included Dungeness crab mac & cheese, steelhead trout, fish and chips and summer vegetable Napoleon.
Sunday 5/11 - Tunnel Beach
Sunday 5/11 - Tunnel Beach
Sunday was Mother's Day so we brought Becky to a fancy Mother's Day Brunch. Rather, we brought her to a brew pub that served breakfast. Sunday was the first rainy day of the trip. We drove south to the massive Pelican Brewery in Pacific City at Cape Kiwanda Beach. Pelican Brewery has four locations in Oregon. This location probably didn't exist the last time we were at Cape Kiwanda. We all had a lovely breakfast, except for Jessica, who didn't get her breakfast at all (she got someone else's). Before the restaurant could remedy the error, Jessica had to leave for Portland and a poetry reading she was featured in. However, we all got to enjoy the pub's mix-gender, multi-stall restroom.
Tunnel Beach
We ventured to Tunnel Beach at low tide both Saturday and Sunday afternoon to explore the rocks and caves and hunt for agates and jasper. Saturday was a mix of sun and clouds. Sunday was blowing rain. On Sunday, my nose ran and my eyes watered so badly I could barely see and my hands went numb from the cold. Most of the photos here were made on Saturday.
How do you get to Tunnel Beach from Oceanside Beach? You guessed it. There’s a tunnel. The tunnel originally opened in 1926, dug under a promontory named Maxwell Point. The tunnel is 90 feet long and passes 191 feet below the top of Maxwell Point. It begins as concrete and transitions to the headland’s natural rock.
Maxwell Point and the entrance to the tunnel.
Riley entering the tunnel from Oceanside Beach. There is visible erosion on the promontory above.
Inside the tunnel that connects the two beaches. During very, very low tides you can walk around the promontory instead of using the tunnel.
There was a long stretch of time that Oceanside's famed tunnel was not accessible. In 1979 a massive landslide covered the entrance to the tunnel. Then, in 1999 when El Nino storms rattled the Oregon coast, a series of tempests cleared out the tunnel entrance. State park workers took care of the rest, as did other storms providing access once again to the secluded beaches to the north - Tunnel Beach and Lost Boy Beach.
Maxwell Point, a 258-foot bluff and popular launching pad for hang gliders and paragliders.
Maxwell Point featured various hotels over the years. The Viewpoint Motel atop Maxwell Point was demolished in 1968 and replaced by House on the Hill Motel in 1969. The last incarnation was called the Clifftop Inn, which is now closed and for sale. We drove up to check it out. The mini headland suffers from visible erosion. There is a possibility that any hotel on Maxwell Point could slide into the sea. Becky thought it would make a great glamping location - every few years you could move the tents away from the encroaching cliff. It's listed at 2.9 million.
The view from Tunnel Beach is different from the view from Oceanside Beach. On the land side, there are several caves. On the water side, there are a smattering of sea stacks.
The guardian of forever time portal from the classic Star Trek episode "City on the Edge of Forever" (1967).
Tunnel Beach goes by a number of names, including Star Trek Beach, because an arch rock formation looked like one featured on the original Star Trek TV series. In 2004 the arch crumbled into the sea. The arch supposedly resembled the time travel portal in a Star Trek episode named City on the Edge of Forever.
There is another beach north of Tunnel Beach called Lost Boy Beach. What a great name! Erosion has made this beach very exclusive. Several times a year, you might be able to reach Lost Boy Beach by foot at a very, very low tide.
Sunday night we ate in one of Oceanside’s three cafes, Roseanna’s. Roseanna’s Cafe is Oceanside’s only restaurant that stays open past 3 p.m. Not a.m. Three in the afternoon.
Roseanna’s used to be Oceanside Grocery. In 1982 it became Roseanna's Cafe. It’s a small place and does not take reservations. We sat next to a window with quite the view. At Roseanna’s I got to have the halibut cheeks that were advertised but unavailable at the Ancora restaurant in Vancouver. In fact, everyone had halibut cheeks, which came with a steaming baked potato. This ended up being my favorite meal of the trip.
Monday 5/12 - On the Road Again - Rockaway, Manzanita and Cannon Beach
Monday 5/12 - On the Road Again - Rockaway, Manzanita and Cannon Beach
Monday
After a breakfast sandwich from the Current Cafe, we packed up our stuff, including pounds of rocks, and headed north on a slow ride home to Milwaukie. Our first stop was the town of Rockaway. We stopped in Rockaway to visit the Rockaway Big Tree - another iconic Oregon tree. Oregon should have a Tree Hall of Fame. This western red cedar can be found in a preserve off U.S. 101, near Rockaway’s main drag and beach.
The Rockaway Big Tree. The tree is 154 feet tall and roughly 49 feet in circumference at its base.
The tree is said to measure 154 feet tall and roughly 49 feet in circumference at its base. It’s found inside the 46-acre Rockaway Beach Old Growth Cedar Preserve, a swampy patch of land where skunk cabbage grows prolifically. The hike to Rockaway Big Tree was once a ground trail through a lush, swampy Sitka Spruce and hemlock forest. However, as is the case with many famous trees, the roots and shrubs surrounding the big tree began to suffer from heavy foot traffic. Now, an elevated wooden boardwalk trail circles and protects the giant tree, guiding visitors through the diverse regional flora. The cedar is one heck of a twisted and gnarly tree, with unique growths and forms on all sides.
Someone described Manzanita as Cannon Beach’s laid back little cousin. We walked on the flat, sandy 7-mile-long Neakahnie Beach which was practically empty. I saw a decomposing seal and a fat-tire bicycle rider on the beach. The man riding the bike was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit. I wondered if he had escaped from prison.
A discarded whale condom on Neakahnie Beach.
Our next stop was just north of Rockaway, the town of Manzanita. Riley and Jessica got engaged on this beach a few years back, so this beach has special meaning for them. Lore has it that famed Oregon governor Oswald West was so inspired by Manzanita’s landscape that in 1913 he declared that all of Oregon’s beaches should always remain free and open to the public. Manzanita was developed as a tourist attraction in the early 1900s, just like Oceanside. But today there’s a world of difference between the two towns. Manzanita is a commercialized beach town with bistros, pubs and fine-dining establishments. There are clothing boutiques and craft and art galleries. There is a bookstore, bakery and a gourmet grocer. There are multiple T-Shirt and souvenir shops. It felt like an old-school resort town.
Cannon Beach 2018.
Cannon Beach 2025.
After we were done walking we drove just a little farther north to Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach may be Oregon’s most famous beach town. It once made National Geographic's top 100 list of the most beautiful places in the world.
We ate lunch at the Cannon Beach Hardware and Public House, otherwise known as The Screw and Brew. This establishment is literally part hardware store and part brew pub. We were last at the Screw and Brew in 2018 and we ordered the same thing this time around: fish and chips made with halibut. After lunch we walked across the street and down to the beach and tried to replicate a photo we took in 2018 with Haystack Rock in the background.
5/12 & 51/3 - Home
5/12 & 51/3 - Home
Even though Riley has lived on the West Coast for years, he is still a Celtics fan.
Scenes from The Goonies movie were shot at Cannon Beach.
We made it back to Milwaukie in time to watch the fourth game of the NBA semi-finals between the Celtics and Knicks. The Celtics lost.
After the game, we watched parts of The Goonies, a goofy but very popular, kid-friendly movie from 1985 which was partially shot in Astoria and Cannon Beach.
We got up around 3 a.m. the next morning to catch an Uber for the airport and a very early flight home.
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