We headed South this morning towards Canon Beach.  On the way, we stopped at Ecola State Park, where we could see the lighthouse known as Terrible Tilly:

Tilly is three miles offshore, and was staffed and operated until the late 50s:

Looking from Ecola northwards, we see Crescent beach and Canon Beach in the distance:

We decided to hike down to Crescent Beach from Ecola.  The coastal forest is very lush:

Examining a banana slug:

Crescent Beach was beautiful in the mist, and we found many, many whole Sand Dollars, something I don’t remember ever finding as a child.

There were interesting sea caves at the north end of the beach:

Marine life abounded:

The kids poked at the anemones to observe them retract their tentacles:

The kids found and old rope for swinging:

The fog had cleared quite a bit by the time we headed back:

Here’s the hike.  We were out at low tide, so on the map it looks like we were walking in the water:

 

That afternoon, we walked though Canon Beach’s quint downtown and built sand castles on the beach:

Tonight we’re camped on State Forest land outside of Nehalem.

  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.