Today's our 25th Anniversary! Holey smokes, where has the time gone???  Anyway we took any easy start today, no rush to be anywhere other then a 5pm massage and a 7:30pm dinner by the water.  It was a little misty this morning but the day is promising to be a nice one. Haystack looks beautiful being lit by the rising sun in the east instead of complete shadow from the setting sun in the west we saw yesterday. It's amazing how many birds are on that thing! 

We had breakfast at Pig 'N Pancake which is apparently a famous local Pancake House kind of place. It was actually very good and we didn't have to wait too long to be seated.

After breakfast we went right to the in-town fabric store, Center Diamond, for Michelle to browse for new fabrics for her infinite collection of quilt fabrics. Between you and me, all these quilt-aholic fabric store places look alike. I'm told each is unique and special which is why the quilt-aholics must visit every single one of them, but to me they all look alike.  Two minutes of the fabric mayhem was about all I could take, I waited outside polishing my bike while waiting for Michelle to finish perusing the goods.

Before going into Center Diamond we stopped into Icefire Glassworks next door, a working glass blowing studio where we watched the artists created some beautiful pieces from scratch. This was probably the most interesting thing we did this weekend. It's so cool watching the artist cycle through the heating, adding material, heating, shaping process to get the small blobs of glass into beautifully blended works of art.

After the glass studio and fabric fix, we went back to the hotel to gear up for a short afternoon excursion down the coast. We only had a few hours since we had to be back early for our evening plans, so we decided to cruise down to Tillamook, the land of cheese. If you're from the northwest, there isn't a Safeway or QFC you go into where you won't find Tillamook cheese in the dairy isle.

The ride down was really pretty with more woods and ocean smells enveloping your senses as we cruised down Rt 101. We stopped by a really nice scenic overlook where you could see for miles on top of Mt Neahkahnie.

Scenic overlook from Mt Neahkahnie

When we got into Tillamook we stopped in at the Tillmook Cheese Factory, but unfortunately a bus load of tourists and soldiers had just arrived a few minutes before. The ice cream and free sample lines were painfully long so we were only able to take a short walk through a couple of displays and the gift store before we had to head back to get ready for our evening plans. The fresh ice cream looked and smelled awesome, I wish we had the time to get some.

One the way back the gas light came on about 10 miles south of Cannon Beach. I wasn't terrible worried except I didn't remember seeing any gas stations within Cannon Beach proper and the last one we had passed was about 10 miles back. We headed towards the hotel watching for a station but one never appeared. There was a high "gas next exit" sign near Cannon Beach, but there was no station to be found. Michelle is starting to panic because I told her she would need to push is we ran out (hehe, like that is going to happen! - running out I mean). We cruised through all of Cannon Beach looking for a station but none was there. We continued north towards Seaside for another 5 miles or so and still nothing. We finally hit a station a few minutes more up the road where I pulled in still under my own power for a good fill up. We really weren't that low, the tank took 4.6 gallons and it holds 5.2. I probably had another 20 miles left in the tank. No problem at all!

Now we had to get back to the hotel, get cleaned up and head back into town for our massages and dinner. The local "spa" is Cannon Beach Spa. I don't get massages that often, so I was looking forward to this one after yesterday's long ride and today's short excursion. Unfortunately it wasn't very good. It was ok, but not that great. Let's just say I wouldn't go twice.

Michelle had planned our anniversary dinner long before arriving in town. We had reservations at the Wayfarer on the water, about as close as you could get to Haystack without getting wet. The view was fantastic, the food was delicious and the bloody mary's were fabulous. Michelle had steak and I had fish, we shared a coconut cheesecake for dessert and capped it with more of the local Sleepy Monk's coffee. A lovely end to a lovely day on this special day of ours.

Back to the hotel for a good nights rest before tomorrow's wet ride home. Well, at least Friday and Saturday were nice.

We're at Cannon Beach, OR for our anniversary this weekend . We took the motorcycle down which was, errr.... interesting. it started off chilly, then once we crossed the ferry to the peninsula it got colder and wetter. first light drizzle, then light rain, then heavy rain for a short time. We must have been skirting the front 'cause less then an hour later the rain stopped and an hour after that the sun started peeking out.  Rt 101 is a very pretty ride through two lanes rural and wooded areas. You smell the ocean, you smell the tree. It's a pleasant departure from the mountains and farm roads I usually ride.

 
Just made it, last vehicle on the ferry!

 
Typical stretch of rural road on Rt 101

The second half of the ride was quite nice. the scenery was very very pretty and traffic didn't really become a factor until we crossed the Astoria Bridge. Even then it wasn't too bad.

 
Approaching the Astoria Bridge on Rt 101.

Crossing the Astoria Bridge

Settling in to our oceanfront room at The Ocean Lodge it's just beautiful here. With the door open you can hear the waves crashing on the shore and the view of Haystack is incredible.

Our room at the lodge

View of Haystack Rock from our room

After unpacking and getting cleaned up we headed back into town for a little walk around and a light dinner.  Cannon Beach is nice beach town, no restaurant chains here. The food is local, the market is local, even the coffee is local roasted by Sleepy Monk.  We had dinner outside at Bill's Tavern and Brewhouse which has a really nice selection of beers brewed on site. I had a bronze something which was very good with my haddock and chips. Michelle had a seafood medley which she tells me was also very good.

After dinner we got back to the hotel where we walked the beach for a little bit while we drank some wine and I enjoyed a fine cigar.  There are A LOT of people on the beach in the evening, many building bonfires. Even though it was getting windier and colder, people still seemed to really like being on the beach. It's kind of a spiritual thing I think, then nearness to the ocean, the raw power and continuous rumbling sounds of the crashing waves and vastness of the view out to sea.  Just awesome in person.

We got back to the room in time for sunset. A beautiful way to end a nice day which starts our anniversary weekend here at the beach.

Sunset near Haystack Rock.