Woke up this morning and started thinking about the predicted 90 degree weather here in the valley. What do you do when the weather gets hot here? You head for the coast where it’s a bit cooler. So we packed up the car and hit the road. Rather than hit the usual places we’ve been to many times before we decided to head to the north Oregon coast from Newport on north. We headed up Hwy. 99 to Corvallis and then west on Hwy 20 to Newport. The drive was nice despite the constant chatter from the back seat of “Are we there yet?” or “How much farther?” As soon as we hit Newport though we knew the weather would be much different. We could see the fog bank skirting the shoreline and while the wind wasn’t too bad it was definitely cool outside. It was strange to look toward the ocean and see fog and then look inland and see nothing but sunshine. We drove north on Hwy 101 to Agate Beach where we let the kids out to run and play on the beach. They scoured the shore for shells and rocks. We found lots of jellyfish and a sand burrowing crab that we played with. Eventually we put the crab near the water and watched him burrow deep into the sand and disappear. The kids continued to run into the water and let the waves chase them. At one point I wasn’t paying too close attention to the boys and they wandered out a bit toward the waves. A larger wave then they were used to came in and knocked both of them off their feet and tossed them around in the surf a bit. I could see my youngest son floating with a look of pure panic on his face. Keep in mind that the water off the Oregon coast is not a nice warm tropical water. It’s bone chilling icy cold freeze your arse off water and both boys were now soaked by it. I raced into the water myself and hoisted them both out. The older boy wanted to keep playing in it but the youngest was crying and saying he didn’t want to go to the beach any longer. I got them back up to the car and we dried them off and changed clothes. Back on the road we continued north through Depoe Bay to Lincoln City and then further north through Cloverdale, Beaver and Pleasant Valley to Tillamook where we were going to stop at the Air Museum but first stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we got to see the production floor of a large cheese making facility. The place was packed to the hilt but the kids wanted ice cream. To get the ice cream you had to wait in a long line to order and pay. Then once you got your order receipt you had to shuffle over to another line where you had to wait to actually get your ice cream. The problem was that none of the lines was clearly identified so we waited a long time in the wrong line and had to then go to the back of the correct line. By the time we got out of there it was too late to go to the museum as they were closing in 30 minutes. Oh well…I guess we’ll save that for another time. We decided to keep driving north since this was new territory for us and stumbled upon a small town named Garibaldi. This weekend happened to be Garibaldi Days and they had some special trains in town. The first thing you notice when you enter the town is the tall smoke stack which is all that remains of the Whitney Mill built in 1921. The kids also quickly spotted the train which turned out to be the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. They were in the process of moving some engines on the track so the boys really enjoyed that. The engine was a 1910 Heisler Steam Locomotive and we watched them fill it up with water from a fire hydrant. There was also a non-functional Polar Express train engine there which the kids instantly recognized from the movie. We also got to see the Great Northern (pictured) which was exciting. By this time it was getting late in the day so we headed for home. All in all an exciting day with the family. On to the next big adventure.
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