Yesterday we hiked to the top of the big ol' dune at Cape Kiwanda, so today we decided to hike around it. Looking at the dune from the beach makes it seem like the end of the world, but the world (and the beach) does in fact continue on the other side. We decided the best (most fun) way down would be the shear slope. After a bit of slipping and sliding to reach the bottom safely we walked for a few hours up the beach, hopped over some streams, and got the dogs good and exercised.
When we had had our fill of blimps we headed a few more minutes north to the Blue Heron Cheese company. We had some sandwiches, a few cheeses, and ice cream. It was all enjoyable but nothing spectacular. We decided to skip the Tillamook cheese factory as we've heard it can be a bit of a zoo.
We walked to the beach to check out the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale, a four masted steel ship that ran aground in 1906. Time has not been kind to old fella. There isn't much left.
We walked on the beach for most of the evening and watched the razor clam diggers on the hunt. As the tide went out the number of folks out prospecting for clams increased and by the time we left the beach was absolutely packed. Tomorrow we head home!
After beach time we headed back to the campground for some mini golf and pool time! Remy played his particular brand of golf where you have unlimited shots and just try to get the ball in the hole as fast as possible. He declared the course "easy." In the pool Remy did a few swims all the way across the pool.
When we got out of the pool everyone was very hungry so we popped over to Pelican Brewing (across the street from our campground) for an early dinner. Dad had a very interesting cold smoked tri-tip, Remy had chicken strips, and Mom had a monster burger. We also had calamari for an appetizer. No one was hungry after dinner. We went for a second beach walk to try and kickstart the digestive process.
In the morning we headed north, with our first stop being the Tillamook Air Musem. The museum is housed in a huggggggeee hangar specially built to house blimps that were used to patrol coast during World War Two. Blimps were utilized in part because they could stay aloft for a very long time, up to three days, with much lower fuel cost vs. an airplane. Sadly, the only blimp inside was quite a bit smaller than the K-class blimps that the hangar was designed for. Luckily there were lots of other cool airplanes and more inside-the-cockpit exhibits than we had seen at other air museums. You could even sit in a lot of them.
Per our earlier update we had reported that South Beach State Park was the most enormous campground of all time. It only took four days for us to find a bigger one in Fort Stevens State Park. We lodged in beautiful site L41. See if you can find it.
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