Beach Weekend

This past weekend I was supposed to be on a plane and headed to Boise to visit a few friends and shoot photos.  At the last minute my plans changed and I found myself with 2 days of nothing I had to do and no where I had to be (hello heaven!).  After talking with my friend Ryan, who also found himself with a rare weekend of nothing planned, we decided to load up the car and head out of town.

In true vagabond style, we left without a plan but prepared for anything.  We had sleeping bags, healthy snacks, beer, water, a full tank of gas and great music pumping through the speakers.  We also had a positive attitude and excitement about "running away."

A fellow Portland Blogger, Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking, recently posted about her own trip to the coast which included a stop in Astoria to visit the Goonies house.  Ryan and I are huge nerds and even bigger Goonies fans, so when we started heading that direction I suggested we find the house ourselves.

It was very cool!  We stood and stared at the house recounting our favorite scenes from the movie and took in the great view of the ocean from their driveway.  After getting our 'Goonies fix' we drove into town and hunted down the building that was used for the opening scene in the jail.  They've turned the building into a film museum which cost money to enter so we just took a few pics outside and moved on.

We walked around the docks for a bit and listened to the Sea Lions bark at one another.  There were a ton of them out sun bathing and we were able to stand fairly close to them and just watch them for a little while.  It was pretty cool, and I'm not gonna lie, kinda scary.  I don't like to disrupt animals in the wild and feel like I'm completely imposing on them, so I like to keep my distance.  We watched for just a few minutes and then left them to it.

After googling "things to do in Astoria," I found that one of the most popular attractions is the Astoria Column.  It's a tower that sits at the top of Coxcomb Hill and allows for a 360 degree view of the surrounding area with mountains, ocean and city lying in all directions.  It's 164 steps to get to the top and totally worth it.  If you're ever in Astoria, I highly recommend checking it out!

*We also drove past a little market called the "Peter Pan Market & Deli."  We didn't eat there, but I had to get my picture with it.... it's Peter Pan after all!*

After thoroughly exploring Astoria, we jumped in the car and headed south on the 101 towards Cannon Beach.  The weather all weekend was GLORIOUS and I was really excited about walking on the beach with my beloved Haystack Rock in full view with blue skies.  There's something magical about Cannon Beach and I always feel immediately grounded and re-centered once my toes touch the sand.  While walking along the coastline we stumbled upon someone's drawing in the sand.  I couldn't make out the names and additional words, but the word "Happy" was clear as day and I took it as a sign.


All-in-all it was a deliciously, glorious weekend and I'm so happy that everything worked out the way it did.  We enjoyed our time and I'm hopeful we can "run away" again soon.