I wrote this post months ago, after our road trip to Oregon at the end of the summer. In the time since then I shot several weddings and countless portrait sessions when the busy fall season hit hard, and so it never ended up on the blog. But though the season is rapidly turning to winter now, I must finally share all about our Labor Day weekend getaway to Portland and the Oregon Coast, because it was the perfect end to our summer. Enjoy the sunny photo dump :)
We’ve been dying to get to the coast since we moved to Washington, and when I heard so many raves about Cannon Beach and the Oregon Coast, plus the fact that Cannon Beach is dog friendly, I decided that we had to get out there the first chance we got over the summer.
We first drove into Portland and stayed our first night there so that we would have the chance to explore the city. The first thing on our agenda was to hit the Portland Saturday Market, which was a good call. I love walking around street markets and seeing all the clothing, jewelry, and artwork, plus the food options were boundless. We spent the afternoon with our bellies full of street market food and refreshments in hand, walking around downtown Portland. Then we drove across the river to check out a dog park I read about, and let Kirby stretch his legs after a long day in the car. For dinner, we went to the food trucks and 12th and Hawthorne, per a friend’s suggestion, and sampled all kinds of interesting food options. It was so fun to sit around a fire pit outside with food from four different places. If you’re looking for a fun food truck experience in Portland, you need to go there. The most adventurous thing I tried was a sweet sandwich from the grilled PB&J truck and it was heaven.
The next morning I was perusing for brunch options before we planned to head out to Cannon Beach and happened to come across a New Mexican food restaurant about 15 minutes from where we were staying. Now when you come from New Mexico you become skeptical of any place that claims to have real New Mexican chile and dishes, so we weren’t sure what we were getting into. But the lure of an authentic green chile breakfast burrito AND sopapillas was too good to resist. Such things are near impossible to find up here in the PNW so we went for it, and I’m so glad we did! When we arrived, there was a chile roaster roaring outside and the whole place smelled like home in the fall, when the green chile is harvested. We had breakfast “tacos” (really breakfast burritos) and juevos rancheros and sopapillas with honey, and it almost felt like we were right back at home.
It was a good omen for the rest of the day. We stopped at the rose garden on our way out, then headed straight for Cannon Beach, where we spent the rest of the day until the sun set. I wish we could have had even one more night there, because the sunset was so spectacular. It’s not something you’re quite satisfied seeing just once. After we walked past the famous Haystack Rock we found a more secluded spot on the beach and let Kirby run free with his ball. As the sun lowered the tide went out so far it felt like you could walk an extra mile outward before reaching the shoreline. The wet sand reflected the rocks and the sunset and it felt like wherever it was we were, it couldn’t be real. Kirby is officially a fan of the beach. He had the time of his life bounding after his ball, running through the tide pools and across the sand. He was the filthiest and happiest I’ve ever seen him.
On our way back home, we drove along the scenic highway along the coast through Astoria and into Washington. We made a pit stop in Astoria to check out the Fort Stevens State Park and the wreck of the Peter Iredale ship and climb the Astoria Column.
I just can’t wait to get back on another Oregon Coast road trip. These are some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen, and the fact that we can bring our pup with us = WINNING. There is just not enough time in three days to see it all, but I’m glad we finally got our first taste. We’ll be back!
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I wrote this post months ago, after our road trip to Oregon at the end of the summer. In the time since then I shot several weddings and countless portrait sessions when the busy fall season hit hard, and so it never ended up on the blog. But though the season is rapidly turning to winter now, I must finally share all about our Labor Day weekend getaway to Portland and the Oregon Coast, because it was the perfect end to our summer. Enjoy the sunny photo dump :)
We’ve been dying to get to the coast since we moved to Washington, and when I heard so many raves about Cannon Beach and the Oregon Coast, plus the fact that Cannon Beach is dog friendly, I decided that we had to get out there the first chance we got over the summer.
We first drove into Portland and stayed our first night there so that we would have the chance to explore the city. The first thing on our agenda was to hit the Portland Saturday Market, which was a good call. I love walking around street markets and seeing all the clothing, jewelry, and artwork, plus the food options were boundless. We spent the afternoon with our bellies full of street market food and refreshments in hand, walking around downtown Portland. Then we drove across the river to check out a dog park I read about, and let Kirby stretch his legs after a long day in the car. For dinner, we went to the food trucks and 12th and Hawthorne, per a friend’s suggestion, and sampled all kinds of interesting food options. It was so fun to sit around a fire pit outside with food from four different places. If you’re looking for a fun food truck experience in Portland, you need to go there. The most adventurous thing I tried was a sweet sandwich from the grilled PB&J truck and it was heaven.
The next morning I was perusing for brunch options before we planned to head out to Cannon Beach and happened to come across a New Mexican food restaurant about 15 minutes from where we were staying. Now when you come from New Mexico you become skeptical of any place that claims to have real New Mexican chile and dishes, so we weren’t sure what we were getting into. But the lure of an authentic green chile breakfast burrito AND sopapillas was too good to resist. Such things are near impossible to find up here in the PNW so we went for it, and I’m so glad we did! When we arrived, there was a chile roaster roaring outside and the whole place smelled like home in the fall, when the green chile is harvested. We had breakfast “tacos” (really breakfast burritos) and juevos rancheros and sopapillas with honey, and it almost felt like we were right back at home.
It was a good omen for the rest of the day. We stopped at the rose garden on our way out, then headed straight for Cannon Beach, where we spent the rest of the day until the sun set. I wish we could have had even one more night there, because the sunset was so spectacular. It’s not something you’re quite satisfied seeing just once. After we walked past the famous Haystack Rock we found a more secluded spot on the beach and let Kirby run free with his ball. As the sun lowered the tide went out so far it felt like you could walk an extra mile outward before reaching the shoreline. The wet sand reflected the rocks and the sunset and it felt like wherever it was we were, it couldn’t be real. Kirby is officially a fan of the beach. He had the time of his life bounding after his ball, running through the tide pools and across the sand. He was the filthiest and happiest I’ve ever seen him.
On our way back home, we drove along the scenic highway along the coast through Astoria and into Washington. We made a pit stop in Astoria to check out the Fort Stevens State Park and the wreck of the Peter Iredale ship and climb the Astoria Column.
I just can’t wait to get back on another Oregon Coast road trip. These are some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve seen, and the fact that we can bring our pup with us = WINNING. There is just not enough time in three days to see it all, but I’m glad we finally got our first taste. We’ll be back!