Sweet Melissa: Day trip to the coast (August 21st)

While Chris was gone, I decided that I REALLY needed to get out of the house. Being here alone was just too...lonely. Haha! I saw that the weather was going to be sweltering. Well, by my standards anyway. I thought that a trip to the coast was in order. Initially, I had thought that I would pack a bag and pack the dog and we would just drive over and see where the road took us. I knew that I wanted to hit Cannon Beach, since I have so many fond memories of Spring Break spent there when I was a young one, so popped that destination into the GPS and away we went. The drive over was pretty okay. Got to Cannon Beach and realized that the hoards of people were NOT what I wanted to be dealing with. Not. At. All. What were they DOING there??!?! It was the middle of the week for cripes sake! Made a quick poop stop (for the dog, not me) and hit the road again-more than a little disappointed. Decided to head south for awhile, maybe even all the way to Lincoln City! Yeah! I like it there, that would be fun! Well, got barely south and pulled into a parking lot for a place called Arcadia Beach. There was no day pass fee and parking spots available-so basically it was perfect. Hiked down to the beach and let the beast run.

She had SO much fun. She is the best girl in the whole world :)

And brave too! She climbed right up on this big ass rock! Hard to tell, but it really was big.

I only realized way later that I captured this magic moment of giant tongue.

Apparently, there was work being done on the bridge at Astoria. Luckily, I got stuck right at the very top. Ha!Normally, this wouldnt bother me, but the bridge over the Skagit collapsing is still QUITE fresh on my mind. YIKES!

Anyway, after Arcadia Beach, I decided maybe I should head North toward Longbeach because I read about some dog friendly hotels up that way. The farther north I went, the more I thought I was being silly and should probably just go home and not waste any more money than I already had.

Let me tell you something. A little secret that Ive been telling anyone who will listen. The drive from Astoria to Longview is absolute magic. So beautiful. Im in LOVE.

The side of the bridge that is closest to Washington. My camera couldnt even capture what the tall part looked like from the distance I was.

So at fork in the road, I decided to call it and head back toward home. There are about a billion little towns along the river. And my GOD the drive is gorgeous. So pretty. I couldve stopped along the road so many time, but wouldve never made it home. We did pull over to get some snaps of this pretty little spot on the river.