Day 4: Leaving the Peninsula and into Oregon

On the morning of the 31st, we both woke up groggy as we'd been kept up most of the morning by the sound of rain on our tent. We really can't complain that we were camping on the coast in a Rainforest for much of our trip and only got light rain one morning, but it still stinks to be wet and camping. And to make matters worse, the mosquitoes were thick even in the rain! So, without so much as a picture of our campsite - it probably was the prettiest place we camped out away from people with the river nearby - we packed up our things and headed down the road. As soon as we hopped in the car, the rain stopped of course. So, we did pause as we hit the edge of the campsite to take a picture of this cute rabbit on the side of the road.

The road taking us back to 101 had a couple of small waterfalls right off the side of the road, so I hopped out quick to take pictures. I'm a sucker for waterfalls, but we didn't have time to go hike around one really, so this got me my waterfall fix.
Next we headed South to Oregon. We stopped in Astoria and drove across the bridge where the Columbia River empties into the Pacific. Steve really wanted to see the bridge, and it was really cool. No pictures unfortunately because the whole time you're driving quickly across and it's over 1,000 ft. long, so good luck getting it all in a picture anyway. Google it though, it's impressive. Or, I guess, Bing it actually. We like Bing and the pictures it has. Totally random, I know.

Anyway, we were going to camp at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon, but it turned out they were full and there are only a couple of places to camp in all of Northwestern Oregon, most others being pretty expensive. So, we decided that as this was to be our last night on our trip and we'd been rained on the night before, we would splurge and find a motel. It turned out being a great idea too, because the Seaside, OR chamber of Commerce had a deal where we got a partial view room right on the beach for $70! This was the view out our window.

We spent most of the afternoon walking around looking at all the neat tourist shops in Seaside, and then went back to our room and made chili dogs in our hotel. (Well, we'd packed more than enough food for the trip, no sense in eating out!) Then, after dinner, we headed down to the beach to let Ellie enjoy the ocean again. We got there just as the sun was setting - talk about beautiful!
So, I have to admit, the whole purpose in spending a day on the coast was not actually just to show it to Ellie or because Steve had never been there. I LOVE the ocean. Like, more than typical. I can sit on a rock at an ocean overlook and just feel peaceful there watching the waves for hours. And, I loved getting to share that with Ellie. There are lots of pictures of the two of us coming up, but that is because I never had the camera while we were there that night - once again, love love love the ocean. I had other things on my mind.That is our hotel behind us on the right side, and Ellie all bundled up for the cooling evening.
Once it got dark - and Ellie started to get chilly, we called it a night. We went back to our room and got to enjoy showers for us and a bath for Ellie, and sleeping on a real bed. I think even Ellie could tell the difference even though she was in her pack and play still, because not one of us stirred till morning. Ellie enjoying what easily became her favorite book in the world during our vacation - There's a Wocket in My Pocket by Dr. Seuss.

Once Ellie was in bed we.... played Skip-bo! But, we also got to enjoy the hotel hot tub during her nap earlier in the day and actually feel like she was secure enough during her nap to not be stuck right outside our door. The hotel - totally worth it for our last night out.