When I think about living on or near the ocean, I always thought it would be in my home state of California.  But that will likely never happen unless I win a substantial lottery.  The average price for a decently sized home on most of the Pacific coast in the Golden State is roughly $2 million. That’s not exactly what we have something readily available in our piggy banks.

So, for a while, I thought about looking at the Oregon Coast, which is essentially anywhere from Astoria to Coos Bay. But some places are more scenic than others, and we were lucky to see a portion of it. Starting in Astoria, we headed to Seaside, Cannon Beach and Tillamook. While I loved visiting here, I’m not sure I would be ready to move here for good. Yet I am glad that we finally visited this incredible corner of the Pacific Northwest coast, after spending time in Seattle and Olympic National Park.

If you are coming from Portland, as we did, you’ll go on a seemingly circuitous route that goes well into southern Washington State and skirts the downstream Columbia River. Once you drive west, the scenery becomes more picturesque and before long, you are at the same spot where Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea found the Pacific shore.

Astoria

This scenic town sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, where it widens out to a four-plus-long opening with the Astoria-Megler Bridge, a cantilever and truss structure, crossing over it. Some cruise ships have made Astoria a port stop along the Pacific coast. We didn’t spend much time here, except for Pier 39, a small retail enclave that’s connected to the mainland by a drivable rough wooden plank boardwalk, where we walked around for a break. Perhaps the other notable point of interest here is the nearly 100-year-old Astoria Column, a 126-foot tower perched on a hill above downtown and depicting scenes from Oregon history.

Seaside

About 30 miles from Astoria is this small destination, which is mainly known for its aquarium. While we didn’t see it, we did walk along the beach that was shrouded in otherworldly fog, then lifted as we spent time there. The tides here were quite surprising as well. From the edge of the beach to the shoreline, it took about a quarter to a third of a mile over increasingly warm sand. Another thing I noticed here was the abundance of crab and sand dollar fossils and some small washed-up jellies. If we had more time, I would have liked walking along their pathway.

Cannon Beach

An even smaller community than Seaside but with more luxe residences, this town is known for its landmark Haystack Rock, a domed basalt behemoth that is over 230 feet high and houses bird colonies and tidepools that visitors can see at low tide.  During our time there, the waters were too high for us to view them, but I was still impressed at the sight of this famous natural feature. Since this was around our lunchtime, we chose the closest restaurant to the beach, Mo’s, known for its clam chowder, which lived up to its hype. They also had reasonably priced cocktails.

Tillamook

This farming community has become synonymous with dairy, first with cheese and now with all things milk-related. What was once a small one-barn operation has evolved into a primary industry that employs a significant percentage of the town’s population.  The large Tillamook Creamery complex manufactures all its products, with a self-guided tour that clearly illustrates the cheesemaking process. Visitors can then go to the gift shop and buy dairy foods and merchandise or have a repast with cheese- or ice cream-forward food items.