Life Obscura

I absolutely love the Oregon Coast. Growing up first in Portland, and then in Eugene, we were always only a little over an hour away from the coast, and my family definitely took advantage of it. Bandon, Waldport, Florence, Yachats, Newport, Lincoln City - just a few of the wonderful coastal towns Oregon has to offer and that I’ve been lucky enough to visit. Now that I’m located in Seattle, it’s a bit longer of a drive to even get to the northernmost beach towns, but I can safely say the drive is still worth it.

By far one of my favorites is Cannon Beach. It’s smaller, though it’s steadily gotten more attention since the 80s, largely due to the iconic Haystack Rock, the picturesque beaches, and an annual sandcastle contest in the summer. But it is also perfectly charming, in the way a coastal town should be, with a main downtown street full of eclectic little shops selling anything from salt water taffy to alpaca wool accessories and sweaters. Cannon Beach is also perfectly situated to visit the area’s state parks, should you desire something a little more strenuous than strolling the vast beaches.

Now, of course it’s easy to think about visiting the coast during the summer. A bit of heat inland plus endless sunny days, and we all probably daydream about getting away to the waves and the sand. But I have to say, the Oregon Coast is worth a visit any time of year. We recently returned from a weekend away in Cannon Beach at the end of February, and it was glorious. So here’s a few reasons why you shouldn’t let things such as seasons stop you from getting out to beautiful Cannon Beach.

How to Survive a Summer Vacation in Big Cities

Matt and I try to take one big trip each year that doesn’t involve our hometowns. Since we dole out holidays between our families, and find ourselves pretty burnt out travel-wise through springtime, this usually means a summer vacation somewhere in July or August. (My one condition is that we’re home before college football starts!)

Last year, we did a tour of some National Parks down in California, Nevada, and Arizona. So this year, we decided to do something more metropolitan. It turned into a three-city tour of the East Coast: Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. Neither of us had been to the first two cities, and it had been a good ten years since I was in NYC, so it was a really fun trip for us. They are amazingly interesting, historical, and all around cool cities, I highly recommend visiting, and I’ll be posting about them more specifically at a later date.

But.

There were moments in this trip where I struggled to keep my adventurous spirit up. Two straight weeks of sightseeing and exploring is hard enough on one’s stamina, and we were doing it all during a) an extreme heat warning for two out of the three cities we were in, b) a major month for vacationers from all across the globe, and c) a period of construction on so many of the historical places we were visiting that I lost count. This can be seriously hard to surmount if you don’t find ways of accepting, moving on, and even embracing the slightly different plans you’re forced into with these conditions.

One of the best things about Seattle is the myriad of weekend trips available to you. You can fly, train, bus, boat, or drive to so many places in three hours or less. Now that I’ve gotten over my fear of car rental (mostly), I’ve been stocking our free weekends with adventures to PNW destinations.

Recently, those adventures took us to Whidbey Island, which by car was around two hours. We stayed on the northern part of the island, near Oak Harbor, which allowed me to bypass my fear of driving a car onto a ferry and instead enjoy the beautiful scenery of Deception Pass. It’s a simple drive straight up I-5, then cutting west along the 20. You can also get onto the island by taking the ferry at Mukilteo, which is probably best if you are staying somewhere in the southern area of the island.

So in a word, Whidbey Island is wonderful. First off, we lucked out with amazing weather, which helps immensely. Our rental spot was perfect, seriously waterfront, right between the Sound and the Swantown Lake Estuary, so fantastic views from each side of the property. And the island itself offers a combination of beach fronts, hiking trails, small coast towns, and sweeping farmlands that made me swoon.

One of my favorite cities I’ve visited in England has to be Bath. It’s a quick 15 minute train ride from Bristol, located in Somerset near the west coast. Jane Austen aficionados will probably recognize Bath as a oft-mentioned locale in her novels, and I admit that as an Austenite I couldn’t resist the chance to visit. But as I discovered, Bath has much more to offer than fulfillment of my Austen fantasies!

Firstly, Bath is an incredibly picturesque city, so be sure to bring a camera. Most of the buildings, especially those in the city center, are built from Bath Stone, which is slightly golden colored, and large portions of the current city date from the 18th and 19th century, with a distinctly Georgian style throughout the architecture. The light-colored stone contrasts in a lovely way against the rooftops and pavements, which really lends itself to postcard-worthy snapshots.