Tide Pools & Cheddar Cheese

Sunday June 2nd.   Astoria, Oregon

On Saturday morning we drove to Seal Rock Beach to see tide pools and incredible sea stacks (the towering off-shore rocks that give the Oregon Coast its unique and rugged beauty). As with most of the beaches we’ve visited here in the PNW, Seal Rock beach was largely deserted. It is a wonderful gift to be able to wander alone along the shore.

Gizzy loves the beach. He’ll race toward the water and throw himself down using the sand to scratch his back. It’s wonderful to see him happy. He’s been so sad and subdued since Enzo died.

We all enjoyed exploring the countless tide pools, something I’d never seen before. Tide pools are pockets of seawater trapped in depressions on rocky shorelines during low tides.

They are created when the tide recedes, trapping seawater in the depressions. They are abundant with marine line including snails, barnacles, mussels and seaweed. Tide pools are fascinating; each is its own tiny micro universe. On Seal Rock Beach there were hundreds of tide pools- each unique and beautiful.

We eventually returned to Rhoda to spend the afternoon relaxing and doing laundry. Early yesterday we left Newport for Astoria, our last stop in Oregon. Leaving the campground, we ran into a terrible traffic jam, that added an hour to the trip before we even started.

Halfway to Astoria, was Tillamook, the wonderful cheese and ice cream company. It was lunch time, we were hungry and they had a huge parking lot with plenty of space for Rhoda. So we parked and went in. And boy were we happy that we did. Tillamook cafe makes the best grilled cheese sandwich any of us had ever eaten. Three types of melted cheddar cheese on grilled, buttered sourdough bread was exactly what every grilled cheese sandwich should be. The cheese curds and Mac & Cheese were good. The ice cream was top notch.

We were so full  we could barely waddle back to Rhoda. It was a good day…On The Rhoda.