Cannon Beach, Oregon October 15-18, 2024

Arch Cape – Day 2

Today we visited Arch Cape.  This is a very small town just south of Cannon Beach, and it holds a huge place in my mom’s life.  In the late 1940s into the 1950s, my grandfather, an Electrical Engineer with Bonneville in Portland, built a family beach house in southern Arch Cape.  Although the house was sold before I was born, I did want to see if I could find it if it still existed.  With the aid of Goggle Maps and Goggle Earth, I was able to pinpoint the area before we left.  Mom couldn’t remember the address, but I did find old pictures of my mom and my grandparents in that area.

When Dad and I had talked about Astoria, he had mentioned that logging was a big deal on the Columbia River.  He had said that logs were floated down the river then rafted together, but many ended up in the Pacific Ocean.  These logs ended up as driftwood up and down the coast.  In Arch Cape, they ended up piled up on the beach next to the cliff.  It was called the ‘Boneyard’, and my grandfather would often get his firewood for the beach house from the pile. The pictures below are of my grandparents at the Boneyard at Arch Cape.

So today, Lee and I headed for the area of Arch Cape, near the cliff base, where my mom’s family had their beach house.  We found the area, but I’m not sure which house it was.  I’ll have to check with Mom when I get home.  We explored the beach, and really enjoyed the mild, sunny weather.  The area still looked much the same, but the Boneyard is no more.  Now it is a pile of slate rock, and the driftwood is gone.  But the area is stunning, and we spent a lot of time on the beach, watching the waves.

While we were looking for the house, the gravel road we were on doubled back under the highway as it rose up onto the bluff.  I was horrified to see that the pilings the highway was built on were wood, and looked to have been there a long time.  It still was very sturdy, and clearly regularly repaired, but was still unexpected!  It’s amazing how little we understand about the infrastructure that we take for granted.  Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

We spent the rest of the day at various look out points, going to a restaurant that Lee remembered from a trip 30 years ago (Mo’s – the clam chowder and shrimp skewers were amazing!), and poking around Cannon Beach.  We found a great quilt shop and bought salt water taffy at Bruce’s Candy (I remember getting taffy there when I was a child).  When I asked, they said they had opened in 1963.

We also spent quite a bit of time at the Jeffrey Hull Gallery.  Hull is a Cannon Beach artist, and does really amazing work.  I bought stunning piece called ‘On the Fence’.  I’m excited to get it home!

We headed back to the house in the late afternoon.  As we passed a park on the Ecola Creek, it was full of what I first thought were statues.  But in actuality, they were a heard of Elk taking a rest.  There were several cows and calves, and one large bull with a full rack off to the side.  They were all lying down, totally relaxed and for all I know, this is a common occurrence.  Up the hill, there were a few more on the dunes, and one lying against a house!  Fat, relaxed deer I get.  I did not expect to see Elk this way!

We had a fun day, and are really enjoying the incredible weather.  Not very common in mid October!