Having milked Newport and wanting more, we drove north on the scenic 101.

We found a lovely beach, and the kids got thoroughly soaked!

I realized that I hadn’t actually been “in” the Pacific yet (due to the wind and c-c-cold temperatures), so I jumped right in…

…well, up to my toes, at least!

After talking with a lovely Messianic Jewish couple, we continued up the 101, donning dry duds.  We saw many quaint seaside villages, where commercialization had not reared its head.  Refreshingly interesting.

And just as many beautiful ocean views.

 

Even wild berries!  (Yes, folks!  That IS a hazardous Cliff you see in the background!)

More times than not, the road veered inland, where we took in settings of dairy and logging country.

Our destination?  Garibaldi.  A small fishing village right on the bay. (Do you see their “G” in white up on the tree-covered hill?)

I loved this place from the minute we arrived.  How could I help it?  They welcomed us with free s’mores!  This also won points from the kids.

Take a look at our campsite’s view!  It felt so good to be there.

After s’mores we took a walk around town and wound up at the dock, where the boys & Cliff made plans to go crabbing the next day.

We even  took in a cloud-covered sunset closer to home.

They had a memorable time crabbing, or at least I hope they did.  Because they only took 1 picture!  And I don’t have it!

We visited a local church the next morning.  It reminded us of New Covenant Fellowship back in the good ol’ days in Trafalgar!  We miss you, Don & Jenny Sue!

That evening, we tried dinner at a taqueria, sampling a variety of eats & drinks.  It was a fun family time.

We typically steer clear of tourist traps.  We learned our lesson from Wall Drug.  However, we had heard so much hoopla at the RV park about this place, we succumbed to “peer pressure” and went back up the road to a town we had already passed.  Mostly because of the promise of really good ice cream.  The Tillamook Cheese Factory.

Although I still don’t understand all the hullaballoo, we did have an enjoyable time there.

The line was crazy-long.

And the “factory tour” amounted to some windows that you could look through at their setup, with some token placards telling this fact or the other.  That, and plenty of opportunity to buy all of their products!

But the ice cream made everything all better!  Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Marionberry, Strawberry, Oregon Hazelnut & Salted Caramel, Butter Pecan, Tillamook Mudslide, Peanut Butter Chocolate, and Butterscotch.  If this were an interactive website, I’d let you match up which Bird you think ate which flavor(s)!  And if you guess them all correctly, we’d send you your own waffle cone!

But it’s not…so we’ll just make you drool while we eat ours!

As long as we’re making you jealous, I really also need to mention that the weather here is absolutely gorgeous!  While we read news stories about an impending heat wave in the midwest, we enjoyed PERFECT weather.  (Although I am having fun teasing you, I really did feel bad for you.  Sorry you had to go through it.)

The next morning I relied on the campground’s slow-but-free wifi to upload pictures for our Idaho, Oregon, and Ocean posts.  I had written them while we were still in Newport, but didn’t have the data on my phone to upload all the photos.  (BTW, that is also the reason that I am not posting THIS post until now.  Our internet connection has been terrible!)  It was a lot of work.  You can thank me later.  🙂  Or maybe you won’t, since I had ice cream and you didn’t.  😉

Anyhoo, whether you thank me or not, I very much enjoyed reliving our memories & sharing them with you.

Garibaldi was one of those places to which we would like to travel and “settle in” for a month or so.  A homey town, not touristy.

We took off after uploading pictures & headed up the coast for more ocean escapades…