Spring Break 2021: Part I - Olympia and the North Oregon Coast

We left for our Spring Break Trip the day before Easter, so we held our own hunt for Easter eggs and the kids' Easter baskets before starting our drive (see previous post). We stopped off at a drive thru Easter Activity in Bellevue then stopped for lunch at an Easter Carnival in Fife. The line was long, so we figured we'd eat and let the kids play at a nearby playground while we ate. 

The line was smaller by the time we were done, but it was still pretty long. There were multiple carnival games like the activity we'd attended at Timberlake Church in Redmond, but they structured it as one big line for everything instead of multiple lines for multiple activities. This meant our time to get through it was about 90 minutes. If I'd known how long it would end up being, I certainly would have opted out of it, but at least the kids had fun.

After that we booked a hotel in Olympia partly because we were exhausted and partly because we saw it had a pool. We checked the reviews to make sure the pool was open then were disappointed to learn that all pool reservations for that night and the next morning were already booked. This hotel limits the entire pool area to just one room at a time. We probably would have driven further that day if we'd realized we wouldn't be able to swim. 

At least staying in Olympia gave us more time to explore Tumwater Falls the next morning, and the kids had a great time playing and exploring there. The falls were only a 6 minute drive from our hotel. Here we are at the upper falls.

The kids really liked all these little ephemeral falls we saw on the side of the path while walking down to the Lower Falls.

The spray at the Lower Falls is pretty intense, even from as far as we are here. The last time Oscar and I came during the spring we couldn't even come down this far because the spray was so strong it made the viewpoint unsafe. I'm glad we got to go down to it this time. 

On the walk back we saw middle Tumwater Falls. I'm really happy with the great pictures Oscar took of me with the kids this trip.

At the park entrance there are these two boat structures to play on. One of them has a plank to walk out on that's actually a fair distance off the ground. Since they like the show "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" we had Oscar pretend to be Captain Hook and make us "walk the plank." The kids had so much fun walking the plank it would have been worth coming down to Olympia just for that! That plus the small hike got them nice and worn out for another 90 minutes in the car before we reached our next stop. We find we get less fighting and complaining on road trips when the kids have good opportunities to use up their energy. 

Our next stop was Beaver Falls, which was the only waterfall this trip Oscar and I had never seen before. We'd thoroughly explored most of the best Oregon waterfalls before having kids, but this one had eluded us. We'd always visited friends in Portland, OR or Cathlament, WA on our way to and from the coast, so this waterfall had always been too far out of our way to make the trip worth it. This time we made it our main waterfall priority. 

It's a beautiful waterfall that could really use better signage. It was difficult to figure out where exactly the trail started from the parking area. You can't see it because there's a bit of a steep drop off that isn't obvious unless you see someone coming up the trail. That's how we figured it out, and we had to direct a few people we saw heading off in the wrong direction we'd first tried. 

Allison struggled a bit with the steepness. The hike was fairly short and not particularly difficult, but she went very slow downhill because she was scared of falling. Even on the trail there was a point where I couldn't tell where it continued. Everywhere I looked seem to lead to a dropoff, but eventually we figured it out. Again, more signage would be useful.

It's often hard to get pictures of us with the scenery, but this waterfall and the position of the sun at that time of day made it easy. 

After we'd had our fill of staring at the waterfall's beauty, the kids had fun throwing rocks in the river. Allison and I headed back up the trail before Oscar and Tyler since we knew she'd be slow. It was a good thing I had sandwich stuff in the car because there was nowhere we could have found a place to eat for another hour of driving, and it was already 3:00pm.

From there we continued on to Young's River Falls. There's a much better road now to access than falls than there was 8 years ago. Back then Oscar and I had to park on the side of the road and scramble down the hill.

The kids liked the falls but didn't get too close to it because the spray coming off of it was so intense. But they enjoyed petting a friendly dog who'd come with another family and playing in this little tree nook.

This side was a better area to view the falls from so the spray didn't totally engulf you as you looked at it.

From there we continued on to our hotel in Seaside then headed down to the beach after checking in. Someone had spelled out "Happy Easter" on the sand. 

It was cold and windy, but we still had fun. I made sure to bring plenty of sand toys this trip.

What's cool about Seaside is that there are swing sets along the shore.

Tyler spent the bulk of his time making a hole in the sand, collecting water from the ocean to pour into it, and watching the little fish swimming around in it.

Allison wanted to swing and wander around on the beach. She liked climbing on this fallen tree and saying "I'm the queen of the beach!"

The next morning we went to Ecola State Park for a lovely lookout of beautiful Cannon Beach.

We failed at getting a selfie with Cannon Beach in the background, but we still ended up with a really cute family picture.

Next we went down to play on the beach near Haystock Rock.

Allison played in the water while Tyler built in the sand and let a ladybug crawl on his finger.

 

We tried to do the Tillamook Factory tour, but the line was tremendously long thanks to pandemic restrictions. After waiting in it outside in the wind for 10 minutes, we realized it'd barely moved at all and decided to skip it. We picked up lunch at a local Safeway, including plenty of Tillamook cheese, and then drove down to Munson Creek Falls. Allison stopped a boy on the hike and said "you're a girl, right, or a boy with long hair?"

Cute, silly, goofy kids!

That evening we stayed in Lincoln City where fortunately our hotel had a swimming pool with less extreme covid restrictions. They allowed for up to 15 people at a time in the pool area, so we were able to swim that evening and the next afternoon.

We tried to see the spouting horns at high tide the next morning, but apparently it wasn't high enough. We must have been there at the wrong cycle of the moon. We also tried to see Drift Creek Falls, but the road leading to it was closed. It wasn't closed until you were only a couple miles away from it, and there was no signage earlier telling you you wouldn't be able to access to the waterfall. That would have saved us a good 7 winding miles of driving.

Instead we went to a neat playground before heading back to the hotel for a nice swim.

Back in our room Tyler and I had fun recreating this picture from the last time we were in Lincoln City.

We'd intended to check out the tide pools during low tide, but Allison put herself down for a nap instead. 

That evening we went to a local dinosaur store with real fossils for sale and played at the mall playground before picking up dinner at Oscar's Mexican restaurant.