I will have to admit I did not take many photos while out at the coast in part because it freaking rained for 2 of the three days and also because when I was there a year ago I got so many lovely shots that this trip I really just wanted to enjoy the scenery and walk the beach when I could.

I left Champoeg State Park on a Monday morning (had to be out by 1) and headed west on Oregon 18.   I had reservations for the next 3 nights at Cape Lookout State Park, picked mostly because there was a spot available with hookups and it wasn't so far out of our way that it would add a ton of time to the trip home.    Cape Lookout is in the vicinity of Tillamook and that area and north on Highway 101 is an area I've spent a good deal of time in years ago as I had family up there.    Still I'd not spent much time between Tillamook and Lincoln City so this was a chance to explore that area.

I was blessed with little traffic as schools had not yet let out and was very surprised as I drove through the farmlands and vineyards and orchards to drive past a large complex of industrial looking buildings in the McMinnville area.   I did a double take as I realized one of those buildings had a jumbo jet parked on the roof!    As I drove by I discovered it is the Evergreen Air and Space Museum and although I didn't stop, next time I'm out in that area (because you know I will be) I am definitely going to stop!   You can click on the link or Google it to see some photos as I didn't stop as I wasn't sure about trailer parking.

As I continued down the road I had another little chuckle as we headed up over a "pass" only to see a sign at the top indicating "Summit 769 feet".   Okay a girl from Montana who has driven over 3 mountain passes, all over 5,000 feet in order to arrive in Oregon really found that entertaining.    Hey, it's the little stuff!  LOL

I arrived in the Cape Lookout area earlier than planned and knew I had a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory planned for one of the days I was there anyway.  Memory served that they had a gigantic parking lot with room for RVs so I threaded my truck and trailer through town (it was dicey to say the least) and made my stop early.  Check that off the "to do" list.    Purchased my squeaky cheese and a load of other specialty items I can't get back home, deposited them in the trailer, took a phone photo to text to my brother as an evil twist and headed to the campground.

Now the Cape Lookout campground is off of Highway 101 on what is considered a scenic byway.  Well as you'll see in my campground review, that means "road with no maintenance".    UP and over we went slowly as to not bounce the trailer off the road and pulled into the campground.   I'd spotted this campground from one of the overlooks when traveling this road with my brother last May but I sure didn't remember the condition of the road!   As we arrived the rains continued (oh did I mention we hit rain at the top of that hill and it didn't let up for 2 days?).   The entire area was socked in!   

Found our spot, got dog pens set up and dogs pottied and they hustled back in the trailer.   Who could blame them?   I unhooked the trailer and we settled in for the afternoon and evening, watching the rain, feeling sorry for the few people there in tents, and watched DVDs.

Cape Lookout State Park campground

Cape Lookout State Park campground

Hunkered in with the heater and the dogs the dreariness continued (hey it is Oregon) and that night the rains POURED down.   On top of that poor Elliott's tummy had had enough of the antibiotics for his ear infection and he was one sick puppy.   Now those that know my  red headed xolo also need to know, naked dogs in general do NOT like the rain and cold.   Out he went to potty and directly into about 4 inches of pond that had formed on the camping pad as the rainwater all drained right there.   Nice!    He found one little dry piece of high property and oh the runs began (not just the rain water).   God bless his heart he told me when he needed to go out as a sick dog losing his tummy in the trailer when it is raining is not pretty.

The next morning I tried to arrange the pens enough to get everyone out to potty and the rain had turned into a drizzle.    What to do?   I had wanted to go check out a waterfall that I'd seen signage for outside of Tillamook but knew it might be a bust with the rain and low clouds.   Additional plan....see if I could find a laundry somewhere to wash dog beds and clothes.    I will tell you now, finding laundromats on the coast is NOT easy!   Even using the phone once I could get a signal wasn't much help.   Off to Tillamook I went....found one in downtown but honestly it wasn't very clean and had many rude signs around and the washer I looked at wanted like 6 bucks to do a load...so figured I'd head south to Lincoln City - a bit larger town and hope for the best.   

As I drove past the sign for Munson Falls I could tell it was going to be socked in so no hiking that day.   Once in Lincoln City (25 miles and an hour later) I found a faded out strip mall sign that had a laundromat listed so in I went.    Again, the quarter machine would only take dollar bills, okay, there was some kind of grocery outlet down around the corner so walked down, bought a box of dryer softener and asked if she could give me one of my 5s back in ones or quarters.   She absolutely refused!  Seriously!    "I don't have any" doesn't fly when you just gave me 3 singles in change.   Grrrr, but I figured I'd have just enough to do a couple loads and at least get the dog beds and towels clean.    As I got the washing going the little dive eatery next door flipped their open sign over.   Yup, I'd burned up the better part of the morning driving around to find a place to do wash.    I wasn't too sure what the state of this "off the path" little dive would be but hey, figured better to sit in there while the laundry was going than in the truck in the rain.   Boy was I pleasantly surprised!!!

If you are ever in Lincoln City and want some good "dive" food the 60's Cafe is the place.   Now some might think it was expensive but honestly for the amount of food you get and that it is "on the coast" it was fair.   I ordered a chocolate malt and french fries (see crummy phone pictures below).   BEST of both I've ever had in my life!   Plus I could just pop over and check on my laundry when I needed!   I highly recommend it if you are in the area (north end of Lincoln City and don't be scared that it is in a rather deserted strip mall).

Okay so we didn't get rainbows that day but I did get a great treat and clean, nice smelling dog beds to put back in the trailer, where we would be hole up until late afternoon before I could even take the poodles for a short walk on the beach!   I'll share beach and coastal scenes in my next posts.