It took us a while to figure out where to go for this birthday trip. Typically when we’re in the Pacific NW it has been a Whistler ski trip. We were in Whistler for my 60th right before covid started shutting everything down. In 2021 we went nowhere, like everyone else.

Then last year we found a B&B in Northern California and grabbed the kitties and off we went for a beautiful stay at the beach. This year the borders are reopened but we’re not sure we’re ready for Whistler. We failed to find a closer beach B&B that accepted the cats and finally gave up, then remembered we had our own little traveling B&B.

So we booked 3 nights at a RV resort in Cannon Beach and hooked Nonnie’s Diner up to the back of the Tundra. She had been winterized (as much as we need to in Washington State), but it wasn’t much work to get on the road and headed south, with the kittens right behind us in the back seat of the truck.

I’d had a shingles booster and severely twisted my lower back the week before (which were unrelated events), and woke the morning we were supposed to leave feeling sick and completely unsure if I wanted to go anywhere. But I knew that cancelling and staying home would lead to a massive funk, so we packed up and headed out. I’m so grateful to Rob for his patience in getting us past all that and on our way to a lovely week out.

We arrived late on Wednesday and drove down to the beach right after sunset. We took some pix, grabbed takeout and came back to our cozy little traveling home. It was really odd to look out the back of the trailer and see typical Pacific NW woods, then listen the other direction and hear crashing waves from the North Pacific Ocean.

Thursday morning was my birthday and I decided my mission was to find Dungeness Crab for dinner. Apparently, as Rob reminded me, this wasn’t a new birthday mission. So I guess now I call it a trend and what I do on my birthday. We drove down the coast in search of a lunch out and crab to take back home for dinner.

We found a nice lunch spot, then drove out to Cape Meares Light House for a nice short walk. Funny thing about our drive was that after lunch we were trying to find an ice cream shop, but after realizing we weren’t seeing any, started counting marijuana shops. We gave up when we got to eight marijuana shops and zero ice cream shops.

But we did find some yummy crab and dinner items at a grocery in Tillamook and headed back to Nonnie’s Diner for the night.

Friday was Rob’s birthday and we decided to stay near Cannon Beach. A strong weather front rolled in late Thursday night and the wind was howling in the morning. We hung out in the trailer until early afternoon and went into town for a late lunch.

On thing that has changed about Cannon Beach since our last visit (or maybe it’s the time of year), but the elk where everywhere. There was a huge herd in Seaside as we drove through, in the campground when we drove in, in Cannon Beach on Friday, and along the highway as we drove out Saturday morning. They had zero concern about the cars or people.

Another thing that has changed at Cannon Beach, which we found really disappointing, is the shopping. There used to be shops with fun and pretty stuff that wasn’t cheap or super expensive. Now there are cheap tourist shops and super expensive galleries with over the top fancy art. They’ve lost that set of shops that we used to enjoy so much.

All in all it was a lovely trip and fun birthday celebration. I learned a lot about the fresnel lenses used in lighthouses. And it was lovely just hanging out in the trailer 4.5 hours from home with the kitties along for the ride.

Pictures from the Cannon Beach trip are here