Canon Beach and Ecola State Park, OR

People here in the Pacific Northwest are insane about great coffee, and like great beer, we have a lot of great coffee. Ann and I fit right in. We're not the coffee nerds that wax poetic about the virtues of the Chemex versus the French press: those types bore us. However, we are the types who insist on great coffee every morning and who go to reasonable lengths to get that coffee.

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach

Getting our most recent supply led us back to Sleepy Monk Coffee Roasters in Cannon Beach and to Ecola State Park which we had not visited since 2013 for our honeymoon. Ordinarily, every few weeks, we do the mail order thing and Sleepy Monk sends their great coffee to us. Now that I am retired, we have been trying to get to the coast once a week, so I suggested to Ann that we drive up to Cannon Beach and pick up the order at the shop.

Cannon Beach isn't a gimme in terms of visiting from McMinnville. The drive is pretty much two hours each way, and though it is a pretty drive, getting there and back sucks up half a day. Still, driving out Highway 26 as it slashes through 100+ foot Doug Firs growing right to the roadside is worth the investment now and again.

In terms of great beach towns that I have visited, Cannon Beach is at the top of my list. Every beach town has a different vibe, but the great ones stand out from the rest by having this real sense of je ne sais quoi that attracts me to them. I've been to beach towns in every state that has beaches including Michigan. At the top of my list for very different reasons are Bar Harbor, ME; Cape May, NJ; Carmel, CA; Kennebunkport, ME; Manteo, NC; and Chincoteague, VA. As great as those towns and others that I have not mentioned are, none top Cannon Beach, OR, our local quaint beach town. 

Our Haul: Coffee Beans from Sleepy Monk

Enjoying a Great Cup of Dark Roast

We first fell in love with Sleepy Monk when we stayed in Cannon Beach in 2013. We loved everything about the place from the quirky décor to the friendly staff to the great coffee to the amazing baked goods. It is no wonder that there was a line out the door into the street when we arrived.

Things have changed with COVID. Gone is the charming indoor seating and now there is additional outdoor seating that wasn't always there. You now go in the front door to order at the counter and exit out the side door where you wait for your order. We had called in our bean order so that it was pre-packed and with two cups of dark roast drip coffee, there wasn't any wait for the espresso machine. Our order was ready by the time we paid.

Over the years, we have tried a lot of their coffees and when tasted blind, we always gravitate to a single-origin dark-roast bean that they call Dark Guatemalan. That was the order that we picked up. Their daily dark roast was different, their Monastery Blend, which made a good break from our daily dose of Dark Guatemalan. We sat out on the front porch and drank our coffee; Ann ordered herself a bacon and blue cheese scone. I didn't have any, but I can attest that they are extraordinary.

Haystack Rock

Although we hoped for beautiful blue skies, it was not to be. The weather on the coast is always unpredictable. It was gray all day, sometimes lighter, sometimes darker, and sometimes spitting mist. Gray skies didn't stop us from crossing the street and walking a couple miles on the beach. We had parked in the public parking lot right next to Sleepy Monk. Beach access is directly across the street from the parking lot.

I was hopeful that we might have low tide while we were in the area so that we could walk right up to the base of Haystack Rock and maybe see some tide pool life. A glance at a tide chart the night before showed that it was never to be. Low tide was at 7:30 in the morning, so it was coming in the whole time we were on the beach. Still, we got a lot closer to the 235-foot high basalt monolith than we had last time we were here. I definitely want to go back at low tide when the puffins are nesting on the upper grassy slope on the north side. They are gone now, post nesting.

Annie Checking out the Surf

Stillish Life with Cormorant

Surf Getting Up

If You Have to Ask the Price, ...

Mutual Photography

Shooting at the Base of Haystack Rock

Surfer Taking Advantage of the Growing Surf

When we first hit the beach the surf was a little higher than average with 3- to 4-foot breakers. As the tide came in, we noticed the swells were getting higher. We encountered a couple of surfers who told us as they were getting ready to head out into the ocean that bigger waves were imminent. We watched the surfers take advantage of a rip to ferry themselves out near the rocks where we could see them catch some higher waves, in the 6- to 8-foot range. Later in the afternoon off Indian Beach, we would watch 12- to 15-foot breakers come pounding in, pretty unusual surf conditions for early fall, but nothing for winter surf.

Fishing for Surfperch

Curious Western Gull

Immature Western Gull Doing a Certified Funky Chicken Walk

"A Duck out of Water"—Pelagic Cormorant Doing the Silly Walk

Divebombed by an Osprey

There's not a lot of bird life on the Oregon beaches, but we had a few interesting moments. A curious Western Gull kept close to us for a good while, perhaps looking for a handout, but wary enough to stay 15 yards away. In what could have been outtakes from a Monty Python skit, a young Western Gull walked right by us, head down, butt up, and feathers intentionally ruffled, while a goofy Pelagic Cormorant waddled comically nearby. An Osprey cruised the surf line, diving to the water every now and again, once just off my shoulder.

Foam Coming In on the Rising Tide

After we finished our walk on the beach, it was noon and I was really hungry, not partaking of breakfast at Sleepy Monk as Ann did. I hadn't had a beer in nearly a month and decided that one would be really tasty with my lunch. Although there is an outpost of Pelican Brewing in Cannon Beach not a block from where we parked, Pelican Brewing is our Pacific City standby. I wanted to try something different. On our way into town, we had seen Public Coast Brewing, a business that did not exist the last time we came to Cannon Beach.

Quick Pit Stop for Lunch at Public Coast Brewing

Bland, Tasteless Fish Tacos

Two minutes after leaving the car park, we arrived at Public Coast. It was a proper fustercluck. Apparently, everything is counter service, but there was nobody to greet guests at the door and explain that, so there was a knot of people milling around the foyer waiting for someone to seat them, while the employees stood around apparently not caring.

The ordering process was clunky, with one person ringing up the order, then leaving the register for long periods to pour the beers, then coming back, while the rest of the employees stood around apparently not caring.

I ordered a beer and fish tacos. When the counterperson handed me a beeper/pager device and told me that they would bring the food to me, I let her know that we would be outside, if they had any difficulty finding us.

A few sips later on my hazy, which was a fine beer but not one I will remember, a young lady approached with my order of fish tacos. In passing, she mentioned that they were for someone else, even though there was nobody else outside. Two minutes later she came back and after telling me that they were indeed my tacos, she said, "You have the wrong pager." Really? No, I had exactly the pager I was given and the lackadaisical counterperson put the wrong number on the check, apparently not caring.

She set a beautiful plate of tacos on my table. The beauty, alas, was only skin deep. The fish was bland, probably just what the average customer wants. The slaw too was bland, mainly just raw vegetables with no discernable dressing. The whole point of slaw on fish tacos, especially those made with fried fish, is to have a tangy foil for the fatty fish. I hoped that the salsa with the fish might provide some life, but no. It too was flat. The most flavorful thing on the dish was the sour cream drizzle on top.

Bummer. This was an abject lesson in how not to run a restaurant. I can't think of a reason to visit Public Coast again.

Asters Blooming Everywhere in Cannon Beach

Gorgeous Hips on Roses

Ecola State Park

We left the brewpub and a few minutes later we arrived at Ecola State Park after frustratingly following a large woman driving a minivan in front of us down the twisty entrance road. Given the Georgia license plates, I am sure that she was a tourist and nervous about the twists, but really there is no excuse for driving 7 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone.

Haystack Rock from Ecola Point

Looking South Towards Cannon Beach

Looking Down Crescent Beach Towards Cannon Beach

One of the Rocks off Ecola Point

Tillie Very Faint Today

Ecola Point is generally a good place to view the Tillamook Head Lighthouse, known more familiarly as Terrible Tillie. Because of the fog and mist, we did not have much of a clear view. While we were at Ecola Point, I noticed that the trail that was closed in 2013 is still closed and the trail headed south towards Waterfall Creek has also been closed for landslides, a fact of the shore geography.

Lot of Films Shot at Ecola State Park

The Selfie Queen

Do You Keep Your Cougar on a Leash?

As we were leaving Ecola Point to head to Indian Beach and Indian Point, we stopped at the kiosk to pay our $5 entrance fee, there being no employees at the entrance booth on the way in. As we neared Indian Beach, we saw the parking lot very full, the big and increasing surf drawing a lot of surfers. I had hoped that we might hike past Indian Point to Tillamook Head, the closest point to Tillie, but that was not in the cards.

What Wind? The Camera is Vertical

Looking South Over Indian Beach

Never Seen So Many Woolly Bears in My Life

I Cannot Get Enough Fall Asters

The Indian Beach parking lot was way too crowded with way too many people not wearing masks and so we left pretty hastily. With our coffee haul safely in the truck, we wound slowly out of the park and started the longish drive back to McMinnville.