DAY THIRTEEN
After our brief sojourn in Portland(ia), it was time to get back onto Highway 101. Driving out to the Pacific Coast, we decided to take a little bit of Portland with us — in the shape of a wonderfully kitsch cherry-pie air freshener.
First stop when we got back to the coast was Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock — claimed to be the “fourth tallest offshort monolith in the world” (reminding us of “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk duo”). We had a picnic while sitting on driftwood and went for an afternoon stroll along the beach. This was one of our first visits to the beach on this trip so we took the opportunity to dip our toes in the sea, doing our best to avoid the tiny crabs which had decided to join us.
From there we drove along the coastal highway — stopping regularly to take in the amazing views of the sea.
Just outside of Nehalem, on a small organic permaculture farm, we arrived at our Airbnb for the night — a ‘Japanese Forest House’ built using salvaged timber from the local area.
Despite being described as a ‘tiny house’, it was actually very spacious and comfortable — with lovely cedar tables, Japanese tatami rice mat flooring, and a Norwegian cast iron wood stove.
The house was idyllic and a truly relaxing place to stay. The people working on the permaculture farm had even picked us a basket of organic farm produce.
We roasted the vegetables on the wood stove with a little olive oil and, even though we had eaten at some incredible restaurants already on this trip, this simple home cooked meal turned out to be one of the most satisfying meals we had all holiday.
