So last night was an eventful one folks… We found a place to park for the night in #CannonBeach,Oregon at the #WaysideStateParkRestArea… We were completely passed out when I woke up to someone knocking on my door at 3:30 in the morning… I sprang out of bed to see a cop standing at the door, with his hand on his revolver…

We soon found out we were not allowed to park there… We actually did see a sign but took our chances considering it was so early in the season and we got away with it before…

Well, this time we weren’t so lucky… But the cop was extremely kind and just doing his job… After he checked our identifications, he directed us to a #pull-off only miles away… I was obviously still half asleep but thankfully Tracey was listening and knew how to get to our new resting place for the evening… What would I do without her? lol…

And what a pull-off this was… It was commemorative to the famous #WilliamClark and how he discovered this beautiful location only to also discover the many uses of the whales the Indians hunted in the area…

I did a little reading while I enjoyed my morning coffee… I learned that #CannonBeach was named after a cannon that washed ashore from a famous battle…

It was a peaceful area and thankfully saved us from being homeless for a night… lol…

Well folks, the next stop was #Astoria,Oregon… The #rain was on and off all day, so Tracey and I decided to play it by ear… Stopping and #exploring when the weather would permit…

And everyone who is my age should know what movie this famous rock is from… It’s from one of my favorite #ChildhoodMovies about #pirates and #treasure set in modern times…

You guessed it! It’s #TheHaystackRock from #TheGoonies! Anyone want to do the truffle shuffle?

As you can see above, the rocks fit perfectly into Mikey’s medallion… God, I must have watched this movie a thousand times when I was a kid…

What kid doesn’t dream of finding a big pirates ship with so much gold, you can’t carry it all out… My favorite part of the movie is when they first find the gold on the ship and start stuffing it down their shirts and anywhere they could fit it…

I can remember trying to dream up places I would stash treasure, so I could carry out as much as possible… I was always disappointed that the ship got away and the kids only got a tiny fraction of the treasure…

The Goonies really opened up my  imagination as a kid… When we were kids, my childhood friend Billy and I used to reenact scenes from the film in the backyard… Our favorite film to reenact was “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom…” We would do that movie from start to finish and we knew all of the lines… lol…

We were so bored as kids… lol! Now there’s all kinds of devices to entertain the child’s mind… It’s sad because the imagination suffers…

But this beach wasn’t special just because of The Goonies… Oh no, it had something else very special about it…

As I was walking around and admiring my surroundings, I looked down and noticed #crustaceans crawling out of the sand every time I lifted my foot… It was really eery at first… I felt like Michael Jackson from the music video “Billy Jean…” But instead of lights coming on with my every step, little prawn like creatures came running up out of the sand every time I lifted my foot, to take my next step…

They would quickly crawl out of the sand and run towards the surf… Obviously they camp out in the sand waiting for the tide to come in and then when the tide is retreating, they run for the water…

You could see a little trail left behind them as they scurried towards the water and buried themselves back below the sand just to wait for the next wave to come in… they would only scurry a few feet before retreating back into the sand… This obviously was a long process for them…

Then I quickly found out what they were being so skittish about… There were #seagulls everywhere, capitalizing on a good seafood lunch as they waited for these little creatures to pop up and catch them before they took cover…

Then I quickly realized the reason the prawn like creatures were running for the water when I lifted my foot… It was because they were mistaking the pressure from my foot lifting with the tide going out…

So, how these little guys would make their way to the safety of the #Ocean was to wait for a wave… Then when the wave is retreating back into the ocean, these creatures would dig out of the sand quickly, using the tiny amount of water cover to elude their predators… then when the water was all gone, they would just bury themselves under the sand once again and wait for the next wave to come in…

I was enthralled by these #prawn like creatures… I wanted to keep a couple as pets, but Tracey wouldn’t let me… lol…

There were literally thousands of them for a couple of hundred yards then they were gone… They chose this special section of the beach for some reason… I’m guessing they bury themselves under the sand during high tide where there is probably a lot of algae and food to scavenge… Then when the tide starts going out, they of course want to remain in the water, so they follow… But they can’t ride that tide back in all at once because its so powerful, it would rip them apart…

It’s either that scenario or they are hatchlings who were buried as eggs by their parents… But they varied so much in size that I think it’s the first guess…

I wanted to cry when I saw this dog… His hips were gone but his owners got him a little cart that he puts his hind legs in and is able to go out for a run… How awesome is this to see? it just puts a huge smile on your face… It’s both comical and endearing at the same time…

We took a nice long walk to get a closer look at this famous rock… There were a few surfers out which added to the ambience… There were all kinds of birds nesting and flying around this massive rock… The image reminded me of the movie “Escape From Alcatraz” for some reason…

But #TheTravelingMac had a lot to do today… There was a lot to see and some dark clouds were making their way over towards us…

So we decided to head back to #TheMillenniumFalcon before we caught in a down pour…

This beach had these cool little information charts about the creatures that reside in this area…

I looked for information on those prawn like creatures but couldn’t find anything… I heard from someone that they were a special type of prawn that the locals like to use for fishing bait…

So we had to hit Tracey’s bank today… It can’t be all fun on the road, we still have some chores to do…

Astoria was a very nice beach town that you could see gets really busy during the summer…

I was really excited at this point because our trusty #navigator found a very famous #Fish&Chips place to eat…

And look at this restaurant! They had converted an old boat into an intimate little fish & chips shop called #BowpickerFish&Chips…

And they only sold two items folks… If you don’t like #seafood then this is not the restaurant for you!

They also did’t accept credit cards… Just good old american cash for some tasty deep fried #TunaFish&Chips…

I honestly was a little put off by the #tuna… I felt it would be too dry of a fish to make a good fish and chips… I’m always used to cod or haddock…

In England they used to serve their fish and chips in old newspaper… Your hands would be black when you were finished… they obviously stopped that due to sanitary reasons… lol! Oh what we survived as children…

But I couldn’t have been more wrong! This was hands down the best fish and chips I have ever had in America! Period! And that’s a huge complement coming from someone who grew up in New England and was born in England…

I’m sorry but nothing compares to England’s fish and chips… their blend of malt vinegar, salt and fish batter is masterful… there’s a texture to it that I have never found anywhere else… And they also keep the thin silver skin layer that Americans get rid of for some reason…

We only got one to share because we weren’t that hungry and planned on going out to eat this evening… The #co-pilot had a restaurant in mind where you could see #SeaLions through their glass floor… How do you resist seeing that?

And also The Goonies tour was not quite over yet… Here is the famous jail used in the film which they converted into a #FilmMuseum when The Goonies celebrated its 25th anniversary… Tracey and I unfortunately missed the opening hours… Dan spent way too much time at the beach, playing with prawns and screwed up the schedule a little bit… But at least we got to see the outside…

Then we headed over to #BuoyBeerCompany to see more #SeaLions…

It was a huge #brewery and probably a good introduction to what I will be seeing at my new job in #Alaska… I will be bartending at a 8 year old brewing company in #Talkeetna,Alaska… Tracey will be serving…

And they had glass floors as advertised… And wouldn’t you know, there were some noisy sea lions fighting for territory below…

I love to see man and animal co-exist like this… Both are benefiting each other… I wish we could spread this kind of mutual respect and love to all creatures on this planet…

I had a tasters menu.. I got to try all of the beers brewed fresh at this #brewery… And they were spectacular!

I also had to of course try their #ClamChowder, which was amazing! We ate light at the bar considering we shared a fish and chips earlier…

The view was magnificent… This window was directly behind the bar… You could see the violent ocean on this stormy day while enjoying a beer and a snack… Oh what a life…

And even the parking was convenient… I just left #TheFalcon parked down the road from Bow Picker… The area seemed a little sketchy but she was still there when we got back… I was a little worried for some reason… I just didn’t feel safe around here… There seemed to be a lot of drug addicts around…

The rain soon came back and we were on the road by that time… We definitely lucked out today, considering…

We were able to see everything we had planned and we didn’t run into any sudden #RainStorms…

We soon crossed this enormous #bridge into #WashingtonState leaving Oregon behind… The rain started as soon as we hit the bridge… It had to be like 5 miles long… At one point you felt like you were on a boat, as a misty ocean rain hit the windshield and the #RV swayed back and forth from the wind… All you could see is water all around you…

It was a quick visit to Oregon yet a very fulfilling one… I know now that I want to live here at some point and I just may buy land in Oregon… I just have to find where I would want to spend my winters…

We drove for a few hours, trying to make up some time… We headed over to #Aberdeen,Washington and parked at a #Walmart for the night…

It was a good day folks! It’s been gloomy, which effects the spirit of the #trip but we have made the best of it… We are just trying to get to Alaska and see a few things along the way…

No expectations folks!