We knew going to Pacific City Thousand Trails RV that we needed to get there by 9 or 9:30 to be ready to tag a decent site since it is a “first come, first serve” park. With the amount of trees and narrow roads with some tight turns, we are so glad that we have our Jeep to “zip” around to explore the campground and evaluate available sites. We decided on D-25, but had to wait till about 11 am for it to be vacated. It was a tight fit, but Barry expertly directed me in.
We walked down to McPhillips Beach. How awesome it was when we discovered the road giving access to the beach, and to continue on to drive on the beach was right there. This was going to be perfect. We could load everything we needed for the day/evening, including the Blackstone griddle and drive onto the beach where ever we want to set up for the day! Unfortunately, it rained for the next two days, so our beach time was delayed.
The walking path from the TT to McPhillips Beach
It was so weird to see a bunch of jelly-like discs all over the sand. I’ve never seen these before. The jelly bubbles further from the water were drying up, but still left evidence of them. This is what I learned:
askanaturalist.com › what-are-these-clear-jelly
Aurelia labiata. The Short Answer: Sheri, what you are describing sounds like the remains of jellyfish, probably moon jellies (this includes several species in the genus Aurelia ). ( see this post for a different possibility) People report seeing these jelly discs on beaches all over the world. David Albert, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, has studied Aurelia labiata, the moon jelly that is common on the west coast of North America ( Aurelia aurita is the east coast ...
Wasn’t sure what these jelly bubbles were. Fascinating 
All spots are the jelly blobs!
We decided to take the Jeep down to the beach a little later. We saw a wedding in progress. Boy, they lucked out with the weather. Any later and it would be raining and continuing for a couple days!
On the way back to our site we stopped to check out the view within our park where the is a porch swing hung at a beach overlook shelter.
Since it was going to rain for a day or two, it was the perfect time to jump into the Jeep and drive back up to Tillamook. Heading out of the RV park we had to stop for this pretty miss…
We got to the Tillamook Creamery just prior to the 10am opening. There was already a line started, but then no one was inside yet. It worked out great. We walked up as the doors opened and went through quickly without being in a huge crowd! It is a nice facility, but other than that we weren’t all that impressed for all the hype. Plus, they only put out one sample “choice”. A change due to Covid.
This was kind of a cool, interactive wall of buckets.
The gift shop did do well. I bought a package of thick-sliced Black Pepper Cheddar Cheese, and a small block of Hickory Smoked Sharp Cheddar since I have not noticed either of these in regular grocery stores. Most people then go order a burger, grilled cheese sandwich, fried cheese curds, or just go for ice cream. We left to go for a better local choice for lunch.
We headed to Garibaldi for oysters. We stopped at The Fish Peddler located at Pacific Oyster. We shared a half dozen oysters on the half shell. YUM! We thought about a second order, but instead bought gluten free panko crumbs and oysters to make our own fresh fried oysters on the beach!
As we were leaving I noticed these piles of “rock” were opened oyster shells! Incredible!
When we got back to the TT, the rain had almost stopped so, I made yet another peach cobbler, and then we went out looking for a trail or two within the park. Thought we found one a couple of times, but each ended up disappointingly short. Guess it’s time for cobbler and a movie.
AUGUST 8 – A BEACH DAY!
We were excited to pack the Blackstone and set up our “camp” on the beach. This was a first for us with the Blackstone. We decided to set up in about the same area the wedding was a few days ago. There was virtually no wind, and was quite private over here. This was my first Blackstone experience where the temperature was great and there was NO wind! Loved it!!
Fried Oysters OMG–so good! I first did 4 test ones: 2 coated with egg and panko, the other 2 coated in BBQ sauce and panko. Which was better? I preferred the BBQ, but the regular with egg and panko was good with the fresh cocktail sauce we had. The rest of the meal was homemade coleslaw and cornbread.
SOON IT WAS ENTERTAINMENT TIME!
People nearby got stuck in the soft sand! Then the helping truck got stuck and then something appeared to have a mechanical issue. Rubicon Jeep to the rescue for both! It took them over two hours to both get out! We left prior to the big truck getting pulled out by the Jeep.
Since dinner was so awesome, we we drove into Pacific City to get more oysters for a fried oyster repeat dinner tomorrow at the beach. All set and excited for tomorrow!
We stopped at Bob Straub State Park to check it out. Super nice, but there is a day use fee. “Our” beach seems more private. We will stick with it. 🙂
Once we got home we went to use the outdoor, ADULT hot tub…Lo and behold…there was our friend, Les “Mancave” (pickleball) in the hot tub! Les has been here for almost three weeks! We could not have played any pickleball the previous days due to rain and a broken net. We invited Les to join for a while a the beach tomorrow. He and Barry both love riding their Sondors bikes on the beach.
It’s been a great day!
AUGUST 9 – BIG BEACH DAY
Les texted me that the rangers got the new pickleball net and they would try to get it up within the hour. We were at the court when the ranger finally showed up. We offered to help set it up. Yes, we were anxious. When the ranger handed me the directions, gave them right back saying we didn’t need them. He pleasantly surprised that Les and I got it set up so fast. LOL We really only had time to play two or three singles games. No others were around for doubles. 🙁
Barry had already gone to the beach to get a spot set up. Les road his bike down and I walked down. Since the wind was coming from the opposite direction, Barry set us up on the opposite side of the rocks where we were yesterday. We had a great set up. I made grilled cheese for all three of us. But by dinner time we moved the Blackstone back to be a little more protected from the wind. We also built our fire further back than where we originally planned.
Then we saw filming for some commercials! One was for a Ford Bronco. I don’t know what the other products were. Here are a couple pics. It was down right chilly/cold and the sunlight was going away quickly.
ANOTHER GREAT DAY!
