Each visit to Seaside pre- and post-retirement has been unique, but this is the first one to include seeing a mama bear and cub!
Upon arriving at the Seaside Thousand Trails, I was standing by the ranger station to check-in, and I saw a mama bear and cub walk across the entry road to the north side! I couldn’t believe my eyes at first. I locked on the mama making sure it wasn’t someone’s big, black dog! No dog! So, I announced, “There’s a mama bear and cub crossing the road!” I was glad a man waiting in his truck saw them, too. The ranger remained rather nonchalant about it. I hoped this meant we might see them again while here, but it didn’t happen. 🙁 I was surprised that there were not any “Bear in the area” notices posted about. Just glad we were NOT in a tent!
We spent two full weeks at the Seaside Thousand Trails with full hook-ups in a nice site that was also close to the 4 permanent pickleball courts as well as the indoor heated pool and hot tub.
The ceiling over the pool area vents well. We used the hot tub one time after dinner since it was empty. It didn’t stay that way long, but it was only a few people who arrived.
Adjacent to the pool area is a large social area that includes table tennis (ping-pong), and a cool mini-basketball shooting area.
Pickleball
We had a lot of rain our first several days here, but then once we had dry mornings, we found we could play from about 8:30 till 11:30+. It was decent play overall.
The diehards. LOL
Dottie & Kevin Truelove came to Seaside for a quick two night get-a-way. So, of course Dottie joined us for a couple hours of pickleball one morning. I always like playing with Dottie. Next time we play together will be back at CVR in Yuma for the winter.
Prior to retiring into our rv lifestyle, we visited Seaside via the family beach house. Sitting on the corner of 12th and Franklin with large pine trees in the yard, it was affectionately known as “The Pines”.
Tammie and Tim arrived for a week while we were in town. They got married here on the beach in 2017, and return every August to celebrate their anniversary. We later stopped in to say hi when we were out riding our bikes.
I made fried oysters using the mix I bought in Oysterville, WA. They turned out OK, but not what we were hoping for. And there were only 6 oysters in the jar, so
Seaside BIKE Rides
We took multiple bike rides over the two weeks we were here. It is a great area to get around via bikes.
A GREAT addition for beach access!! This one is at the north end of the promenade at the 12th St parking area. Not sure what took so many years to get these installed. Makes it so much easier for EVERYONE (by foot or on wheels) to reach the main beach area. It also keeps the beach traffic funneled away from the vegetation. Believe us–without this walking mat it was rough going pushing a loaded wagon through this section!
Down the Promenade from 12th Street
The popular Seaside icon – the promenade roundabout with Lewis and Clark statue. This marks the end of the Lewis & Clark Trail.
We’ve seen this statue of Lewis & Clark every visit, but I think this is the second time I really paid attention to the detail around the pedestal, and the dog! I think most people miss those details. I love the dog.
Hood to Coast Race is finishing here in Seaside our first weekend here. They were getting set up. I wondered if I knew anyone doing it, but we didn’t come down that day. It was rainy and windy.
Around the roundabout and into town.
It’s much easier to lock up the bikes in a convenient area than find parking that is only good for a couple hours. I saw these signs in one of the stores. They made me chuckle. I really like the Seaside bookstore.
A large mural on the side of the Ace Hardware building.
Pretty flowers along Broadway.
Another ride on the promenade – This time we continued beyond the roundabout south till we came to a beach mat at that end of the promenade
We like to have campfires on the beach while in Seaside. We used to make dinner most nights over the fire when we stayed at the beach house. Some dinners were more elaborate with steaks. We had the popular “Costco wagon” to get everything to the beach. We have since learned to simplify – especially when it comes to what’s for dinner. Wine to share has and always will be a priority. The views are great, and sometimes we get lucky with a beautiful sunset. A great way to start our time here. Looks like a perfect evening.
While I walked around the area for any partially burned firewood that we could use to start or extend our fire, I came across this huge log that made a “T” to a second large log. These were smoking where the logs met and where a log about 3 ft long was propped up on them. I borrowed a kids beach bucket from a family nearby and put a little water on them. I was able to knock down the heavily burned small log and smothered it with sand. Then I did my best to bury the burning sides of the other two with sand. People are not supposed to burn any of these big beach logs. They may not have meant to have these burn, but maybe it happened because they made their fire too close to them. Regardless, these were hot and sizzling. Luckily, the wind was barely existent this evening!
A lone, little cloud lights up with some color!
Time to roast our brats over the fire.
Barry takes advantage of a log with the perfect groove to hold the brat over the fire at the perfect height.
The seagulls left us alone! This single guy came by, but remained respectful of us and our space. However, these other two birds flew in and kept hassling the nice guy. The seagull never made a peep!
About time to suffocate the fire with sand and prepare to drive “home”.
Our favorite bike rides though were the ones right on the beach. Barry has always loved riding his bike on the beach. I have to be a little more careful with my bike since I don’t have the big fat tires like his bike has. Seaside is perfect for both of our bikes! It was nice to have pretty blue skies at least for one or two rides.
When the tide is going out, we found that it leaves quite a few little “rivers” along the way. Some were a little deeper than I would prefer, but I accepted that I’d get some water and wet sand up my back and on my legs, and got more daring. But never as much as Barry!
Barry pushes the envelope!
From Barry’s helmet cam:
We kept seeing these clear “blobs” with the tide going out. They are moon jellies. This huge one had areas in the center that intrigued me. Seeing that detail, I had to go back to get a picture, This one had a diameter a bit longer than the length of my foot!
For more info click: Moon Jellies.
We made our way up by the road at the south end of the beach. We took a short break to enjoy the views and to figure out where Painted Rock Beach is located.
PAINTED ROCK BEACH
Google Maps helped us find Painted Rock Beach. There is a path at the end of “W” Street, between two houses that leads quickly to Painted Rock Beach.
We kept expectations low, but thought it was pretty cool. Some celebrate special life events like graduation, engagement, or anniversary, while others mark family vacation time or a girls trip. A good many are in honor of lost loved ones. A lot showed the wear and tear of the elements over the years. Below are different areas and some close ups of ones that caught my eye.
We headed further out towards the water where we found a place to have our lunch out of the wind. While there we looked around for a rock for us to paint and add to Painted Rock Beach before we leave.
The last rock above reminded me of the beautiful work my friend Gerlind does on rocks. Gerlind, if you ever come up to Seaside, Oregon, you must leave one of your masterpieces!
Before we left Seaside, I quickly painted a rock for us. We returned to Painted Rock Beach to carefully and thoughtfully place OUR rock. I believe we found a spot to be fairly easy to spot our rock while having it protected from sun and weather a little more. By having it in this spot, we hope that it won’t end up under people’s feet. Be sure to look for it if you go to Seaside, and let us know if you find it. 🙂
Can you spot our rock as I move back further in the next three pictures?
It’ll be like our own private geocache. LOL
LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS
We checked out the Seaside Farmer’s Market (on Wednesdays). I was expecting some fresh vegetables stands, but there wasn’t any. It was quite disappointing.
I saw an airstream being used for a Pet Food Truck! I’ve never noticed a pet food vendor like this before. It was pretty cool. This vendor certainly caught my eye.
I discovered a quality, local, single-sourced olive oil, DURANT. I bought a bottle. Spice and Tea Lab provides selections of Durant Olive Oils of which he was very knowledgeable. Durant supports him selling their oils at his booth. The Spice and Tea Lab spices and teas have no fillers or artificial ingredients. I purchased a ground mushroom spice that has become my favorite! I would imagine the teas are fabulous, but I rarely drink tea, so I didn’t look at them.
We liked the olive oil so much, that we decided to go the next Tuesday to the Farmer’s Market in Cannon Beach to get three more bottles to get us back to Yuma.
What a nice farmers market! I’m so glad we came to the much larger Cannon Beach Farmers Market to get our oil because he was well stocked. Sometimes he sells out of the oils while here-and is limited when he goes to Seaside the next day! He said he typically sells more oils here, and more teas and spices in Seaside.
This lady had an ALL sourdough booth. We couldn’t resist the olive oil sourdough focaccia round. And oh, yeah. It was delicious!
Kingfisher Farms had a large stand here. Their vegetables were organic and looked fabulous. They had lemon cucumbers. I’ve heard of them, but have never seen them or had one – till then. She cut one open for me to try. I bought several, along with a bag of arugula that was incredible! I also added a yellow squash, and a beautiful red onion.
Brian (Kingfisher Farms) supplies fresh vegetables from his farm to many local restaurants. All is organic.
After hitting the farmer’s market and checking out some stores, we selected Bill’s Tavern to have lunch because… they had oyster burgers!! Years ago, when Justin and Erika joined us for a few days at the beach house, we came to Cannon Beach. Justin had the most amazing oyster burger here! We’ve been searching for one ever since.
Barry ordered a cup of clam chowder that he said was delicious. We shared an oyster burger. We got it on toasted sourdough bread. It was great!
One late afternoon when returning from Cannon Beach, Barry and I stopped and picked lots of blackberries near the Thousand Trails.
After dinner, I made a blackberry, blueberry and peach cobbler. We’ll be enjoying it while we are at Mt Hood.
Our last night we headed back to the beach. There was a thick marine layer out along the horizon. We knew all day that there a chance of a sunset tonight was slim to none, but we still enjoyed finishing out our time at Seaside with our traditional beach fire. Tonight was quite windy. And it was a cold wind.
We had a small, but roaring fire with a favorite red wine – Apothetic Inferno (aged 60 days in a bourbon barrel).
We roasted kielbasa and had potato salad with it for our beach dinner. I should have taken a picture of the roasting of it because we didn’t cut it into sections. Instead, we fed one end onto one prong, and the other end onto the other prong. We had to push it down carefully on both sides. It was pretty heavy, but it worked.
Another enjoyable visit to Seaside is “in the books”. Our time exploring Ecola State Park while here will be a separate blog. Be sure to watch for it. It will include an unexpected wildlife experience! Tomorrow we leave for Mt. Hood Thousand Trails.
What a fabulous story…I enjoyed it so much, being a huge fan of ocean beaches and the Oregon coast, especially! ❤
❤. Thank you!!