We stayed in a two bedroom condo in Rainbow Rock Retreat. Rainbow Rock sits on a cliff with amazing views of the Pacific Ocean and sea stacks.
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| our condo |
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| views at sunset |
It was beautiful.
It took us about 10 minutes to walk down a path to the beach below. The path was landscaped and maintained beautifully. It was covered in spring wildflowers and had views of the ocean. Our day started off gray, but was sunny by noon. And it was finally pretty calm. There was very little wind. By days end, Matt and Willa were in their suits swimming (and screaming and laughing because it was so cold) in the ocean.
Down at the beach, we quickly discovered why our condo was called Rainbow Rock. There was a massive rock that had every color in the rainbow in it. And at low tide, the kids could crawl through it.
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| in the Rainbow Rock tunnel |
We also quickly discovered that the tidepools here were full of starfish. That made us all really excited. And the tidepools were kid friendly because they were surrounded by sand instead of rock. Oliver loved playing on the beach and in the tide pools. His pants and shoes were soaking wet almost immediately.
We spent hours playing on the beach...
Clark LOVED running from the waves. He did this at every sandy beach we visited.
Matt and the kids climbed to the top of a rock. Clark is already up there in the picture below. He's the little bump on the right at the very top. Matt and Willa are up there also, but they blend in with the rocks unless you zoom in.
We walked back to the condo for lunch and naps. Then we visited the Samuel H. Boardman State Park. It runs along the coast for 12 miles. There are tons of coves and beaches and iconic sea stacks. We visited two viewpoints and a beach. I could have spent several more days exploring and hiking.
Arch Rock Viewpoint
Natural Bridges Viewpoint
We spent maybe 5 minutes at each viewpoint. They were beautiful, but once you see the iconic rocks, there isn't much more to do. There were several more viewpoints, but we skipped them. Maybe another time...
We spent the rest of the afternoon at Whaleshead Beach. We did the same things we did at all of the other beaches we visited and loved doing everything all over again. Each beach was a little different and we had fun exploring them all.
Whaleshead beach is named for the rock formation below. I guess it looks like a whale coming up for air. I could see it, but I think it required a little more imagination than some of the other rock formations.
This was Oliver's favorite beach. He pulled his shoes off and played in the sand the whole time we were there. He was very happy and content. Oliver had a cold on our trip. His nose started running the day we flew to Portland. But he was a trooper. He slept really well wherever we stuck him (on a mattress on the living room floor, on some blankets in the master closet, and in a pack-n-play in Portland). I'm sure the wind at the beginning of the trip bothered him even more than it did the rest of us. The wind made him a little ornery, but overall he did really well. It made me happy to watch him explore Whaleshead Beach.
Clarky's favorite thing was running from the waves again. I love the pure joy on his face in these photos.
And I think the highlight for Willa was swimming with Matt. The water was cold, way too cold for me or the boys. Matt never lets the cold stop him. I have so many memories of Matt swimming in a cold lake or ocean while I watch. Willa loved joining him. Clark stood on the edge of the water and shouted - Go Willa Go! Go Daddy Go!
After the beach, we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in town. It was another great meal. Then we headed back to the condo, did some laundry (since everything we took to the beach was wet and sandy), and called it a night.
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