Washington 2023:
Day 11 - Pacific Beach State Park

	Wednesday, August 23, 2023: It was another beautiful day on the Oregon coast, and we took our time packing up and gettting ready to leave.
	We took full advantage of the campground's complete array of recycling containers as well as trash. It was nice to be able to recycle all of our cans, plastic bottles, and cardboard that we had been hoarding.
	We stopped for gas at this station on the way back to Highway 101, and had to take a picture of the big sign noting that this island of pumps was now self-service. That didn't some someone from stopping there and going inside to find an attendant to pump her gas though. Small steps, Oregonians. Small steps.
	As we drove up the coast, there were occasionally patches of fog that lingered just over the road.
	Our first stop this morning was at Hug Point, which was a secluded cove with a nice beach. We opted not to descend the steep stairs to get down to the beach, ...
	... and instead enjoyed the cool plants that were in the vicinity.
	Oh, and of course, blackberries. We're pretty sure that someday the entire west coast will be overrun with wild blackberries.
	After leaving Hug Point, we stopped at an overlook that gave a good view up and down the coast, with information signs showing the various rock formations that were visible. Here's the view looking south, with Jockey Cap Rock and Silver Point Rock visible just to the right of the dark green shrub on the left side of the photo, and Falcon Point just visible in the fog in the far distance.
	Here's the view to the north, with Haystack Rock just barely visible.
	Here's a better view from a different overlook a little further up the road.
	After some difficulty figuring out how to get there, we drove through the town of Cannon Beach. It is a tightly-packed resort town, ...
	... with many dead end streets and no easy way to access the beach.
	We finally caught a glimpse of Haystack Rock as we made our way toward the south end of town.
	Another dead end.
	We stopped by the side of the road and took this photo, figuring it might be our only chance for a good look at the rock, ...
	... until a few minutes later we came upon the Tolovana Beach Wayside, which was a huge parking lot with beach access. Score! It was all the way at the southern end of the town.
	There it is: Haystack Rock.
	Back on the road, we passed this clearing containing grazing elk.
	After narrowly avoiding another elk that jumped across the road in front of our van, we pulled off the road and then circled back to get a closer look.
	Look at how colorful the welcome sign is for Seaside, Oregon.
	Buh bye, Seaside.
	How many different elk crossing signs are there? In a short stretch, we saw this one, ...
	... and then this one. Both are slightly different than previous ones we've seen.
	Just after 11:00 AM, we arrived at Fort Clatsop in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park.
	As we walked through the forested area from the parking lot to the main site, we passed huge ferns like this one whose leaves were still curled up, ...
	... and giant trees covered in moss.
	Uh, oh. We were here to see the Mather plaque that was attached to the wall of the visitor center, but they were remodeling the visitor center and it wasn't accessible.
	There was a canopy with National Park staff helping people navigate around the construction, and when we told them what we were looking for, one thought he had seen it in the Admin building recently. They directed us to the visitor center where there were rangers that we could ask about it.
	We took the path through the woods ...
	... to the recreation of Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark's winter camp during their expedition.
	There was a discussion about Lewis and Clark being led by someone dressed in period costume, but not pretending to be a member of the expedition like they did the last time we were here in 2004.
	We took a look inside the fort, amazed that everything inside would have been built by the expedition members when they arrived.
	Most rooms contained multiple bunks and a hearth for a fire, but little else.
	We headed toward the visitor center, which was still open during the construction, passing this statue of Sacagawea and her child Jean Bapstiste, who was nicknamed Pompey by the members of the expedition.
	When we arrived at the museum, we asked one of the rangers about the Mather plaque, and she and another ranger went looking for it. After locating it, Ranger Freeman escorted us to the conference room where it was being stored so that we could see it.
	She told us about the decidication of the plaque in 1991, and that they didn't know why they received the plaque, just that it had "shown up." We also spoke to her about our last visit here in 2004 and about the costumed interpreters, and she told us that they only offered what they called "First Person" events during winter breaks and briefly in the summer, and that they no longer offer those. We counted ourselves lucky for our great timing in 2004 to be here during the winter break.
	It's hard to imagine, but prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States ended at the Mississippi River.
	We left Fort Clatsop, crossed the Lewis and Clark River, ...
	... and stopped for lunch at Ship Out, a food truck that specializes in fish and chips.
	We ordered two combo fish and chips, containing one piece each of halibut, cod, prawns, scallops, calamari, and oysters. Yum!
	They had a huge seating area where we happily waited for our order to be ready.
	Look at all of that deep fried deliciousness!
	Oregon does love their stone columns at the entrance to a bridge.
	We headed across the Astoria Bridge, ...
	... crossing the Columbia River, ...
	... into Washington, the Evergreen State!
	This was the last stretch of US Highway 101, which was still designated as the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway.
	There was a huge mural depicting the influence of early immigrants to the area at the entrance to Grays Harbor in the town of Hoquiam, Washington.
	Just before 3:00 PM, we arrived at Pacific Beach State Park, our destination for the night.
	We checked in, drove through the full campground to our campsite, ...
	... and were all set up and enjoying the view just 23 minutes later.
	There was a long stretch of beach on a narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean just below our camp site, and there were kids flying kites in the strong breeze.
	We took a walk along the beach, ...
	... amazed at the amount of crab carnage that we saw. There were remains of countless limbs, ...
	... and claws, ...
	... and in one case, an entire crab, strewn along the waterline. The birds in this area must be well fed.
	As we waded along the water's edg, we witnessed a piece of literal driftwood flowing from the main ocean down the inlet.
	It's always good to be in the ocean.
	One member of the marriage wanted to walk to this sandbar, regardless of how deep and cold the water was. The other member was very concerned about crossing the nard line. We did not make it to the sandbar.
	We did, however, get the traditional photo of Debbie standing in an ocean with her arms stretched out.
	There were many families enjoying the shoreline, with plenty of kids writing their names in the sand or digging gigantic holes or running and jumping in the surf.
	It was a great spot, and we slowly made our way back to our camp.
	Back in camp, we used our camp stove to make Italian style pepper steak with rice and tomatoes for dinner. Well, we boiled water and added it to the pouch.
	A few hours later, we decided that it was finally time to make the Jiffy Pop popcorn that we'd purchased in January at Seminole Canyon State Park in Texas.
	After setting up the stove's case as a windbreak, we fired up the stove, set the heat to medium, and shook the popcorn once it started sizzling. After a few minutes, we heard the first couple of pops, ...
	... and then the foil started expanding as more and more kernels popped, ...
	... until it looked like it was going to burst. Once the popping noises stopped, we immediately took it off the fire, ...
	... and tore it open to reveal the perfectly-popped magnificence.
	Back inside, we enjoyed our popcorn while we watched more of "The Masked Singer," ...
	... and then went back outside to watch the beautiful sunset. Day 12 >