Laura's Birthday in Seaside, OR

For Laura's birthday, we rented a house on the beach for a few days in Seaside, Oregon

We also visited the nearby scenic "haystack" rocks at Canon Beach, the next town to the south.

A yummy dinner at the "Yummy Wine Bar & Bistro" in Seaside:

We spent Laura's birthday hiking in the coastal forests of Tillamook Head (Ecola State Park), which we could access by walking south from our rental house. The trail was beautiful, but very muddy! We got about 4 miles in, where there was a great view of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse, and an old military bunker.

After our hike, we cooked a simple birthday dinner.

The next morning we spotted something odd out at sea. It looked like a lighthouse way out to sea, accompanied by four other objects, 3 of which were the same. Except this "lighthouse" was quickly moving to the north! Laura did some sleuthing when we got home, and realized what we were seeing was a bulk carrier ship, just over the horizon, like the one in the last photo:

Driving home, we stopped in Astoria to check out the Astoria Column.