Cannon Beach. Be still my heart.

Spontaneous weekend trips are my kind of jam. Yeah, weekend traffic sucks, but when one of your favorite coastlines on the planet is a 4-hour drive away (or 5 depending on traffic) I figured it was time just to load up the car and go.

It only took me 6 months ( or is it 7 already?) of living back in Seattle to finally make it out to Cannon Beach for a weekend. Better late than never, right?

The whole point of the trip was to go somewhere for my birthday, which I don’t really like celebrating that much, but thoroughly enjoy using it as an excuse to travel. So yeah, happy early birthday to me. Being able to be barefoot on a beautiful beach is one helluva great gift.

Enough about me, let’s talk Cannon Beach.

There’s just something about the Oregon coast that gets me. It’s moody, rugged, vast, not exactly warm, and is the polar opposite of the tropical warm humid stuff that I’m drawn to. In fact, if I don’t have a thick wetsuit on I can’t get in the water beyond my shins.

But I LOVE it. I love it I love it I love it.

There are happy beach pups everywhere, it’s huge, and is just such a unique type of beauty that it’s hard to not feel like you’re walking barefoot in a Nicholas Sparks novel.

What we did: We pretty much just hung out and played on the beach, I drank a ton of coffee, we went for beach walks, checked out the tidepools, watched the sunset, and headed down to Oswald West State Park before heading back (where I painfully watched a ton of people surf and longed for my board, a thick wetsuit, and a babysitter so I could paddle out for a few waves.)

A first for us: Making a little bonfire on the beach and roasting s’ mores with Levi at sunset. It was one of those freakishly clear sunsets and we stayed until the sky was completely dark, listening to music and just juicing every ounce of bliss life provided for that hour and a half. The first time we visited Cannon beach I remember seeing all the little bonfires lined up at night, and thought it was gorgeous. I always wanted to have one. Mission accomplished.

Two days went by too fast, as it always does. But I can’t wait to go back again to this beauteous coastline to explore some more (and hopefully surf) sometime soon. Especially in the winter because the hotels are even cheaper. Hallelujah.

Cannon Beach you’re a gem. Thanks for the memories.

Oh yeah, moral of the story: When in doubt, just suck up the weekend traffic and get out of town for a day or two. It does the soul some good.

Trip Deets: Stayed at the Hallmark Resort, Ate at Lazy Susan Cafe, Cannon Beach Bakery, (and the grocey store – tried to stick to a budget) // Went to Cannon Beach, Tolovana Park/Beach, Short Sands beach and Oswald West state park.