Day 79: Dilly Dallying One Last Time

Humbug Mountain State Park, OR -> Seattle, WA. 485mi

(This post was drafted in August. Ramona transcribed my thoughts as we drove across the country. I never got around to publishing it until now, whoops! – Joseph, 1/23/26)

I woke up as we have many times this summer: in the tent from the rays of the sun. As I get out and look at our campsite, I see two tents instead of four and am reminded that we are three instead of eight.

We pack up fairly quickly and get on the road, since it will be a long day of 9 hours of driving. The plan was to drive along the Highway 101 along Oregon’s coast and then eventually head inland through Portland to Seattle.

Our first official stop for the morning was the Sea Lion caves, which were two hours away. While Charles was driving us there, I decided I wanted to do a morning beach stop. I found a pretty isolated beach in a place called Seven Devils State Recreation Area. We pulled into the parking lot. As I was hoping, the place was nearly empty. There were only two other cars in the lot. The three of us got out of the car and ran straight to the beach, only stopping when we felt the cold water on our feet.

I look around and am amazed by the sights I see. In the front of us: the vast Pacific Ocean with a wall of fog running parallel to the shore. To our left and right: beautiful sandy beaches and rocky cliffs. With nobody else around we frolicked along the beach, doing whatever we pleased.

Charles found a washed-up kelp plant and started swinging it around. Ramona climbed up a cliffside and walked around prickly plants. I Jumped around the sand dunes and picked up blocks of hardened sand. Charles also attempted stand a log up in the sand and succeeded (for a couple of seconds). Once we were all satisfied, we headed back to the car. Once we were inside and getting ready to leave, we realized that we had spent way too much time in this unplanned stop.

We continued onwards to the Sea Lion Caves. We arrived at a building a few hundred feet above the water. We were told that there were around 30 sea lions in the cave and in peak season you can see hundreds. We were indecisive if we wanted to spend $18 to see 30 sea lions instead of hundreds. But eventually we decided that 30 sea lions are still a lot of sea lions and went in. We descended down 200 feet into the cave. They had some exhibits and further down was an opening in the rock, where through metal bars you could see where sea lions are gathered. Sea lions are quite the goofy creatures. For some reason they were all trying to fit on this one rock in the middle of the day. I can only assume it was the cool kids rock and everyone who couldn’t fit was lame and a loser. Eventually we decided we’ve seen enough, ascended back up and got back on the road.

Our next stop was Thor’s Well – a set of rocky outcroppings on the coast with a lot of underwater holes that at high tide can create some very cool natural phenomena such as geysers, loud booms and some generally volatile water. We arrived right at high tide and saw some cool stuff. Me and Ramona almost got taken out by a wave, but we survived by standing on top of a rock.

Our next stop further up the coast was a beach town named Cape Kiwanda. But before we could get there, I had an advisor meeting scheduled to register for my classes. I was a little worried about this, because for most of the day, outside of towns, I had no cell service. And towns were few and far between in this area of the country. Luckily, we managed to make it to a town where I had good signal. I was dropped off at a cafe while Charles and Ramona went to find some fish and chips. After troubleshooting many problems and attempting to join the call for more than half an hour, I was finally able to talk to my advisor and register for classes. Unfortunately, this meeting had lost us another hour and a half. At this point it was already past 3pm and we had 6 hours of driving and multiple stops left. We knew we were getting to Seattle pretty late. But we still wanted to see some sights. So, we headed onto Cape Kiwanda.

We parked next to the beach and went to check it out. Charles had been hyping this place up all day. It was a frequent vacation spot for his family. We came upon a beautiful beach with a huge rock coming out of the water directly in front of us. To our right was a pretty big dune. We went into the water and pretty immediately our feet started to go numb from the cold water. So, Charles, being the innovator that he is, started stomping in place in order to bury his feet in the sand. The sand provided an insulating effect against the water, allowing him to stand and appreciate the views. I proceeded to do the exact same thing. We then headed over to the sand dune and saw a lot of people climbing up its face and then running down. We followed their lead and started our own hike up. For some reason this became one of the most difficult hikes I’ve ever done. Every time I would take a step my feet would sink back into the sand back to where I started. It felt like I was making no progress climbing up this dune. It was like I was on a Stairmaster. Eventually though, I made it up to the top of the sand dune and there were some nice views. Then we prepared to run back down. Charles went first. He sprinted down the face of the sand dune, swinging his arms around and made it pretty far down upright, until he fell near the bottom. Face first into the sand. Ramona was up next. She copied Charles’ strategy of swinging arms, but midway through she transitioned into a roll. She made it down just fine. I was last and was really afraid of falling, so I started running down a bit more cautiously. But I picked up speed and then started jumping down the dune. I too transitioned into the roll at the end for the full experience. Charles was a bit jealous that he had not also rolled, so he went halfway up the dune and also rolled. He however did not have my flawless rolling technique. So, when he stood up, we saw his face, caked with sand.

At this point I was getting a little hangry. I had not had enough food and was starting to suffer for it. But everything in Cape Kiwanda was way too expensive. So I decided to get food at our next and final stop at the town of Tillamook. For those unaware, Tillamook is the name of a popular dairy brand in the west and in their namesake town they have their factory which also doubles as a tourist attraction. On our way out, Charles backs the van out of our parking spot and, with our bike rack, pierces the back lights of another car. Yikes.

The owner of the car was nowhere to be seen, so we sped away as fast as we possibly could! Just kidding. We left a note and the owner did eventually contact Charles and file an insurance claim. With this, we lost a few more precious minutes. At this point, Tillamook Creamery was going to close basically at the time we would get there, so made a beeline to the creamery in order to get some ice cream. Funnily enough, when we do get there, all of us get milkshakes. They were quite good. Unfortunately, as we were walking out of the creamery, Charles dropped his milkshake and lost half of it. rip.

Now it was my turn to drive, and I looked for food in town. I found a highly rated taco truck that was still open. We get over to the truck only to find it closed. I was pretty sad about this, until a lady came out from behind the truck. I can tell that she probably speaks Spanish, so I ask her, in Spanish, if they are closed. She says that they are closed, but she can whip up something quick for us. And so, she whips up some delicious steak burritos. The best part is that they are pretty cheap. With haply taste buds and a full stomach we continued on.

At this point the sun was setting, and we still had almost 5 hours of driving to Seattle. We were set to arrive at Charles’ house after midnight. So, we locked in, stopping only for the occasional restroom break or for gas. Eventually, we see the Seattle skyline. A welcome sight after this long, long day. A bit later, we arrive to an even more welcome sight – Charles’ house. And with it – Charles’ boat. A few years back he had bought a broken boat and attempted to fix it, unsuccessfully. Maybe one day he’ll fix it. Or maybe it will sit in his parents’ lawn for all eternity. We go inside and see that Charles’ dad is still awake. It seems that being a night owl runs in the family. He heated up some rice and meat dumpling-like dish that Charles’ grandma had made and frozen for a late-night snack. It was quite delicious. He also set out a tub of watermelon, which I nearly completely demolished. Ramona went to sleep, but I stayed up chatting with Charles’ dad the next 45 or so minutes. Then I too went to sleep. I needed all the rest I could get, because Charles would not be coming with us for the rest of the trip, so I would be the only driver for the rest of the country. This is where the real struggle begins.