The Poco Loco Olsons: Haystack Rock

Friday, June 1, 2012

Haystack Rock

In the resort lobby, there's a wall of coupons and suggestions for things to do. One of the things to do cards was a suggestion to visit the tidal pools at Haystack Rock. For those of us who live in the PNW, Haystack Rock is a pretty well-known landmark and I thought it would be fun for the kids to see it up close and personal.
We easily made the 15 minute drive down to Cannon Beach and then spend another 20 minutes trying to figure out where in the world to park. Once that excitement was behind us, we lugged our sand toys through a few parking lots and found ourselves on a gorgeous stretch of beach. (Side note: Eric and I have been beyond impressed with the sand on the beaches here. At home, our beaches are comprised of rocks and barnacles. Here, they are wonderfully fine sand that is like Heaven on our feet.)

We had a little bit of a walk to actually reach Haystack Rock, but it was sure easy to find... thank God for HUGE rocks! I can't help but think that Louis and Clark were grateful for it, too... they didn't have the luxury of Google maps way back then. :)

After walking down the beach and stopping to explore a few pieces of driftwood and some random shells, we arrived at Haystack Rock and its famed tidal pools. Eric and I were both surprised to see so many sea anemone in the tidal pools and absolutely no crabs or starfish. (That's what we get for thinking we were so smart.) We also saw some neat, zippy green fish; they moved so fast that the kids had a hard time finding them. We were also treated to seeing a bald eagle; it kept stirring up the seagulls that live on top of Haystack Rock. That eagle was definitely an unwelcome visitor.

After exploring the tidal pools and snapping pictures of the breaking waves, we headed inland a bit so we could perfect our sand architecture skills. We build many a sandcastle (promptly stomped to death by our Godzilla impersonators) and dug holes to bury our feet and hands.

The rain decided to make a return appearance, so we fairly quickly packed up our gear and returned to the van before getting soaked. In hindsight, though, it might have been smart to walk a bit slower so the rain could wash off some of the sand that we were wearing.