GETAWAY SERIES: Camping and the Coast

For my 24th birthday, my boyfriend gave me the book The Pacific Northwest's Best Trips: 32 Amazing Road Trips and told me that I was going to pick the first one for us to go on. Being somebody who loves to travel, I was understandably excited to be seeing new places and to be sharing that with somebody so special to me. I spent some time scouring the book, putting Post-It notes on the trips I liked the most. I eventually decided that our first road trip would be the route called the "Graveyard of the Pacific". I know, sounds ominous as hell, but I promise you it's not! This trip would be taking us down the Washington coast and slightly over the state line into northwest Oregon.

One aspect that my boyfriend was really excited about when he gave me this book was that almost all of these trips could involve camping, something he loves to do and something that I don't have really any experience doing. He's always pushing me to try new things and camping has been at the top of his list for awhile. While I was a little apprehensive about sleeping in a tent and being away from my shower for a couple days, I was ready to jump in and really embrace this experience. So camping along the coast it was going to be!

Aberdeen

Friday evening after work, we drove down from Seattle to a small town just a short distance away from Aberdeen, Washington. We pulled into our campground and quickly got our borrowed gear set-up. I played set-up assistant mainly, hooking tent poles into clips and inflating sleeping pads.  Our little camp site was just perfect for our first night. Our evening consisted of cooking hot dogs over the fire and eating a good amount of s'mores.

I fell asleep pretty quickly, but in the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of rain beating against our tent! It was very unexpected but for a fresh-faced camper like me, I kept it together and didn't complain once!

Above, my boyfriend finished making the fire and was quickly checking the score of the Mariners game. Even when camping we have to make sure our team is doing well.

Westport

From Aberdeen, we headed to our first real stop of the road trip which was Westport, Washington. We started at the Westport Maritime Museum and had a great time wandering around this former Coast Guard station. My favorite part was when we we went into the smaller building just to the left of the main museum. Inside was the Destruction Island First Order lens that was held in the town's lighthouse from 1891 to 1995. It was incredibly beautiful and amazing to see.

We kept with the nautical theme and visited the Grays Harbor Lighthouse next. The lighthouse is the tallest in the state and before we started our trek up, a volunteer gave us an in-depth history of the structure at the bottom. We then climbed the 135 free-hanging stairs up to the top, where we saw a Third Order lens (slightly smaller than the First Order) and took in the amazing views.

Astoria

I was super excited when I saw Astoria, Oregon was on this road trip route because The Goonies is one of my favorite movies! Our first stop was the Oregon Film Museum, which is in the former county jail that's featured in the movie! I was giddy the entire walk up and loved wandering around the memorabilia filled building. 

After a walk around town and a quick ice cream pit stop, we drove towards the Goonies house, even though I didn't have high hopes of seeing it. The new owners are (understandably) very private and would prefer if movie fans weren't driving up their street and disrupting their lives. But we did drive past their driveway and I saw the top of the house, so I'll consider that a success!

Fort Stevens State Park

Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon was one of the big reasons why I chose this road trip and why this route is called the "Graveyard of the Pacific". In 1906, the Peter Iredale ship ran ashore and the wreckage is still completely visible today, sitting right along the shoreline. When we got to Fort Stevens and walked towards the beach, we could clearly see what was left of the Peter Iredale just sitting there, waves crashing against it. It was truly unlike anything I had ever seen before.

After checking the wreckage out, we took a nice walk along the rest of the beach before returning to our car and attempting to get all the sand off of our feet.

Paradise Point State Park

Our final stop was Paradise Point State Park in Washington which was where we were going to set up camp for our second night. I handled the fire that night as my boyfriend set up our tent. Again, we spent the evening cooking hot dogs, making s'mores, and just talking by the fire. It was such a beautiful ending to a fun-filled weekend. 

In the morning, I was the first one awake and I took it upon myself to start the fire, completely on my own! I kept the logs going and made sure that by the time my boyfriend woke up, that he had a nice little fire to come out to.

Above, I had successfully built my first camp fire and was celebrating with a cider and a power stance.

Leading up to this trip, I was a little nervous. My camping experience was so, so limited and I was a little worried I wasn't going to be able to cut it. But I enjoyed myself so much and made myself proud by trying something new. Now it's my boyfriend's turn to pick our next road trip and I can't wait for our next adventure!