Ducking the Oregon Coast...

Recently Duckie & Marilyn Reichert escaped the incessant rains of Vancouver, BC and headed down to the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Centre on the Oregon Coast.

Where we met up with Betty Ayers, a former Mercy Shipper on the Anastasis.

Betty has worked at the CBCC pretty well since she left the Anastasis. The Conference Centre, located in the town of Cannon Beach, Oregon,is right across the street from the infamous Haystack Rock.

The rock is right at the beach and accessible by foot during low tide. As well as being a nesting site for terns, puffins and many other birds, Haystack Rock was made famous in the movies Goonies and Kindergarten Cop.

Most of the week we were there, it was cloudy and stormy but it made for awesome storm watching, one of Marilyn’s favorite things to do on the Oregon Coast.

The Ecola Creek Watershed is part of The Columbia River watershed area which is the source of water for this region. This is the Ecola Creek which empties into the Pacific Ocean at Cannon Beach.

Whale Park was right across from the conference center. It is part of the original Lewis & Clark trail and commemorates the fact that in this area in 1806, Clark discovered, a gray whale skeleton measuring 105 ft. This coast is part of the migration route for the gray whales and they can easily be seen along the north Oregon coast. In December & January they move south from the Bering Sea feeding grounds to the calving lagoons of Baja Mexico then move north again from May to June.

We had one very sunny morning and Betty had a later shift at work so we made our way to Ecola State Park. Next to the parking lot there was a seagull on the table & Duckie wanted his picture taken with him… as I was about to take the picture the gull walked over and was about to pick Duckie up and carry him off!! I had visions of writing the feared “Dear Marius, I regret to inform you….” letter!!

Betty Ayers & Duckie enjoying the view looking south towards Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach.

Walking up the trail from that lookout, we can see the Seal Rocks from the next lookout. They are often covered in seals but today we could only see a lot of birds.

A short drive through Ecola State Park and we reached Indian Beach which was full of surfers of all shapes, sizes & ages!!

Some of the surfers even let us take their pictures with Duckie!

Scenes of beach, surfers and Duckie enjoying a swim at Indian Beach, Ecola State Park, Oregon

Out of a whole week of rain, clouds & cold blustery weather, today was the one day of sunshine and sunbathing (no one we know!)

Ecola State Park is in the rainforest-covered headland that frames the north end of Cannon Beach. It’s all so green!

For our final night’s visit to Cannon Beach, Betty, Duckie and Marilyn went to the Cannon Beach Community Theatre production of Arsenic & Old Lace. It was excellent and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you visit this theatre if you have a chance to visit Cannon Beach, Oregon.

THANK YOU for taking Duckie on yet another amazing trip, Marilyn!