The only thing we did in the past three days was to take a drive to Salem. As with the trip to Eugene, the drive was lovely but the city was just another city.  Mike enjoyed the drive and also his shopping as he got to go in Harbor Freight and a whole bunch of auto parts stores – I’m glad I took a book with me.
So this morning we got up early and took a drive back into Pacific City. The main reason we went was to get gas ready for tomorrow but since we were there we decided to take a walk on the beach. Parking was much easier this morning and the beach was quite quiet and the views of Cape Kiwanda’s sandstone cliffs and the 327-foot Haystack Rock were excellent.

Cape Kiwanda

this looked like an old mans head on the beach, not so much in the photo

Haystack Rock

We got onto the beach just as a truck pulling a dory drove on to it, so we got to watch them launch it from the beach. Dories are flat-bottomed fishing boats that the fishermen, instead of navigating the Nestucca Bay channel, launch through the surf in the same way that they have for generations. There is no other fishing fleet exactly like this one anywhere in the world. After a day fishing the dories slide back onto the beach with their catch that is mostly bought by the local restaurants.

Mike: I didn't know there were sooo! many crabs in the whole world, but they have a bunch here!
(not you Becc)

As well as watching the one boat launch we thought we were going to see one coming back on to the beach but he was just dropping of one of the fishermen with buckets full of crab before heading back out to the ocean.