Coast Explorer Blog

Things we love about coastal lodging from the readers and staff of Coast Explorer

Pampered Pets at Hallmark Inns & Resorts
Check out this terrific place to vacation with your VIP (Very Important Pet). Hallmark Inns & Resorts, with locations in both Cannon Beach and Newport, provides a pet basket full of toys and treats for you and your best friend. Both of you will be treated like VIPs at Hallmark Inns & Resorts, 1400 South Hemlock in Cannon Beach, and 744 SW Elizabeth Street in Newport, (888) 448-4449.

The doggy welcome basket at Hallmark Resort in Cannon Beach and Newport

Pool Panoramas at Elizabeth Street Inn
Have you seen the view from the Elizabeth Street Inn’s indoor pool? Swim or relax in the Jacuzzi while gazing at the majestic Pacific Ocean. Elizabeth Street Inn, 232 SW Elizabeth Street in Newport, (877) 265-9400.

On the Prom at The Seaside Oceanfront Inn
The Seaside Oceanfront Inn’s cozy lobby reminds us of a comfortable living room. Grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine from Maggie’s on the Prom (at the Inn), and sit by the fireplace or watch the waves roll in through the large picture windows. Seaside Oceanfront Inn, 581 South Prom in Seaside, (800) 772-7766.

Readers Retreat at Sylvia Beach Hotel
Curl up in a window nook with a view of the ocean or in a comfy chair in the library and read (or write) a chapter or two. Sylvia Beach Hotel in Newport has defined itself as a reader’s and writer’s retreat. Rooms are named for, and decor is inspired by, famous authors. What room will you choose? Sylvia Beach Hotel, 267 NW Cliff in Newport, (541) 265-5428.

A Great Room in Lincoln City
We love the great room at Oregon Beach Vacations’ Pine Lodge in Lincoln City. It’s spacious and cozy at the same time with its vaulted open-beam ceilings, wood-burning fireplace, lots of seating and a wide open kitchen for great conversations while you cook. What a fantastic space for a group get-together or family reunion! Oregon Beach Vacations, www.oregonbeachvacations.com, (800) 723-2383.

The great room at the Pine Lodge in Lincoln City, available through Oregon Beach Vacations

Got something you love that deserves to be a Pelican Pick? Send it to us at: editor@coastexplorermagazine.com and you may see it here in a future issue.

Photo by Tiffany Boothe Seaside Aquarium

If your area beaches are looking like something has gone very bad for the Dungeness Crab propulation – not to worry. “The crabs aren’t dying, they’re just getting bigger,” says the staff at the Seaside Aquarium. Because of the crabs’ hard exo-skeleton they can’t grow the same as other animals. In order to grow, they must shed their shell in a process that is called molting. Adult crab populations tend to molt simultaneously with the females molting in mass during the spring and males in the late summer. Large numbers of crab shells have been seen on beaches north of Seaside, a result of this natural annual molt.

Students from Cannon Beach Elementary School welcomed the Tufted Puffins back to Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock to celebrate Earth Day on Thursday, April 22. The students unfurled a banner reading “Welcome Back Puffins” and sang a song written for the occasion. Just moments before the students gathered for a group photo with the banner, a Bald Eagle took to the air, circling Haystack Rock and sending gulls squawking from their nesting sites in a display that couldn’t have been scripted better for Earth Day in this coastal community. The Haystack Rock Awareness Program then hosted a series of activities for the students including birdwatching stations.

Puffins spend most of the year on the open waters of the Pacific, but return to near shore rocks and remote locations along the coast each spring to nest and raise their chicks before returning to sea in mid summer. Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock is the most accessible locations to view nesting puffins in the Northwest. Throughout their stay, the Haystack Rock Awareness Program will offer visitors the opportunity to view the birds from bird watching stations set up during low tides.

In 2010, the Haystack Rock Awareness Program is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its unique partnership between the community and City of Cannon Beach that has provided education and preservation efforts for Cannon Beach’s most famous landmark. The program not only enhances the experience of visitors to Cannon Beach, but protects this remarkable natural area for future generations of visitors. Primarily volunteer driven, the program has received funding from the City since 1985 and now features a full time coordinator.

Additional funding for the Haystack Rock Awareness Program is provided by the non-profit group, Friends of Haystack Rock. Friends makes it possible for the program to seek and receive funding from other non-profit sources. In recent years, the Friends group has secured grants and donations that have made it possible to hire additional staff through the AmeriCorps program, create colorful interpretive panels at beach access areas and purchase equipment including an interpretive trailer used for beach educational programs. Earth Day marks the kickoff to the annual fundraising campaign for Friends of Haystack Rock. The two month fundraising effort will seek both individual and business contributions. All contributions are tax deductible and can be made to: Friends of Haystack Rock, PO Box 1222, Cannon Beach, Oregon 97110.

Each issue, we feature things we love about coastal dining from the readers and staff of Coast Explorer Magazine. Here are our spring picks:

Savory Croissants at Cannon Beach Bakery
These stuffed croissants from Cannon Beach Bakery are delectable and great for a grab and go meal. Try the turkey and Swiss or the ham and cheddar for a light lunch or as a quick breakfast. And, if you want, they’ll pop them in the microwave or toaster oven to warm your buns. Cannon Beach Bakery, 240 North Hemlock, (503) 436-0399.

The Bay House World of Wines
The award-winning wine list at The Bay House has an emphasis on Northwest and California wines, but currently features over 2000 selections from around the world. The Bay House, 5911 SW Highway 101 in Lincoln City, (541) 996-3222.

Fabulous Fish & Chips from the Bowpicker
We can’t get enough of the fare from Bowpicker Fish & Chips in Astoria. Firm chunks of fresh albacore tuna, lightly beer-battered and served on a thick bed of steak fries. Cooked and served from the bow of a real gillnet boat parked (on land) across from the Columbia River Maritime Museum on the corner of 17th and Duane Street in Astoria.

The Depot’s Chef’s Table
We love the Chef’s Table at The Depot, where you get a great dinner and entertainment, too! Watch the action in the kitchen while the chefs work their magic. You might even get to taste a creation in progress! The Depot Restaurant, 1208 38th Place in Seaview, (360) 642-7880.

Dooger’s Sweet Potato Fries
Satisfy that sweet and salty craving with the tasty sweet potato fries we found at Dooger’s. Light, colorful and crispy, they’re great with a sandwich or a cup of chowder! Dooger’s Seafood & Grill has locations in Cannon Beach, Long Beach, Seaside and Warrenton.

Rockfish Bakery Sandwiches
We love the sandwiches on fresh-baked bread at Rockfish Bakery in Lincoln City. Some of our favorites: house-roasted turkey with sun-dried tomato mayo and grilled veggie with spicy cream cheese. Rockfish Bakery, 3026 NE Highway 101 in Lincoln City, (541) 996-1006.

Got something you love that deserves to be a Pelican Pick? Send it to us at: editor@coastexplorermagazine.com and you may see it here in a future issue.

It’s like the swallows return to Capistrano only wetter. Each spring, colorful tufted puffins, that have spent the last eight months floating and diving on open seas, return to Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock to lay eggs and raise their chicks. On April 1, the first of the puffins began arriving on Haystack Rock said Nala Cardillo, coordinator of the Haystack Rock Awareness Program. The April 1 arrival is certainly appropriate for the birds sometimes referred to as sea clowns because of their white face, thick orange bill and yellow eyebrow tufts.. The puffins will be observable through spring and early summer.

Throughout the puffins’ stay, interpreters from Cannon Beach’s Haystack Rock Awareness Program will be on the beach with spotting scopes focused on the nesting birds offering visitors an opportunity to see the colorful characters. Two special events will offer an emphasis on spotting the colorful seabirds. From April 22-May 3, Cannon Beach hosts Twelve Days of Earth Day and on Independence Day weekend, July 3-4, the city hosts the Great Cannon Beach Puffin Watch on the beach with bird watching stations and interpretive programs as an alternative to fireworks. State laws prohibiting fireworks on the beach are enforced on the Cannon Beach shoreline to protect nesting seabirds on the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and sensitive marine environments including Haystack Rock, a protected area and State of Oregon designated Marine Garden.

Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach provides one of the Northwest’s most accessible locations to observe puffins nesting in their natural environment. Tufted puffins (Fratercula cirrhata) prefer to nest in inaccessible locations, usually remote rocky islands with grassy areas into which they burrow their nests.

From a distance, they are also easy to recognize. Their wings flap furiously and continuously to keep their stocky bodies airborne. Puffins are actually much better divers than they are fliers. They literally fly underwater, flapping their wings in pursuit of fish to feed themselves and their new brood. Most of the year, the puffins are a nondescript gray, but come spring breeding season, the bright colors emerge that make them one of the west coast’s most popular birds. The puffins are most visible and active at Haystack Rock from April through early-July. Once chicks have hatched, parents are busy at sea, fishing for food to bring home to the burrow. By late August, the puffin chicks will be ready to return to open seas with their parents.