Earlier this year the family had a long weekend break in Cannon Beach Oregon.  If you haven’t been there or know the name, this is a really pretty town on the Oregon coast that is perhaps best known for the landmark, Haystack Rock.  Haystack Rock is this huge (235 feet high) natural rock that’s right on the shore line.  During low tide you can get to the rock and a number of small rock pools around it’s base.  The area is actually protected as a marine sanctuary and there’s always someone there to make sure people aren’t “doing naughty stuff” (not sure what that is but if you look at the rock funny they tell you off – in my experience anyway :))

The beach itself is just huge, it’s this beautify sandy wide area and it’s great for kids and dogs to run wild.  The water on the Oregon coast is pretty cold so you don’t often see people swimming, but you do encounter lots of vacationers taking walks, making sand castles, flying kites and having picnics.

Something that’s pretty unusually about the town (and beach) is that they are amazingly dog friendly.  Most hotels let you take your dog and some shops and even restaurants allow pets on their premises.  It’s also ok to let the dob off the leach on the beach (which too these days is a little unusual).

If the coastline looks kind’a familiar, you should also know that The Goonies (1985), Twilight (2008), and Point Break were all filmed in this area too.

Anyway we drove down there (takes about four and a half hours from home), took Roxie (our dog) and had a great time.  We stayed at the Hallmark Resort which is a very large hotel right on the beach that overlooks Haystack Rock.  In fact the first image below was taken from my hotel room balcony.

I think we stayed for four days, took lots of walks on the beach, ate fish and chips and generally relaxed.  Lisa and Abi rented beach bikes and cycled up and down the beach for an hour (James played on his computer while I read a book).

I took lots of pics while there, some of the town, some of the family and am uploading a sample here.

If you want to relax, I can really recommend the town, the people are very welcoming and the scenery is beautiful.  We will definitely go back again.