Once we started planning a trip to visit family in Seattle, we decided we wanted to incorporate a road trip to Oregon in our travels.  Because our trip took us down the Oregon coast, it wasn’t long before we knew Cannon Beach and the Haystack Rock was a must-have place to visit.  This rock is often remembered from the opening scene of the Goonies, or just because it is quite an incredible visual formation, towering at 235′ tall. No surprise that it made the list for Best Places to Elope!

In late August, we traveled from Seattle down to the Oregon coast, first visiting Manzanita and then working our way back.  As far as traffic, be prepared that Tacoma has a ton of traffic, and also the coastal town of Seaside.  If you aren’t driving, you can get a tour from Portland to Cannon Beach.

We visited Cannon Beach on a Sunday morning, driving up from the South, so we did not encounter traffic that morning.  We did our research ahead of time and parked in a public parking lot for Haystack Rock.  Parking can be limited and the town can get very busy, so you’ll want to be prepared.

We walked a few blocks from the parking lot to the beach, enjoying the scenery.  There are lots of hotels that look like a nice place to stay if you were to vacation here.

One thing about our trip to the coast in August is that we rarely wore shorts and t-shirts on the beach.  I usually wore pants and layers, and Cannon Beach was no different.  It was very windy here, and at 10am on a day in mid-August, I was quite chilly.  Having been to some other beaches on the coast, we were used to seeing this salt air mist.

We slowly made our way down the beach to Haystack Rock.

Haystack Rock is quite impressive.  We were hoping to make it during low tide, when you can walk around the sides and possibly around the back, and also to check out the tide pools, but it was too hard to time it.

The Haystack Rock formation is beautiful, and it was nice to enjoy a quiet morning on the beach, at a time it wasn’t very crowded.

Another neat thing about the rock is that it serves as a nesting place for puffins from spring through summer.  While we saw a lot of birds on the rock, I think the puffins had already fledged.

We had a lovely morning walking on the beach and enjoying the views.  This truly is a beautiful place to visit and I am so glad we were able to make it there on our road trip!