Beating the heat at the beach

When I saw Tuesday's forecast for the mid-90s, I texted Eryn to see if she wanted to escape to the coast with me. It was hot there, too, but much more tolerable.

I picked her up shortly after 9 a.m. and hit the road for Lincoln City.

I see signs for "glacial rock" near Sheridan but have never taken the time to stop... until now. That was my first priority for our road trip. 

There was a pullout next to the road, some signs and a trail.

We read up on the chunk of rock, which surfed to Oregon in the Missoula Flood during the Ice Age. Very interesting stuff! Click HERE to read more.

The trail was about a quarter mile up to the top of the hill.

A little windy up here!

Though it doesn't show in the picture, we had a beautiful view of Mount Hood across the valley:

Atop the glacial rock:

We decided to see more places we always drive past... like H.B. Van Duzer State Park on Highway 18.

There's a rest area on each side of the highway. The westbound park is tucked back from the road with a nice restroom and lots of picnic tables and trees.

Pretty little creek running through:

When we finally got to Lincoln City, it was time to eat!

We chose Deli 101, which we'd had good luck at in the past. Half a veggie sandwich and chowder all the way around:

And hot enough to sit outside at the beach!

Then it was time for some shopping at the outlet mall, where we each scored some great deals. I really, really wanted these polyester pedal pushers from Old Navy but figured I'm not cool enough to pull them off :)

We weren't quite ready for dinner so we parked by Mo's and walked out a ways toward the ocean. This is the life!

Finally, dinner:

Eryn and I shared the shrimp louie. YUM!

It was hot at the beach but nowhere near the 99* at home! So glad we took a little road trip :)