Camping on the Oregon Coast

Nehalem Bay Beach on the Oregon Coast

My husband and I spent last weekend on mini-vacation camping on the Oregon Coast.  Two other couples that we know camped in the same Loop A at the Nehalem Bay Beach Campground, an Oregon State Park.  We took turns making dinner in the evenings, shared bicycles and camp fires, and watched a couple of sunsets together.  This was the perfect start to our summer.

Bicycling on one of the trails at Nehalem Bay State Park

My husband and I stayed in this yurt.

Watercolor sketches, camping on the Oregon coast

These are shore pines, or coast pines — lots of them in our campground

I love the wildness of the Oregon coast.  There are some touristy towns, but many, many more miles of undeveloped beaches.  From our beach over the dunes from our yurt, we could walk about three miles south to a jetty that marked the entrance to Nehalem Bay.  Or we could walk north a mile or more to the small town of Manzanita.  Our steps were accompanied by the sound of the surf and waves — eternal, awesome.

Walking south toward the jetty

Nehalem Bay State Park is also a horse campground.

The ocean beaches are full of “sea-born treasures.”  I have written before about the irresistible appeal of beach combing, filling my pockets with nature’s charms.  This trip was no exception.

Our beach sojourn was a lovely respite, but I could have stayed much longer.  Sometimes it takes a few unscheduled days to get into the flow of a vacation and benefit from those timeless hours.  I would have liked to spend more time drawing and painting.

Monday morning, back in the city, I woke to the distant sound of freeway traffic.  For just a moment, I pretended I was hearing the sound of the ocean surf.