I finally snapped a shot of one of the bazillion drive-thru espresso stands. Can we get these in New York, please?

Stop number one was another Goonies hot spot: Ecola State Park. The drive through this forested wonderland can only be described as magical. The weather was perfect and the forest is so thick that only random beams of sunlight make their way through the canopy of green. It was spectacular. Unfortunately the drive is rather windy and doesn’t lend itself to any stop-and-shoot moments, but the images are ingrained in my head.

Nonetheless, the magic was only starting. Just before entering the park I finally caught a glimpse of it—Haystack Rock has a presence over the whole area. We drove the winding road to Ecola Point and I don’t know how I ever brought myself to leave. This place is so special. The beach was pristine and looking at the rocks you can’t help but look for pirate ships.

We drove down to Indian Beach, apparently a hot spot for surfing.

Then it was on to Cannon Beach. I did a good deal of shopping in the cute little town, and even got a copy of Fearless Fourteen for $3 at the adorable little library.

At last—Haystack Rock in all its glory. I don’t know how to describe it. You just have to stand there staring at it in awe. We just don’t have things like this on the east coast. I could’ve stayed there taking pictures all day.

My travel companion didn’t come down to the beach with me. After 394 failed attempts to appropriately line up myself with the rocks…

...an EMT/Fire guy took pity on me and took some photos for me. Of course, I hate them, but thanks dude!

Alas, at some point I had to leave. Bye, bye Haystack Rock!

Down the road I got up close to those two other rocks from the Goonies.

Then we drove through Garibaldi and some other blip of a town…

...and stopped for lunch in Tillamook at the Blue Heron Cheese Factory. The animals were adorable. The cheese? Nothing compared to Vermont or New York.

From Tillamook we drove to Portland.

We spent the night at a surprisingly very nice—and wicked cheap—HoJo. The next morning, before we headed to the meeting location and my home for the next three nights, we headed into the heart of Portland. I bought sunglasses at Stella’s and perused a gallery. But then we stopped at the famed Powell’s Books, a bookstore that takes up an entire city block and houses new and used books side by side. Let’s just say that I needed to invoke the 2-carry-on-rule as a result of this stop. Among my finds were original 1970s Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back paperbacks to add to my Return of the Jedi book I’ve had since I was a kid.

For work we stayed at the McMenamins Kennedy School, a wickedly cool place to stay. I had cider at a local bar while watching the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics and playing (and losing) a game of Quizzy.

And then it was over, yeah, yeah, yeah (can you tell I’m tired from doing this for over an hour???) and I got some more shots of Mt. St. Helens on my way home.

We spent the night in Woodland, Washington. Then we drove Route 4 along the Columbia River on the Washington side. I saw, among all the beautiful sights, the somewhat disturbing view of where all those logs come from before they end up on giant trucks.

We then hooked up with Highway 101 and drove that into Astoria, OR—The Goondocks!

The Chamber of Commerce folks were very friendly and helpful. We had lunch (only because we JUST missed breakfast) at the Cannery Cafe before beginning hitting the real Goondocks sights.

First stop, the County Jail where the movie begins.

Right across the street is the Flavel House Museum—Mikey’s dad’s museum. I’d like to move in please.

Of course I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to hug a massive, 115-year-old Red Sequoia. Just amazing.

Next stop—the Goonies house. But we had a little trouble finding it so we pulled over near a pier to listen to the crazy seals and see the trolley.

At last, success! The Goonies house, with Data’s house right next door. There were two other girls there doing the exact same thing.

We the went up to see the Astoria Column and a panoramic view of the city.

And of course we did a little shopping in town where I found a Louis Vuitton wallet and this guy.

We finally found the bowling alley, but it was on our way out of Astoria and so alas, no photo. We found a place to spend the night (not cheaply) in Seaside and had dinner at a sushi place in town. We also learned that some huge race would be ending during the night—the Hood to Coast race, the largest relay race in the country.

I couldn’t resist checking out the beach that night, even though it’d been a full day already, since we were only 4 1/2 blocks from the ocean. I’m so glad I did. I found swings on the beach! Brilliant!

I also got to see Tillamook Head, the view from which Lewis and Clark (or maybe it was just one of them) said it was the most beautiful they’d ever seen.

After swinging on the swings, I walked down the 2-mile promenade to find something, uh, unnerving, check out the finish line and see another gorgeous view.

Stay tuned for day 2, including Ecola State Park, Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock—some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.