A Short Trip to Seaside

*Strolling along the 2-mile boardwalk -- called the Prom -- to the Downtown Turnaround and window shopping in the touristy stores.
*Picking berries that grow wild everywhere.
*Sitting on the powder-soft sand, bundled up in a jacket, watching the ocean.

This is not your lie-in-the-sun-in-a-bikini-type beach. The Northern Oregon Coast is rugged and the ocean is cold. It always reminds me of that classic photo of Marilyn Monore walking alone on a beach in a huge cable-knit sweater. It's perfect for long walks at sunset. It's that kind of beach.

*There's no sales tax in Oregon, so you save money when you're shopping.

Quick Tips:

Kids will enjoy the arcade, the oldest arcade on the Oregon Coast, as well as the Town Center carousel and the aquarium. For any kid who has studied the Lewis and Clark Expedition in school, this was literally the end of the trail for them, and a statue downtown commemorates the spot.

Best Way To Get Around:

Seaside is a 90 minute drive from Portland, so you'll probably have a car available anyway. If you're staying in the downtown area, you can probably walk everywhere you want to go.

We ate lunch at Norma's and it was just what we were looking for -- a home-style cafe where we could get some non-fancy seafood. It is a beach-style diner, with waitresses who will call you hon' and keep your iced tea glass refilled.

Fish is offered sauteed, grilled, broiled, poached or Cajun-style. Salad with iceburg lettuce and tiny shrimp or creamy clam chowder is included. I had the clam chowder, which was thick and had some big hunks of clams in it. I thought it was good, but my husband wanted more clams and less potato. I also had the fried oysters, which arrived hot and tender. There were about a dozen of them. They weren't large, but in oysters, smaller is better, and they were very tasty. My husband had pan-fried razor clams. They were lightly breaded and then sauteed -- I think they would have been better without the breading, which was a little thick considering that the rezor clams were thin and rather delicate. Home baked bread accompanies the meals. You can also choose garlic toast, but it was too greasy for me to recommend it. A fine place for a casual meal!

This factory outlet mall is not much different from others throughout the country, except there is no sales tax! This means an extra savings. There is a huge Nike store, an Adidas store, Jones New York, Big Dog, the usual L'Eggs-Bali-Hanes-Playtex store, Onieda, and about 24 others. The most unusual store is the Coldwater Creek Outlet, which I had known only from their catalog and online sales. I had no idea there was actually a bricks-and-mortar Coldwater Creek. Their easy styles for women are very popular, and they have wonderful jewelry. There is plenty of parking. I enjoyed an hour of browsing, but found nothing I absolutely had to buy. It's fine if you need a shopping fix on your trip, but I wouldn't call it a must-see.

Lewis and Clark ended their exploration of the Northwest Territory, which had been carried out at the behest of President Jefferson, at Fort Clatsop in late 1805. They needed salt to preserved meat on their long journey home, so in late December, they sent a group of men to build a salt camp. They selected the beach at Seaside, 15 miles southwest of the fort, and established the salt works in February 1806. They picked this site because the salt content of the seawater was not diluted by the fresh water of the nearby mouth of the Columbia River. The men worked feverishly for two weeks, boiling a total of about 1400 gallons of seawater. This turned into the equivalent of about 250 pounds of salt. When Lewis and Clark abandoned the salt works, there was nothing left of it but traces. It was dedicated as a memorial site in 1900, and is now a national monument. The reproduction of the salt works now found on the site was established in 1955, from sketches in expedition notebooks.

Today, you can see a replica of the salt cairn, with pails set into holes in the rock furnace to boil the seawater into salt. There is a plaque explaining its history, as well as a little about Lewis and Clark's expedition. It is located just a block or two off the Prom (boardwalk) on Lewis and Clark Way. It makes an interesting stop in a walk along the Prom. (Parking is also available.) Admission is free -- just walk up and look. It is an interesting glimpse into the history of the Northwest, and one of the few "cultural" spots in Seaside. Lewis and Clark are also memorialized by a statue at the "turnaround" on the Prom, downtown.

Harrison's Bakery has been around forever. My husband remembers going there as a kid more than 30 years ago and little has changed. There is a tempting variety of baked goods, including breads, cookies and pastries. Everything is baked in-house, and the place smells great! The huge pecan sticky buns are a favorite of mine. Don't make the same mistake I did and try to eat one of the powdered sugar-covered buttery crescent cookies while wearing black pants.

During berry season, you must try the marionberry pie. A marionberry is native to Oregon; it is something like a boysenberry. On a past trip, during August, we picked a lot of blackberries, which were growing wild everywhere. We bought a fresh-baked marionberry pie at Harrison's and some vanilla ice cream at the grocery store. We topped a slice of pie with ice cream and some of our fresh berries. Heavenly! I'd advise skipping dessert at the restaurant and getting a pie -- Harrison's is in the middle of downtown, near Dooger's Restaurant, Pig & Pancake, and the fast food stands. (Street parking is available.) Or just skip dinner and eat a bigger piece of pie!