The 22nd day of our family road trip started with a short drive to Cannon Beach, Oregon where we were looking forward to viewing the awesome Haystack Rock and eating lunch at a restaurant that overlooks the famous coastal formation.
No sooner had we finished our meal than did our older daughter began to cry of pain from a blister on her thumb. If you’ve followed our road trip so far you know where this story is going as we’ve already had four medical situations: 1. my wife’s emergency root canal surgery, 2. my son’s severe Eczema crisis, 3. my toddler’s bladder infection and 4. my wife’s big gash atop the glacier in Alaska.
Elena's half finger/half blister.
Elena’s blister was threatening to make it five doctor’s visits in one road trip. Her blister was so seriously freaky it was the full size of her thumb making her finger look part monster/part finger.
Trying to prevent it from getting worse we took our daughter to an urgent care clinic in Cannon Beach but to aggravate the problem the clinic turned us away because they said they were only seeing patients with appointments.
As we prepared to forsake Haystack Rock in search of anyone, anywhere who would see my daughter, a loud gasp sounded in the car. Elena’s nasty blister had burst and she was going to be fine. Our vacation day was rescued and for once we escaped having to see a doctor!
Haystack Rock
With my daughter’s blister out of the way, we turned our attention to Haystack Rock, at 235 feet, the state’s tallest coastal rock formation and the third largest monolith in the world. Haystack Rock has been in several Hollywood movies including The Goonies, Kindergarten Cop and 1941 and is the kind of place that you can easily see couples getting engaged at because it is just that beautiful.
Like many beach-front vistas along Oregon’s coast, Haystack Rock is also popular for picnicking, kite-flying, bird-watching, painting, photography or just laying in the sand. Our day was cut short because of Elena’s blister so we decided to settle for viewing Haystack Rock from two of the most popular vantage points: Ecola State Park and Indian Beach. Admission to Ecola State Park gives you free admission to Indian River and both offer gorgeous, winding drives to the viewpoints.
As you can see here from some of our photos this is one place we would have liked to stay at longer.
Tillamook Factory
On our way south through the Oregon coast my wife begged me to pit stop at the Tillamook Factory headquarters for her favorite ice cream and cheese. I’m not an ice cream or cheese fanatic but I have to admit that there’s something about the Tillamook ice cream and cheese that makes them stand apart from others. My kids, wife and I swear this is the best ice cream and cheese we’ve ever had. The only way we can get these products is by living in the northwestern United States or ordering online so we will try the latter at http://store.tillamookcheese.com/.
Disney Vacation Tip of the Day
The longer your road trip is the more challenging you’ll find it is to do laundry. I wish we could say we’ve become experts at this but we’re not. Part of the reason for that is because washing clothes during a road trip requires more timing and luck than you would think. Our laundry advice for you is to let the dirty clothes accumulate so you are not washing it piece meal, wash clothes at laundromats so you can clean them in faster in reliable machines and clean them on mornings early while your family rests. This is easier said than done.
The Wayfarer Restaurant is a great place for food and a terrific window view of Haystack Rock.
We started the day with our luggage accidentally falling out of the trunk. My wife forgot to close it.
Noticias Newswire 
