Our First Month in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, June 2026

Patty and Megan flew from Boston to Portland on Monday, May 25.  I flew back to Phoenix on the 25th, then to Portland on Saturday the 30th.  We got to spend time with Megan at her home and I donated platelets and plasma at the Red Cross on Sunday the 31st.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patty and I drove with Piper to Rockaway Beach on Monday, June 1.  All of the coast is public land - private land can abut the beach, but the beach is open to all.  In Rockaway, the sandy beach is about seven miles long, north to south.  At high tide, the beach is about 50 yards or more; at low tide, as much as 200 yards in some places.  So it is great for walking on hard packed sand, which is something we did often.  The town is noted for the Twin Rocks, located a couple of hundred yards off shore.

Our rental property had a nice fenced in back yard, so we could let Piper out without worry - but she never used the backyard for toileting - that was done either in the adjacent vacant lot or when we were out walking.  And walk we did - our rental was three blocks from the beach, close enough to walk to but far enough away to avoid most of the downtown activity.  The one thing we heard every day was the train whistle for the tourist train that would bring up to 200 tourists to the town during business hours.  We chose Rockaway Beach to be away from the heat of Phoenix - while we had a few warm days with highs in the 70s, being on the coast meant most days had highs in the 60s.  I thought it was great, I think Patty would have liked it to have been a bit warmer on some of the cooler days.

The vacant yard next door that Piper frequented, both on and off leash

Our rental was on Dolphin Street, which ran north to south and was parallel to both US Route 101 and the beach.  The vacant lot to our north was free of trees, but then the next area to the north had a wooded area left with vegetation to absorb the rain.

One block west of us was a park that we could see over the back fence.

Here is a good photo of the Twin Rocks for which the town is known.

 

 

One day, we walked the Rockaway Beach Old Growth Big Cedar Trail.  It is a bit more than a mile and the entire length is a raised wooden walkway, totally handicap accessible.  It was fascinating to see how big an old growth tree could be.

 

We let Piper go off trail by this tree to explore.

This is the tree the park is name after, look how small the people are.

There was a fun gift shop called Trash or Treasures, they had all kinds of signs.  This is one I enjoyed.

The first time we saw wild deer on the street was on a walk to the Phyllis Baker City Park, one block north of our rental.  They seemed to be used to interacting with people.

 Megan would come visit on the days she was not flying.  Besides walking and enjoying time together, we visited the Pronto Pup, the company that first created the corn dog - Megan rode the corn dog machine.

Did I mention that we often saw wild deer in our yard and across the street?  Looking out the window, we even saw one neighbor feeding the deer by hand.

This is the house across the street from us

In the vacant lot next to our rental

A neighbor sat in the street and hand fed the deer.

We also saw lots of squirrels in and around the rocks that made a breakwater between the sand and the central city park and parking lot.

When Ben visited in the middle of the month, one evening there was clear sky and the chance to see the sunset, so Ben and I took Piper to the beach for the view.  Piper did not want to go all the way to the water's edge, so she and I stayed back while Ben went.

That solitary person on the left at the water's edge is Ben

As we got closer to July 4th, we saw an increase in the number of signs reminding people that city law prohibits fireworks - the city planned to have a large public show at multiple locations along the seven mile long beach. 

Megan collects cans and bottles that have the ten cent deposit on them.  We always took a plastic bag with us to gather any when we were walking Piper or when I was walking and listening to podcasts.  Some days it was none, some a couple - and some days a real bounty.  We collected both ones in good shape and those that had been crushed.  Those in good shape went into a large green bag, no limit on the number of cans and bottles.  Crushed one went in a separate bag and could only be cashed in 50 at a time.  

Rockaway Beach has a Kite Festival every year, it is apparently quite an event.

Many deer did not mind us walking by on the street - it would typically take lots of barking from Piper to run away.

 

 

We As we had done last year on our 50th anniversary when we were renting a few towns south of here, Patty and I went out for a quiet dinner together.  This time was outside at the beach at Sand Dollar Restaurant.  The Kite Festival was that weekend, so we saw many kites flown on all three days.

 

We celebrated Megan's birthday on the weekend she visited.  The rest of the month was quiet and relaxing.  And before we knew it, July had come - but that is the next post.