Memorial Day Weekend, Waterfalls, and Cannon Beach

We have this informal policy where we'll do our damnedest to visit a place that's been recommended. Karen's brother Mark recommended that we check out Multnomah Falls. Nadine and Matthew who'd been told by a guy they met on a boat on the Andaman Sea that Cannon Beach was not to be missed. So that was on the itinerary as well.

The falls are just a short drive outside of Portland along the East 84 which, for a large part of the journey tracks alongside the incredible Columbia River. The scale of this river is unbelievable: wide, long, navigable, beautiful.

As we got nearer the turn-off to Multnomah Falls we saw a sign saying that a permit was required to park if we were taking Exit 31. Karen directed us to take Exit 22 which took us onto the Historic Columbia River Highway.

This road takes one past a number of waterfalls. Every single viewing or access point to a waterfall was totally jam-packed. There was simply no access. They have tram buses taking people to various waterfall access points. But it was impossible to park in order to get onto one of these. Memorial Day weekend you see.

So we didn't see any waterfalls. Not one.

We did however find a spectacular viewing point overlooking the Columbia River. As mentioned, this is totally spectacular.

Cannon Beach is incredible. This 72m high sea stack jumps out of the beach. The rock, called Haystack Rock, totally dominates the beach and the lovely town. So why, one asks, is the town not called Haystack Beach? Or Big Rock? Or The Rock? So when you arrive, you think to yourself, this rock doesn't look like a cannon? Is it a pile of gunpowder perhaps? Or the ruin of a target? Or perhaps some part of a cannon? Or maybe at the top of Haystack Rock were some cannons?

Not at all.

It's named after a real little cannon that washed ashore from a schooner wreck in 1846 . The town was originally named Ekoli Creek in 1806 by William Clark (named after the Chinook word for "whale" ekholi). The name never really stuck and was changed to Elk Creek. The name was changed to Cannon Beach in 1898.

For 93 years the town name was problematic. Even the United States Post Office didn't like "Elk Creek" as it was confused with another town called Eola (they both started with an "e" and included a "l"). One can imagine the discussions at Council. "Agenda number 3 is the town name, anyone have any proposals". "Puffin Bay"? ventured one. "White sand?" "How about Long Beach?" proposed another. There was always, probably, one clever dick who said "why don't we call it Haystack or The Rock?". And the council chair who probably didn't like the clever dick because his dog had killed his rooster 10 years ago, said "no, we need to be more creative!".

And then someone remembered that little cannon from that little wreck.