We spent about 2.5 hours driving the Oregon coastal highway (highway 101). It's a really nice drive with beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean and several rivers that flow into the ocean. The road weaves up the coast through many little towns along the way. The little towns remind me of some of the small vacation villages you might find on the coast of North Carolina, but one was big enough to have a Wal-Mart. Personally, I've decided that measuring the number of Wal-Marts is one of the best ways to gauge the size of a city. For example, Winchester Virginia (near my home town) is a city with three Wal-Marts. Using the Wal-Mart method, that's a pretty big city. If a town doesn't have a Wal-Mart, it really has more of the small town feel.
Speaking of small town feel, Pacific City is a very tiny town with only a couple restaurants and several motels and vacation rental properties. I'm not sure it even has a gas station. It's got a great beach, but you can't really swim in the water unless you have a wet suit, which is true of the entire northern Pacific coast.
The highlight of the day was our visit to Sea Lion Caves, which is the largest natural sea cave in the world (according to their signs). The sea lions discovered it well before the humans did and made it their home. The folks who owned the land have turned it into a little "tourist trap" by blasting enough of the rock to make an elevator and a viewing area underground. Going underground into the backside of the cave is a pretty cool experience, especially when you get to see the sea lions in their natural habitat.
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