Even though our trip to Ilwaco, WA took place almost two years ago, I can still remember it with such clarity. It’s one of my favorite memories from our time spent in Washington during my travel nurse assignment in Tacoma, despite the fact that it coincided with the worst heat wave that area has seen since 1981 (more on that later). My husband Keith and I decided to go to a coastal town for a weekend getaway. We chose the tiny village of Ilwaco for a few different reasons: it’s right across the Columbia River from Astoria, OR which I had read amazing things about and wanted to visit as well (also, it’s where the The Goonies was filmed); since it’s such a small town, it is cheaper to stay there than to stay in Astoria; it is a five minute drive from the beach; and it has a state park in town.
Ilwaco is situated on the northern bank of the Columbia River which is the border between Washington and Oregon; the only thing that separates the village from the Pacific Ocean is Cape Disappointment State Park. About a five minute drive North from Ilwaco is the small town of Oceanview that hosts Long Beach – the “World’s Longest Continuous Peninsula Beach”. That seems like a pretty bold claim to make, but it was a pretty great beach to hang out on. One thing that I love about the West coast is being able to watch the sunset at the beach.
We stayed at the most adorable hotel while in Ilwaco. It’s called the Salt Hotel & Pub, and not only is it dog friendly and overlooking the boardwalk and harbor, but they also serve the most amazing food. I would definitely stay there again.
Day one for us in Ilwaco also turned out to be Farmer’s Market day, so after checking in to our room and eating lunch in the pub, we browsed the booths and shops along Ilwaco’s boardwalk. I even received two free hand painted postcards from a local artist just for being a nurse. Then we walked out on the docks in the harbor and dreamed of living on a boat (it’s not THAT different from living in an RV, right?!). When the day got hot we retreated to our room. Although the hotel does not have A/C (when we first arrived in WA we – southerners – were shocked to learn that most houses there do not have A/C), it was still fairly cool in our room – all the rooms are positioned on a breezeway to catch the wind, the window is quite small, and we were on the first floor.
That evening, we decided to drive to Oceanview to watch the sunset and have dinner. That meant leaving our dog Luna in her crate in the hotel room. She does pretty great in her crate on trips, only barking if someone knocks on the door. Anyways, we were able to watch the sun set over the ocean (and have a mini photoshoot of course) – something that will never get old – and enjoyed a delicious dinner at Pickled Fish, a restaurant located on the top floor of a hotel that is right on the beach.
The next morning, we drove to Astoria, OR. It was about a 30 minute drive from where we were staying, and to get there we had to drive across the Astoria-Megler Bridge, which according to wikipedia is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. Although I’m not 100% sure what that means, one thing I do know is that the bridge is crazy long. When we were about halfway across it (it’s much longer than it looks from the bank of the river) Keith and I got curious so I looked up how long it is. It’s 21,474’ long, which is a little over 4 miles.
Coming into Astoria over the bridge, you can see the Victorian-era buildings rising up the hill from the river, and it truly feels like driving into a fairy tale town. After we browsed the farmer’s market, we stopped at a cafe to eat lunch. Since we had Luna with us, we had to eat outside, and unfortunately it was quite hot – over 100℉. Due to the extreme heat (and lack of A/C), many businesses were closed, so we decided to head back to Ilwaco – after stopping for ice cream, of course. That afternoon, we visited the park in town, Cape Disappointment State Park. A beautiful (and dog friendly) park, it features two historic lighthouses and a rocky beach.
Once it got too hot to stay outside, we went back to the hotel. It was a little cooler inside, and we relaxed there until suppertime. Our plan was to go back to Oceanview to eat, but after driving around there we discovered that most of the restaurants were closed. Apparently, due to the heat wave, a lot more people were eating out instead of cooking at home – not only do the restaurants have A/C, which they don’t have at home, but people also didn’t want to heat up their houses even more by turning on the stove or oven. Since more people were eating out than usual, the restaurants had run out of food! Crazy.
Desperate to find a place to eat by this point, we went back to our hotel. Luckily they agreed to serve us supper even though they were technically closed as well, because we were guests there. Since they also had run out of most of their food, our meals were upgraded. I got gouda cheese on my sandwich instead of cheddar, and Keith got salmon instead of cod with his meal. But who are we to complain?
By the time we finished supper, it was finally starting to cool down outside. We knew it would be even cooler at the beach, so we took Luna with us to watch the sunset. Apparently, everyone else had the same idea that we did; it was quite crowded. But it was the perfect ending to our vacation.
The next morning we left Ilwaco before it got too hot. While we’d been gone, our friends Rachael and Travis, who were staying at the same RV park we were, had been texting to let us know that the RV park had lost power due to rolling outages (it was so hot that everyone was running fans and portable A/C units, and the electrical grid became overloaded). By the time we were leaving Ilwaco, they texted to let us know that the power was back, so everything seemed to be working out. Unfortunately, it was still quite hot in our trailer when we got back, but we turned the A/C back on and were relieved when it started cooling down. By then, it was time for supper, so we left Luna in the camper and went to eat. Even in the bigger town of Puyallup, close to where our RV park was, many restaurants were closed due to food shortage. But we were able to find an open restaurant, and even though the wait was long, it had A/C and was better than cooking in the camper.
Right before we got home from supper the power went out again at the RV park, so we loaded Luna up in the car and decided to just drive around to stay cool. We found ourselves at the entrance to Mount Rainier National Park (about an hour’s drive), and although we didn’t go into the park, it was still beautiful. By the time we got back the power was back on, but it was still very hot inside the camper. Luckily, I didn’t have to work the next day, so Keith and I (and Luna) just opened all the windows and the door to the camper to let it air out. The temperature had gone down quite a bit by this point, so we didn’t mind sitting outside. I think we stayed out there until after midnight when it was finally cool enough to go to sleep inside (with no covers on lol).
So that’s the story of our weekend in Ilwaco and of how we survived the June 2021 heat wave. I like to mix in some of my personal adventures with the stories about my photography couples and elopement planning tips. Writing about this trip has helped me to remember and record so many details that I might have otherwise forgotten. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to tell this story and for reading all the way through to the end. I hope you enjoyed it!
I’m a wife, a dog mom, a foodie, a wanderer, a registered nurse, and a couples/intimate wedding/elopement photographer … and this blog will cover it all! If you enjoyed this post, first of all thank you, and second of all please follow me on Instagram + Facebook to get updates on future blog posts, see sneak peeks of my amazing couples, and so much more! If you have any questions about elopement photography, my journey from nursing to photography, or my time spent as a full-time RVer, drop a comment and I just might write a blog post answering your question (but I definitely will)!
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