Pacific City, Oregon

When I think about the quaint seaside town of Pacific City, Oregon two things come to mind. The first is always, “how is the surf.” A long distant second is, “I get to drink great beer after I surf.”

I have been visiting Pacific City for about 15 years. I first started driving out to PC around the time I first became surfing obsessed. Nearly every weekend for a year or so, my surf buddy Dave and I traveled the two hours from Portland to enjoy the stellar beach and reef break at Cape Kiwanda. We surfed until my feet and hands were numb from cold and my arms were wet noodles from paddling. Then we would reward ourselves with a beer from the

Fast forward to a recent weekend, my family and I made the drive out to Pacific City on a Friday afternoon. I hoped to feed my winter dormant surf obsession with a few sessions snuck in between some quality family time. The moment we walked into the lobby at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda, we were handed complementary glasses of Pelican beer and free snacks sponsored by the hotel. My husband and I looked at each other and said, “this is a great way to start the weekend.”

The Inn at Cape Kiwanda is owned and operated by the same folks who own the Pelican and other developments in and around Pacific City. By either luck or design I am not sure which, we were upgraded to the “Surf Suite,” a spacious room that boasted a gas fireplace, a balcony over looking the surf break and a sweet kids room featuring a VW surfer bus bunk bed, an unused in our case Xbox, toys and surf memorabilia from O’Neil wetsuits.

Surfer room at the Inn at Cape Kiwanda

The weather report looked horrible for most of the day when we woke up the following morning. There was a brief window without rain so we seized the moment and adventured out to the beach. We made sand castles with our feet. We climbed the sand cliff to the right of the Cape and ran back down. We watched the enormous waves slam the beach creating a latte-like foam that we kicked and stomped and trampled to our hearts delight.

As the rain arrived in a torrent, I tried to convince myself that the 30-knot winds and the waves that were reportedly as big as 20 feet were safe to surf in. I thought I could just play in the inner waves a little, just to get wet and to smell the sweet scent of wet neoprene all over my body. I dashed into Moment Surf Company 33260 Cape Kiwanda Drive and the friendly and wise folks in the shop emphatically declared that the surf conditions were dangerous and they strongly recommended that no one brave this particular storm.

My family and I instead enjoyed the view of the wild sea from our cozy room. We made a new Lego set that my husband brilliantly brought along as a surprise for our four-year-old son, in case we were stuck inside because of bad weather.

Our second night in Pacific City we returned to the manager’s happy hour at the hotel and chatted with other hotel guests. Friendly, alcohol fueled small talk helped foster a tiny sense of community.

We discovered the hard way that the Pelican is indeed the only game in town for dinner. The previous night we tried Los Caporales, 35025 Brooten Rd, Pacific City, a serviceable restaurant whose menu offers the full cannon of Mexican-American specialties. We waited for over an hour for a table at the Pelican, eventually sharing our table with a nice couple, Joe and Michelle, who we had met at the happy hour. The couple was celebrating 12 years since their engagement by returning to Pacific City, where Joe at first proposed. The wait for the table was long and thankfully, the food came quickly once we were seated. Great beer, good food and an interesting conversation made for a memorable evening.

Much to my disappointment I never took my surfboard out of the case that trip to Pacific City. Between the storm watching, the Lego building and quality family time I didn’t really miss surfing that weekend. Well, that’s not entirely true but the ocean always has the final say.