Our house, thankfully, has been booked most of the summer so we haven’t had much time to visit and see the changes happening in Rockaway Beach lately. We finally visited our house a couple of weeks ago, and we found some significant changes in town.

First, the one thing that Rockaway Beach always seemed to be missing was a salt water taffy and candy store. Thankfully, that void has been filled with a new branch of the Cannon Beach favorite Picnic Basket Candy Store. Dana and I highly recommend the funnel cake.

There are also a couple of new antique and thrift store. I finally spent some time in Flamingo Jim’s which has a great assortment of Rockaway Beach clothing. Make sure to stop by and do some shopping here.

On your way to Flamingo Jim’s on the south end of Rockaway Beach, you’ll pass by the new City Hall. The new City Hall hasn’t opened its doors yet, but it looks fantastic, I’m excited to see such growth and construction in the community.

We’re really pleased by the increase in activity in Rockaway Beach. We’ve felt like Rockaway is a hidden gem that most Oregonians aren’t aware of. It seems like development in Rockaway is starting to increase.

However, because this is the first summer we’ve spent time in Rockaway Beach, it is difficult to tell how much of this activity is seasonal versus sustaining. We certainly hope the funnel cake at the Picnic Basket is here to stay. ;-)

We’ve found three new places to eat in Rockaway Beach which is always great news in a small town like Rockway.

The Cow Belle Cafe has good country food. The biscuits and gravy is the best I’ve found on the coast (Grammy Lucys in Portland has the best in Oregon). The restaurant shares a kitchen with the saloon next door. If you are unaware, you may get startled by the divider opening as the saloon places an order.

Clara’s smoke house has great smoked food. It isn’t a restaurant per say, but you can’t go wrong with their premium smoked salmon.

The Mazatlan is the only Mexican restaurant in town. The food is pretty good, and it seems like half their menu features New York Steak cuts in traditional mexican dishes.