Day 21 – May 21
finds us leaving California and the bad roads behind for the Oregon coast! California is a large, beautiful state with
many national parks that are our favorites. But it is time to head north. Highway 101 in northern California was washed
out in many places due to the overload of bad winter weather they had. It just
slows your travels down when you have to be on a one lane road from time to
time.
The beach scenery in Oregon is much more dramatic! We arrived at Sunset Bay State Park mid-afternoon (Loop A sites are small and
suck but this is where we were able to make reservations. Try for Loop D). We did make one stop to see the Cape Blanco Lighthouse but when we got
to the top of a narrow road, the winds were at least 50 mph and the sea fog
rolled in. Need I say more about it? But
I did snag a good picture.
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Cape Blanco Lighthouse in the sea fog and gale force winds. |
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The gardener's house at Shore Acres |
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Shore Acres |
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Look at the size of these buds! |
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Shore Acres |
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Shore Acres |
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Shore Acres |
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I think these birds had a nest. |
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Check out the sea gulls |
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Ron and Greg walking down on the beach |
This state park does have a lot to offer. One of the
highlights was going to the Shore Acres
Gardens which is down the road. It is beautiful. I am thankful to the families that donated
what they created to the state so future generations can enjoy. The rhododendrums were in full bloom and are
so beautiful. They make the azaleas we
grow at home look so tiny and frail. We can hear the fog horn from the Cape Arago Lighthouse near the park this
evening.
Day 22 – May 22
was a lazy morning. We are only
traveling about 130 miles up the coast to the South Beach State Park which
is outside of Newport, OR. Now this is a
great state park. It seems to be a
very busy state park as RVs were coming and going all day long. We went to town and had the oil changed on
the truck and then did a little sightseeing in town. The lighthouse in town – Yaquina – was closed when we got there (close at 4). We went to the
historic wharf in town. Found us a little place to try some local beer and then
we went and watched the sea lions. They
are so funny to watch! Quite comical!
The mosquitoes are here. We went for a walk on the beach to
catch the sunset.
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The bridge going into Newport |
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Yaquina Light house |
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Newport Historic Wharf |
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About to sample a good local beer |
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Cheers!! |
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Comical sea lions! |
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Newport Wharf |
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Very colorful wharf |
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Bailey and Greg getting ready for the sunset on the beach. |
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The mystical sea fog |
Day 23 – May 23
we landed at Cape Lookout State Park
which is near Tillamook State Park. (Don’t arrive early here – the park rangers
wouldn’t let us occupy our site, even though it was empty, until 4.) It was a
beautiful drive to the park, and the park is very beautiful, set amidst the
tall, rainforest scenery. The beach is right by the campground too. We dropped the trailers in their parking lot
and drove to Tillamook. So excited! They
make our favorite cheeses, yogurt, and are a strong competition in the ice
cream department with our Texas BlueBell.
We did eat some awesome grilled cheese sandwiches and had ice cream for
dessert. We stopped at the Blue Heron and sampled some French
cheeses and wine tasting.
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The famous grilled cheese and tomato soup! |
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Sampling the cheese |
Next stop was the Cape
Meares Lighthouse. This lighthouse is 217’ above sea level and the 38’
tower is the shortest on the Oregon Coast.
The volunteer there gave an excellent tour. We did a little beach
walking when we returned to camp.
Finally found a perfect sand dollar and we saw 2 eagles, our first
sighting on this trip.
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What a great campsite! |
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The 3 arches. You can see the arches from the other side. |
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The town of Oceanside |
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Beautiful lighthouse |
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Checking it out on our tour |
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Inside the lighthouse |
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The beach by our campsite |
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Our first eagle sighting! |
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And sea fog |
Day 24 – May 24 is
going to be a great day as we were going to be meeting up with friends, Ed and
Carolyn, that we met when we volunteered at the Lyndon B. Johnson National
Historical Park. Washington is their
home state and they were kind enough to come camping at Pacific Beach State Park with us.
We had a good drive over. The Astoria bridge that goes between Oregon
and Washington is so huge, and pretty crossing the Columbia River. We stopped at the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Ft. Clatsop in Oregon
before crossing over. This fort was
built on the banks of the Netul (now Lewis and Clark) river. This was the winter encampment for the Corps
of Discovery from December 1805 to March 1806.
These were some tough guys! We
toured the replica fort. It’s a really good Visitor’s Center here, and we got
to get another stamp for our passport books!
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Their canoe launch area |
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Replica of their fort |
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Sasqwatch |
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The Astoria bridge that connects Oregon to Washington. Wow. |
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On the bridge |
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Still a lot of bridge to travel! |
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Our volunteer friends Ed and Carolyn, Ron, Greg and Donna (and Bailey). |
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Story time. Just glad we did bring some Texas sunshine, even though it was still cold. |
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The creek view behind our RV. This is a beautiful park. |
Next up – Olympic National Park!
We have been in 45 of the 49 states you can drive to; Oregon is one of the ones we have not been to...yet. People have told us it's beautiful and indeed your pictures prove their tales true!
ReplyDeleteAbout a month ago, we spent about 6 weeks volunteering at the Meriwether Lewis site in Tennessee and are anxious to go to Fort Clatsop-indeed they were a hardy bunch of explorers!
So glad you got together with Ed and Carolyn; I'm sure it was fun to catch up with them!
Keep the posts and pictures coming! You're going to love Yukon campgrounds. When we were staying in them they were $12 a night and all the free firewood you can use. Made for some wonderful outdoor evenings.
Continued safe travels!
Betty