Wednesday, October 26 saw us cross over the giant and very long bridge near the mouth of the Columbia River from Washington State into Astoria, Oregon. Armed with the Coast Explorer Magazine Visitor Guide Fall 2016 - Winter 2017 we were able to read about some recommended tourist attractions and interesting things to see along the way while learning some history about each stop as well.
From Coast Explorer Magazine, by Gary Hayes, Coast Explorer Publisher, “The ocean is different in fall and winter. Don’t be surprised to see big waves that explosively crash along the shoreline, turn foamy white or leave a spindrift of mist as they roll ashore.” (pg 7) That is definitely how the coast has presented itself to us. Lots of rain, crashing and foamy waves with endless beaches.
Website: coastexplorermagazine.com
Astoria marks the beginning of our journey down the Oregon Coast. Strategically placed near the mouth of the Columbia River, it is the first commercial hub of the West Coast and oldest US settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. (Coast Explorer Magazine, Visitor Guide Fall 2016 - Winter 2017, pg 13). It was a very busy place humming with traffic and ships, making its spectacular debut to us when we arrived.
We continued down the highway and stopped at a town called Ecola near Ecola State Park. The reason for stopping?; to see Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach. We parked the truck and trailer in visitor parking and walked out to the ocean. The closer we got, the windier. When we got out to the beach, the wind was howling and it was blowing hard. Sand flying towards us and the whole time I was wondering how it didn’t lift Piper’s tiny body off the ground. Piper seemed to have a lot of fun running through the wind and even jumping and trying to catch the sand in her mouth. (whoops) She’s a quick learner though realizing that is not a good idea, but she did try it twice! LOL Sometimes we would carry her to give her a break from the sand blowing into her eyes. After battling with the wind and blowing sand, even walking backwards at times, we reached our destination in front of Haystack Rock. There it was, standing in all its grace and glory. Absolutely beautiful and majestic and worth every step to get close to it.
The rest of the day lent itself to a whole lot of driving as we had a goal to get to McMinnville which is further inland from Highway 101 to Highway 22 and then Highway 18 East. During this part of the drive, the sun was setting and it was getting quite dark. I was starting to think about wildlife and how we hadn’t seen any and right at that moment Dan and I both saw elk ahead of us crossing the road. Four of them. Thankfully, Dan saw them and slowed right down. He then looked at me and said, “Funny, I was just thinking about how we haven’t seen any wildlife and boom!” I said to him, “Me too!”.
We arrived at Spirit Mountain Casino, Grande Ronde and parked for the night. Again, this is an amazing and great priviledge to be able to park for free (you have to sign up for a Coyote Membership here (free) and you can only stay 72 consecutive hours though. If you want to stay longer, they need to see that you are gambling at least $200 a day in the casino. This was a great stop as it had water and dump available too.
The next day (Thursday, October 27) we drove to Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, McMinnville. This museum was a must see for us. (Thank you Jim for the recommendation) The Spruce Goose, known as the world’s largest airplane at its time, built by Howard Hughes and Henry Kaiser (1942) is now housed at Evergreen. In the past it was housed in a marina in the San Diego area. It was a definite highlight for both of us. We also had opportunity to sit in the cockpit exactly where Howard Hughes piloted high speed water taxis with this new prototype (the Spruce Goose) made almost entirely of wood. On the last high speed taxi, Hughes surprised the crowd of spectators by lowering the flaps which allowed the Spruce Goose to fly just above the water for a short time and then returned the flaps and brought the aircraft back to the water. This was the proof they needed to see that this plane built of wood could fly, making history! The plan was to have three of these planes to help take men and supplies into or near the front lines believing that if a plane could carry the supplies and men, land on the water and then dock it would be more successful at surviving the journey as many ships had been blown up before reaching their destination. Shortly after Hughes demonstration of the Spruce Goose, the war ended and the project was kiboshed. That was to be the one and only time the Spruce Goose ever flew.
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| Wing of the Spruce Goose |
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| Inside Spruce Goose looking down into tail |
Leonardo Decaprio also sat in the pilot’s seat for some of his scenes in the movie “Aviator”. Aviator was partly filmed using a model version of the Spruce Goose and miniature models of the hangar in which it was built. By using a green screen behind the actors, they could place the models of the hangar, plane parts, planes, etc. on the screen and then by putting the actors and sets together, it looked like the actors were actually standing beside life size objects.
The next few photos below show the model set of the Spruce Goose for the Aviator movie that was on display at the museum.
There was a little park beside the parking lot where we were able to take Piper for some exercise and a much needed outing after waiting for us in the trailer that we parked in the parking lot nearby.
After spending a fabulous day at the museum , meeting my new friend Vivian (a volunteer for many years at the museum whom I immediately connected with) and taking in all the planes, space shuttle, rockets and capsules, we headed back to spend another night at the Spirit Mountain Casino. Before returning to the casino, we stopped at a barn selling fresh veggies and homemade peanut brittle, honey, etc. and stocked up on fresh organic apples and pears, among a few other goodies.
Friday, October 28 we traveled back to the west coast and back onto Highway 101 South. The scenery was ever changing and absolutely gorgeous. I tried to capture a few shots of the beautiful scenery as we passed by. We stopped at Depoe Bay to see if we could see whales from the shore. The Coast Explorer Magazine said it was possible to see whales from shore in this area. And sure enough, we did! We saw whales just off the shore using our binoculars. We could see them come up for air and sometimes roll in the water.
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| Depoe Bay |
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| Dan, whale watching with binoculars |
It was actually a very beautiful day. We seem to luck out with our days. The days that we want to hike and check things out, the sun seems to shine for us, at least for the time we need to do the exploring we want to do. We continued down the road and stopped at Otter Rock to see the Devil’s Punchbowl, a natural sandstone geological formation. It is thought that this was once a sea cave whose roof has collapsed. (Coast Explorer Magazine, Visitor Guide Fall 2016 - Winter 2017, pg 27-28)
A little further down the road on Highway 101 South, we pulled in to see Devils Churn in the Siuslaw National Forest. What started years and years ago as a tiny fracture has been endlessly beaten and pounded by the waves and has created a chasm. The sound is loud and harsh as the sea waves hit and splash in the chasm below exhibiting its amazing power.
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| Devil's Churn |
We made many short stops along the way and enjoyed taking in the fresh ocean air and the beautiful scenery. Cool tunnels, winding roads, construction zones, traffic, unexpected surprises like surfers along the journey make driving the 101 all that more spectacular.
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| Devil's Churn |
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| Enjoying the beauty at Devil's Churn |
Passing through beautiful North Bend led us into Coos Bay over another really cool looking bridge. While crossing over the Coos Bay Bridge, over to my side of the truck we could see another bridge that was opened to allow ships to sail through. Coos Bay is a bigger city that offers many amenities, but we didn’t stop here. It is always our goal to stay out of busy places when possible especially while pulling the trailer.
No better place to stop on a Friday night than the Three Rivers Casino in Florence. This was just for an overnighter (free) and then the next morning we were on our way again. Florence is about halfway down the coastline of Oregon.
On Saturday, October 29, Sunset Bay State Park was our first stop. The sun was shining and this was the calmest we had seen the ocean in all the days we have traveled alongside it. There were people out on paddle boards in this area. There was a lighthouse on the far North side. We didn’t walk to it, but later further down the highway we were able to grab a glimpse of it.
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| Paddle boarders in Sunset Bay |
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| Panoramic shot of Sunset Bay |
Taking a little scenic route out to Cape Arago State Park proved to be a really exciting part of the day. The area was beautiful with a few walking trails. Following one trail to a spot North of the parking lot led us to barking sea lions on the rocks below. There were quite a few of them and what an exciting thing to see them so close in their natural environment!
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| Sea Lions at Cape Arago |
A walk to the other side of the Cape took us to beautiful scenery, but also we stumbled upon a lady that claimed she saw a whale out in the bay. Dan was armed with the binoculars and sure enough he also saw the whale! It is so amazing what you can learn and discover in nature.
Before we left this area, we had lunch and enjoyed listening to the waves crashing on the rocks below us. And yes, the sun was still shining!
We continued on to Port Orford and found a beautiful RV park called Port Orford RV Village (located at 2855 Port Orford Loop Road, 541-332-1041, www.portorfordrv.com). Rates here are very decent and offer full hook-ups, picnic tables, coin-op laundry (excellent machines), dump station, pet friendly, and many other amenities. They have a monthly potluck as well, which Dan and I showed up for right on time! As soon as we pulled in and got our spot, Cindy, (owner) told us to come to the potluck! There was lots of food and the people were very nice. Cindy was extremely knowledgeable with the area and while there wasn’t a whole lot to do there, she pointed out the highlights of the area. (Thank you Cindy) We decided to stay for two nights here.
We were very grateful for and really enjoyed the potluck and social of other people. The RV park was immaculately kept and clean.
Sunday, October 30 we woke up to pouring rain. It was raining hard and everything was saturated. We took our time and enjoyed the off traveling day for what it was. Time to relax a little and do the laundry! In the afternoon, we ventured out to look at the town and some of the sights that Cindy recommended. Port Orford is the oldest town on the Oregon Coast according to their town pamphlet. There is a natural harbour with a dolly dock. The dolly dock houses cranes that lift boats in and out of the water. Apparently there are only two dolly docks in the United States and a total of six known in the world (Port Orford pamphlet).
Because it was still pouring rain, we contemplated not taking a walk, but all of a sudden we had a break in the weather as we sat in the truck outside of the Coast Guard Museum at the Port Orford Heads State Park. We quickly entered the museum as it was closing in ten minutes. We had a very quick look around and a little bit of a tour from the fellow working there.
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| Coast Guard Museum, Port Orford |
From this area, with the rain still ceasing, we took a walk on the trails that lead out to the cliffs at the ocean’s edge. Beautiful trails and scenery and great exercise for all of us! Near the end of the walk, the rain started again, but we were so pleased to have made the most out of the day!
That evening, for dinner, Cindy had recommended the Crazy Norwegian’s Fish & Chips Restaurant as we were hoping to have some good fish and chips or other seafood. For anyone that knows me, my Grandpa was Norwegian heritage although Canadian born. Both of his parents came from Norway and as I was growing up, my Grandpa taught me a lot of Norwegian traditions and words. He didn’t learn English until he went to school when he was six years old. My Mom always made a few of the old Norwegian favourites at Christmas like lefsa, rosettes, lutefiske (which only Grandpa would eat - lol!), among others. (Lutefiske smells like stinky fish and it is chewy like rubber!)
The fish and chips at the Crazy Norwegian’s were excellent. Dan and I shared an order as there were six pieces of fish! We shared a delicious salad to start, Dan had a Rogue Dead Guy Ale which he really enjoyed, and we finished with an extremely delicious pear crisp cobbler a la mode. What a wonderful way to end our visit to Port Orford.
Monday, October 31st!
Today, we focused on getting into California. We were still searching for hotter weather thus we kept pushing forward and tried to stop as much as possible to see as much as possible in the short time we allowed ourselves. We drove past beautiful Nesika Beach, crossed the Rogue River, passed Gold Beach, and then we got out for a walk at Brookings. This was our last stop before crossing into California. California, here we come!
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| Bridge crossing the Rogue River |
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| Brookings area |
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| Brookings area |
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