Astoria to Florence on the Oregon Coast


Our plan was to drive the length of the coast of Oregon along US Hwy 101.  The 101 actually starts in Washington near Tacoma and goes north and around the Olympic Peninsula to the Western Coastline.  I had driven this route years ago and it didn't provide any scenery better (or even as good as) what we had seen in central Oregon.  So, we caught up with the 101 just north of Astoria and are following it along until we take a quick detour to Eugene for a visit with Scott and Judy Clark.

Beautiful Cannon Beach

Haystack Rock
We drove through Seaside where the Hood To Coast route terminates and stopped just short of halfway to Tillamook for a long walk and lunch in Cannon Beach. Haystack Rock is not to be missed and we saw it from multiple angles.  It was another warm and sunny day at 70 degrees, so we enjoyed another 10K step day in the sand. The tide was pretty low, so Jeff walked over to the rocks for a close up.  Cannon Beach is small and touristy but absolutely the perfect place to stop for lunch.

Mini Haystacks







Haystack from the South

Abstract Art











You can't have too much ice cream!
We continued to our three night stop which was in Garibaldi which is a fishing village on Tillamook Bay.  The rain came in that evening and didn't stop until afternoon the next day.  I took advantage and slept 12 hours, but only had 49 steps by 2pm.  That is a record for me in a bad way.  The sun did come out and we spent a couple of hours at the Tillamook Creamery and shopping around the town.  Now that I have done that, I will make a point of buying their cheese.  They are actually a co-op of local dairy farmers and allow no antibiotics at all in the milk that is used to make cheese and ice cream.  We sampled both.  Never one to let ice cream get the best of him, Jeff had to ask for a cup to contain the massive scoops.


On the way to Garibaldi
We also did a little shopping at the local Goodwill.  I mention this because it is the nicest Goodwill that I have ever seen!  Elaine would have loved it for her eBay business.  I bought two brand new sweaters and we bought our next series to binge watch.  We have been entertaining ourselves by watching the entire Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones series so far on our travels. 

View from our Garibaldi campsite
And, just so you don't think we sit around watching TV all day, we both are reading way more than we ever did at home which has been really nice.  We only get our mail about once a month or so, so I am missing my weekly reading of The Week.  I still read them all cover to cover, but have now started reading the news on my phone a bit to not fall totally behind.  I've never been interested in politics really until now that we have a reality TV personality as our president.  I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that he is entertaining.
Jeff loves his dark beer!

Rocky shores
Our next stop was Newport. Jeff picked the RV resort based on the fact that the Rogue Brewery "World Headquarters" is right beside the marina and resort. On our last day, we did have lunch and Jeff enjoyed a tasting.  The resort was right on the water again and was literally attached to a state park walking trail.  We were thrilled to walk or run 3 days in a row.  Since I started a diet again on October 1, we ate in more than out and spent our afternoons touring in Sally.

I guess it's ligit?
We back tracked up the 101 for 30 minutes north to Depoe Bay, which according to an official looking sign, is the World's Smallest Harbor. I had read that the most beautiful part of the Oregon coast lies between Newport and Florence.

Obvious Volcanic Oregon Origins




Just 30 minutes north of Newport we found a beautiful section of the Oregon Coastal Bikeway that hugs the coast and becomes a one lane road providing amazing views and picturesque bridges. The coastline here is rocky and reminded us of La Jolla.



Right in the middle
 she is waving at us!

We stopped at The Devil's Punch bowl and saw grey whales rolling around in the not too distant deep waters. We think this was a mother and calf, but not certain.  Of course, I have to zoom so much that it is difficult to see and even more difficult to imagine how exciting this is to see in real life. South of Newport the coast gains more sand with some beautiful inlets and miles and miles of public sandy beaches to enjoy.


And finally, this might be a good time to talk about drift wood.  It is EVERYWHERE on the Oregon coast it seems.  I resisted several urges to find the perfect piece to take home as a statement in my garden.  Ok, it wasn't quite that hard to resist since I have no way of carrying it home with me. Jeff did pack up and ship our bikes to Jay at this stop.  We have given up on trying to find good safe places to ride.  The good news being that we now have more room in Sally should I find something impossible to resist along the way!


Popular posts from this blog

Golden Gate Bridge and Surrounds

Image
Pt. Reyes National Seashore We have now been staying 4 nights in any given campground along our way down SR1. It really makes the trip much more enjoyable, especially now that our weather could start changing on us. Since we stayed out of order (meaning we first stayed in Olema and then traveled back north to Bodega Bay) on our way to San Francisco, I am mixing up the blog entries a bit so that it actually makes a little more sense. The Olema RV park was very nice. There were lots of Airstreams here and we even met a couple who were pulling their 25 foot with a VW Toureg. This vehicle is basically the same body frame as Sally but without the Porsche styling. We have also seen a Mercedes SUV pulling an Airstream, but everyone else has trucks. Both Jeff and I have wondered if Sally was the right call for us, but so far so good. We certainly look good while driving down the road, for whatever that is worth! The following passage is copied from a postcard, actually THIS post
Read more

And then it hit me...This is Retirement!?

Image
Jeff's Coronado garage Any of you who know Jeff even remotely will understand that his favorite part of our home is the garage. In fact, getting a two car side by side garage was pretty much the only reason that he got excited about finding a new home in Coronado a few years ago. In fact, even after painting and cabinetry improvements, the garage is our number one project when we get home. We need to epoxy the floors and perhaps add a coat of paint, at least to the trim. So back to the blog. As I was walking through some nearby neighborhoods one day in Brookings, OR, I started to notice all of the HUGE garages that are either attached to homes or built standalone beside homes. I would estimate that 50% of these homes had garages with big tall bays and every last one of them seemed bigger than the houses. It should also be noted that a majority of these houses were pre-manufactured homes of some type or another. Being from TN, my first thought was long haul tractor trai
Read more

Andalusian Hill Country

Image
Olive Groves After Granada, the adventure kicked into high gear!  The drive to my next stop was absolutely amazing!  I was delighted by the scenery and found the landscape to be very much like home.  There were olive groves as far as the eye could see and every turn of the road seemed to peak my enthusiasm and excitement for the region.   View from pool Thankfully, I spent several hours in Granada translating the directions that the hostess, Esther, had given me to Cottages of The Algarrobales.  I had paid 2X the price of the car for a Tom Tom GPS which was utterly useless.  I have had bad experiences with Tom Toms in Europe before and this was no different.  I had my backup Google Maps which turned out to be all I really needed.  Still, I can’t believe where I had to drive to my next location!  As it turned out, the directions from the owner were spot on.  When I took the right hand turn toward the cottages, I was met by a very handsome Spanish man who spoke exa
Read more