Bayport RV Park & Campground in Warren, Or. Nice place with a marina and kayak/ paddleboard rentals on site. They even have a couple of floating homes in the marina - like the movie Sleepless in Seattle.’ They also had a walking trail through the woods. We took the trail the first day we were there and it is a very nice, asphalt paved trail. As we were walking through there came a crashing sound that scared both of us out of our minds. I am very pleased to say that my husband grabbed me and pulled me behind him with a force I have never experienced from him. We both thought a huge animal was charging out of the woods and apparently my husband is a protector and not a runner. Glad to know that after 34 years. But alas, it was only a huge limb falling out of a tree. We were safe!
Another great corner spot
We went to Astoria and spent the day. Astoria is the oldest settlement in the west. It was founded in 1811. We checked out the Columbia River Maritime Museum which I really enjoyed. On the inside they had a tug boat pilot house and another one that looked to be from a military ship, so maybe it should be called a bridge. I don’t know. They had several examples of boats and even had a fake bunch of fish under one of the boats. It was a maze of exhibits and the final one we saw was a Coast Guard boat making a rescue at sea. They even had a Coast Guard ship docked outside having some repairs done on it. Also outside they had the first floating lighthouse docked. It was retired in 1979 and replaced with a buoy-type light rather than the manned ship with 12-15 crewmen.
The Columbia is the Lighthouse boat.
The pictures below are the galley and the dining room. Even I could cook in that galley!
We left our car parked at the museum and walked all over that town. It had several breweries, a bunch of victorian mansions. I read that the mansions were likely built by wealthy Sea Captains. Flavel House for sure was and we walked down to check it out, but had no desire to see another old house. We just checked it out from the outside.
We wanted to get a bite to eat and preferably on the water. We found what looked like a very popular place called Moe’s. They had some pretty good clam chowder! Apparently they put butter in the bottom of the bowl and then ladle in the soup. When you stir it you see the butter going through the soup. YUMMMM!
So, apparently the Columbia River is a very dangerous path into and out of the Pacific Ocean. A guid told us that the Columbia Light House Boat even broke its mooring and washed up on Cape Disappointment and had to be rescued. The winds there reach hurricane strength almost without warning. The river has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific and is the 37th greatest discharge of any river in the world. It has been used for transportation for thousands of years. The Columbia Bar, also referred to as the Graveyard to the Pacific, includes a system of shoals and sand bars and is known as one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world. No wonder those ship captains were so wealthy. It was the hazard pay!
As we wondered the street we ran into a couple riding these Cheetah bicycles. We had seen motorcycles that looked like these back at the museum in Sturgis, SD. I had to stop and talk to them and they said I could take their picture. Maybe I should have told them I was gonna use it in my blog? I wanted one right then. Looked them up and they cost $2,400.00 each. So maybe that is not in the cards for this old girl.
The Cheetahs! Such cool bikes.
I stoped and asked the UPS man what this beautiful building was and he told me it was the “The Hotel Astoria” built during 1921-1922 and it was the only building left after the fire in 1922. Apparently the city was all originally on pier and beam and the whole town went up in flames. The whole community ended up staying at the Astor Building until they were able to rebuild or find new accommodations. The history of this building is pretty interesting, but I won’t bore you with all that. Look it up if you are interested.
Lewis and Clark were important figures for this area too. They spent a winter here and built Fort Clatsop. There is a replica of a portion of the fort at the Fort Clatsop Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. We arrived there at almost 5PM one evening and they had people in period dress giving demonstrations and telling stories. It was a great experience. First we met the hat lady who told us about the different positions of the people on the expedition and the hats they wore that told a story about them. I thought that was pretty interesting. Next we met a very knowledgeable young woman out by the fire that told us a lot about nature and survival and the many species of plants and animals in the area. She was even knowledgeable about Yellowstone and their re-introduction of the wolf into the park. Very smart woman. Alas, there was the lonely soldier guy. We missed his presentation, but got a photo of him anyway. I love when a historic location puts on a show for the guests and doesn’t just have them read signs! Kudos to this National Historic Park.
The hat lady and her display below
The most informative young lady
His hat is one that they would have made from worn out uniforms and used to
gather berries and such while foraging in the forest.
After leaving the fort we headed for Cannon Beach to see the Haystack Rock sticking out of the water near the shore. We have seen these things before, we honeymooned on the Pacific Ocean, but it was not far out of our way and we had not yet seen the Pacific coastline. It was beautiful and cold. We did not have jackets to put on and went on to the beach anyway. Before we even got to the sand I thought I was gonna have to turn back. I was wishing for that heat wave again. But, I noticed that the sand doesn’t even stick to you here. Is that because the humidity is so low? Or is Crystal Beach sand just dirty and sticky? We walked down to the water and of course my crazy hubby had to put his feet in the water. I got on the wet sand and that was too cold for me. Nobody was in the water but there were many people enjoying the sun on the beach. It is quite beautiful.
We headed back into Washington to see Mt. St. Helens. This volcano blew on May 18, 1980, but first showed signs of activity on March 16, 1980. The May 18 eruption was the most significant volcanic eruption in the contiguous US since a 1915 eruption in California. The eruption was preceded by two full months of activity. The day before the eruption her elevation was 9,677 feet and after the eruption it was 8,328 feet. She has since reformed 1,300 feet of lava dome in the center of the crater that was created by the blast. She killed 57 people, destroyed 200 homes and 47 bridges. Damages were estimated at $1 billion dollars (equivalent to $3.5 billion in 2020). This too is an active volcano. Why do I keep visiting active volcanos. Aren’t there any dormant ones around here.
We drove through Portland to go see the most popular falls in the area, Multnomah Falls. We were stunned by the graffiti everywhere and the enormous homeless camps all over and we were not down town. We stayed on the highway and the graffiti is on the walls of the freeway. These idiots do it on the freeway. Some of the graffiti was in places I could not understand where they could have stood to do it. Dangerous places. So stupid. Just across the Columbia River in Washington you do not see that. If you see a spot that has been tagged by a graffiti artist it is sand blasted off and no other tags are around it. In Portland there is hardly a spot without paint on it. So sad. We even drove through an outlying neighborhood and there were homeless living in run down motor homes and RVs on the streets of a relatively nice neighborhood. WTH!!!! I would be so upset.
The graffiti on the highway walls
The homeless - there is an enormous tent city here. Hope you can see it.
These are the run down RVs along the neighborhood street
Well, we did finally make it to the falls and the parking lot was closed because it was full. Dang it. We saw a road running along the freeway near there and got on it to see if we could get a glimpse. These falls are taller than any we have come across and I really wanted to see them. They had a trolley that would pick you up along the road at other parking places but they were packed too. We finally got a glimpse, but this is the only photo I could get.
Multomah Falls from a distance - dang it!
Since the falls were a wash, we decided we just needed a drink on the water. I found a place on the water, but we were gonna go back into Washington to get there - it is just across the river. The bridge crossing the Columbia River at this point looked like a castle.
The castle bridge
Our next stop was the Camper Cove RV Park & Campground in Coverdale, Or. The lady that runs this park is so excited to have Texans - her family is from Tyler. She is a real hoot and runs around in cowboy boots and hat every day. This is a small park but very wooded. After we got set up we took the trail and felt like we were in a Jurassic Park movie.
The Jurassic Trail
Our home for a few days
Cabins on the property - check out those roofs
Another scenic byway, US 101 is where the RV park is and we took a drive to Pacific City and found Pelican Pub and Brewery on the beach. It was too cold to sit on the patio, although it was packed, but we sat by a window and watched the people play in the sand. It was good enough for me.
Dennis found a place we could drive onto the beach. We parked and, of course, Dennis put is feet in water. I looked it up - this water is 50 degrees! I would never warm up if I touched that with my feet.
There was a crowd of people a short distance away and they we packing up. They had a couple of people with jet skis. I suppose they had been playing in that water all day. By this time it is after 6PM. One guy with a two jet ski trailer got stuck coming out. His truck was a Toyota. We pulled up to help but he said his buddy, in a Ford, had just left the beach was dropping his trailer and coming back to pull him out. Ford got it out, of course.
We went into Tillamook and tried to go to the Tillamook Creamery and it was so packed. Dennis finally said, I will wait for you in the car. Dang it! So we headed out and found a bite to eat at a pretty popular place some folks at the post office told us about, The Fern. They had this sign up as you enter:
There are help wanted signs everywhere. Apparently Oregon has not yet rejected the federal supplement to unemployment and people are still sitting on the asses instead of getting back to work. Business owners we have talked to are furious, but so grateful for the employees they have sill working.
We had inside information that you could view whales from the shore all year long in this area, but as much as we tried, we never saw any whales.
I also wanted to see the Haceta Light House that was mentioned in my 1000 Things to See Before You Die book, but it was closed. So we saw a sign in Tillamook for a light house and headed that way.
The shortest lighthouse I have ever seen, but it is on a cliff, so . . .
Beautiful views from the lighthouse- I zoomed in so you could see the holes in the rocks, like in Cabo!
That evening we took out to see if we could catch a sunset on the Pacific. The sun is setting at 9:00PM now rather than 9:30PM. So we knew we could stay up long enough.
We sat on the tailgate, all bundled up and watched.
Lincoln City is also in this area and they have glass blowing artists that place glass balls on the beach every day of the year. We were told this by a young girl at one of the RV parks in Washington. She said her family has a whole collection, but you should go out early or late and look up by the weeds. So we did. We combed the beach for a couple of hours and I finally decided I was not gonna find one looking for it, so just go explore the beach with Dennis, because he was done looking after the first 15 minutes. It is a beautiful beach.
Random shoes all along this beach. I kept mine on - that sand is cold!
That pink thing is a starfish! Out of the water!
They were everywhere.
Nope, we never found a ball.
When we left Lincoln City I asked if we could try to go to the Creamery again. So my beloved drove back to Tillamook and their were several parking places. We went inside and the line for the exhibits was nil! So I got to see my creamery. This place is processing the cheese. I am not sure where they do the ice cream, but they sell a ton of it here. The lines for ice cream were nuts. They have a deli and sell grilled cheese and tomato soup (with cheese curds in the soup) so I really wanted to try that.
This is a big operation.
In the display they have a set up (wish I had gotten a picture for you) of the farm life of a Tillamook dairy cow. These cows are very respectful to one another while they wait in line for the scratching stations (the scratchers look like the scrubbers in a car wash but they are hard and not soft). The stations are at different heights for different parts of their bodies. They also go into the barn of their own accord to be milked. Some even go in 2-5 times a day. So they basically milk themselves. I know! So cool. The babies are all hand fed, they are taken from mamma early so that they can better control the feeding. We saw one of the farms while driving to the lighthouse and the babies have these little doghouse like sheds that they go through and poke their head out to be fed. Very cute.
So we got our soup and sandwich after the tour and decided to just take it home and eat it. The grilled cheese was really good, but the soup was nothing to write home about. The curds didn’t even try to melt and the soup was kinda like Campbells. Not to say I didn’t love that soup growing up, just maybe my taste buds are a bit more sophisticated these days. Oh well, not disappointed.
Some random observations:
We have hurricane evacuation route signs back home, but they have Tsunami signs:
Check out the sign below - no outlet but this is my escape route?
I guess you just have to get to higher ground.
They also have Volcano warning signs:
This was near Mt. Rainier
So Texas is the Lone Star State, Washington is the Evergreen State, Missouri is the Show Me State, etc. I hadn’t yet seen anything about the nickname for Oregon so I set out to look it up. Oregon is the Beaver State. They are also the only state with a two sided flag. Yep that is a beaver on the flip side.
Oregon is also one of only two states that have claimed a state MICROBE. You know, like a state bird, but it is a microbe. Their microbe is Saccharomyces cerevisiae - we all know this as brewers or bakers yeast. Hmmm, they do have a lot of breweries.
I read that Oregon provides something like 99% of our crops. And I thought Washington was America’s Farm Land. I guess not!
In Oregon it is unlawful for ordinary citizens to pump gas. We kept wondering why people kept coming out when we were getting gas. Dennis once said, I hope that guy didn’t expect me to tip him with these high fuel prices. Finally we saw a sign indicating that the law requires they pump your gas. Common folk just ain’t smart enough to be messin’ with them flammable liquids.
NOW LETS TALK ABOUT GOOGLE MAPS: 1) Google said we were on a Massachusetts highway while we were in Washington. 2) Told us to turn left when the image clearly showed we needed to turn right. 3) Kept telling us slight right ahead when we really should go straight and just not take an exit. 4). Told us there was an object in the road but it was not on our current or future road. As a matter of fact the object in question was on the other side of the river, in Washington, we were in Oregon. I used to trust Google maps, but since Google owns Waze and Mapquest sucks, what’s a girl to do.
So we are still really enjoying this area of the United States. Washington and Oregon are my favorites so far. I know, it used to be Utah, but these beautiful rainforests beats that sand all day long.
