We awoke this morning to raindrops on the roof. I snuggled back down in the blankets. It was just getting daylight. I thought about all those people around us sleeping in tents. I am not a camper and I would hate the dampness.
When I finally got up I looked out at all the tent campers see how they manage with the rain. They were out cooking on their open fires like any other day. I would be miserable.
Once we got on the road later in the morning we continued our trip up the coast. Rt 101 is a nice ride. Each turn presents a new vista. If we stopped at all of the overlooks, it would take us a couple of years to drive up the coast.
The rain and fog presented Darlie wtih new photo opportunities. The sea looked grey. The clouds enshrouded the mountains. Mist rolled in from the sea. She was in the back with the window open snapping away. On the northbound side there are no overlooks. They are all on the southbound side. It is too dangerous to pull across the road. There are so many hairpin turns. You can’t see what is coming. It takes a minute to get the old bread truck up to speed. The way some of these people drive these roads I would get run over.
Another lighthouse in the mist. Notice she caught it with the light shining.
I got some Father’s Day greetings from my kids throughout the day. I hadn’t thought about it being Father’s Day. We have lost track of time.
I was hungry for some seafood. Each little town we drove through, Darlie scanned the businesses looking for a restaurant. Most of the little villages are all about selling things to the tourists. There are so many antique stores, gift shops, and tee shirt joints in every town I can’t imagine how they sell enough to stay in business.
Every village seems to have a local woodsman who carves big bears, big foot, seals, and a host of other critters. I am sure the market is saturated. Who would want an eight foot big foot standing outside their house?
We were riding through Newport, OR when Darlie spotted a little seafood restaurant right next to the road. I noticed the place was packed. I noticed there also was lots of room to part the MH. As many people as were in this place, it must be pretty good or really cheap. We discovered it was both.
If you are ever up this way be sure to stop at the Newport Cafe. It is a small place. Windows all around. They are open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day serving breakfast, lunch and dinner at any time. Believe it is good.
We had the Captain’s seafood platter which we shared. It had 2 fillets of cod, 2 fillets of salmon, 2 fillets of sole, 2 fried jumbo oysters, 2 prawns, clam strips that really had clams in them and a huge portion of fries. All that for just $14.95. Try to get that at Red Lobster for less than $30.00. We also had a cup a piece of homemade clam chowder. It was delicious. Our total bill came to $22.60. We were stuffed. I told the owner we were just passing through but we would send everyone his way. So you better try it.
After lunch we continued on up the coast. There was a tourist trap called “Sea Lion Caves”. We stopped. From what we learned, sea lions rest on the beach a few hundred feet below. You could pay these people $12.00 a piece and walk down on an overlook they had built and look at the sea lions. They also had a huge gift shop with all the usual junk you wonder what to do with when you get home. We decided to pass.
Darlie took two pictures of this thing for some reason.
We stepped outside. Darlie said, “I can smell sea lions.” I didn’t want to tell her I had a bit of gas from the big lunch. She walked over to the railing along the road and looked down in the water and sure enough, there was a sea lion swimming just offshore. She snapped a dozen or so pictures. They looked like floating logs or some other ocean flotsam. I tried to point that out to her but she said she knew what they were and that is all that mattered.
I know it is a bit fuzzy but there is a sea lion and it didn't cost $24 to see it.
Rt 101 turned inland a few miles. The green mountains reminded me of the Smokies of Virginia or North Carolina. There were wide green valleys between. Dairy farms lined the valley floor. This is a major milk producing area. Darlie saw an elk in a field and wanted a picture but there was no shoulder to pull over. That is the case with most or the roads in the area.
In Oregon there is no self service at the gas pumps. It is illegal to pump your own gas. I stopped to fuel up. A young lad came out to pump it for me. He was all questions about our trip. He was amazed we had come so far. He asked if we had seen any elk. He and his Dad were big elk hunters. I told him Darlie saw one. He told me to go back to the airfield outside of town. There are always a couple dozen elk hanging around there. I chose not to share this information with Darlie or she would have insisted I go back and find the airfield. She was on the phone with her Dad when I got back in so the matter didn’t have to come up until I was some distance from town.
I have said many times how much we love state parks. Oregon has some of the best we have seen. They have full hook ups, large forested sites and the prices are very low. We sought out another state park tonight. We found Nehalem State Park. It is right behind the sand dunes on the beach. You don’t get this at those commercial places. I don’t know why anyone would want to be packed into one of those places like canned fish when they could come here.
This is a huge park with about 200 sites. There is a separate section for horse camping. People can bring their horse and ride the beach for miles.
We took a walk over the dune to the beach. It was foggy and mist filled the air from the crashing waves. People were swimming. We were bundled up. Darlie had to take picture of them, of course. I was going to lie and tell you they were pictures of me out there rolling around in the waves.
We spotted some elk tracks on the beach. We followed them up into the dunes. High grass of some kind grows up there. I figured they were lying down somewhere nearby. We searched around for awhile but didn’t spot one. Darlie found more flowers to photograph though. And trees, raccoons.......
We are settled in for the night. Tomorrow we will cross into Washington.
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