Oregon - Day 5
[First Picture: Munson Falls]
Sticking with the unofficial plan of going in opposite directions each day, we decided to again head south. We made a quick stop at the Jazzy Bean. The day was already pleasantly warm and was supposed to get up near 70 degrees. The woman at the stand made a comment about the weather and asked where we were heading. We told her we would likely end up in Depoe Bay. She said that if we were planning to stay the night to get up early and go beach combing in Lincoln City. All year round, local artisans create hand-blown glass floats and have volunteers hide them along the beaches in Lincoln City. Each float is tagged with the artisan's information. (They are also worth $50-100 retail.) Given that it was winter and the crowds would be small, our chances of finding a float would be greatly increased. We thanked her for her advice even though we were not planning on staying down south overnight.
A little ways past Tillamook, we turned off US-101 to go see Munson Falls. About half a mile down a dirt road Jaime yelled, "Look out!" I hit the brakes and narrowly avoided hitting a dog that had run into the road. He was not chasing anything. It was quite obvious that his intent was to get to the car. He eventually got out of our way and we continued onward.
We drove down a winding logging road for a while and parked in a small dirt lot. Then we walked through what I would call a temperate rain forest. Everything was very lush and green. Moss covered just about everything. I got a neat picture of one fallen tree completely encased in green. We followed a hilly trail next to a brook for a couple of hundred feet to the actual falls. We could not get right up to the falls because a landslide had brought down a bunch of debris and a few large trees, but we could see the falls quite well. It was also interesting because underneath the dense canopy, the air was about 10 degrees cooler (as stated by the car's thermometer.)
On our way out I slowed down when we got near the farm with the dog. I saw two dogs lying on the grass up by the house, one of which looked like the dog that had run in front of us. Then I caught a blur out of the corner of my eye and saw an identical dog not three feet from the side door running at the car. Fortunately he was on the side of the car or I likely would have hit him. I could see him standing in the road as we drove off. We both cursed the stupidity of the dogs' owners for letting them run free. Not only was it the only way to the falls, but it was also a logging road. I know that a large truck hauling literally tons of lumber would not be able to stop quickly.
Back on US-101 we headed south. It was a warm and sunny day, perfect for a trip down the coast. As we were going up a slight incline, I lost track of how fast I was going. Right at that moment, both Jaime and I noticed a silver car that read "Oregon State Police" with a radar gun pointed our way. I took my foot off the gas and let gravity slow me down, all the while looking in the rear view mirror. "He's getting in the car. He's making a U-turn. He's put on his flashers." The last part was accompanied by a few expletives.
Trying to be considerate, I immediately pulled over, not even waiting for him to have to catch up to me. I knew I had screwed up and was not going to try to deny it. He got to the window, choosing the passenger side because there was not much room on my side. We had a very polite exchange and I said that I simply lost track of my speed. I said that I was aware of the speed limit and that I knew I was speeding. I handed over my license and the rental slip that acted as the registration. When he noticed my Michigan license he made a comment about how speed limits were much lower than we were used to (55 instead of 65 or 70). Then when he saw it was a rental he said, "So you're not totally familiar with the car too."
He went back to his car. I watched him radio in some information and write on his little ledger. When they write stuff down, it is never good. When he returned to our car, the totally unexpected happened. He said he was not going to give me a ticket. "Nobody wants a fine on their vacation." We thanked him several times and I said that I would definitely be more mindful of my speed. And that was the truth, too. I had been quite careful of my speed through the whole trip and would continue to do so. What a nice guy!
We made good time (under legal speeds) to our next stop, the Salmon River in the Cascade Head Preserve. It was a few miles off the highway along a very windy road. We parked in a lot with two or three other cars, but saw no people. They were likely off hiking. The river's water level was very low, leaving the dock completely dry. Granted it was low tide, but we had heard that many of the rivers would have low levels until more snow melted in the mountains. As usual we took pictures and took a moment to enjoy nature. I also got a picture of a poster that talked about a nonnative species of crab in the area that you are encouraged to remove or kill if you find. I found it interesting.
A few miles down the highway was the first commercialized town we had encountered outside of Portland: Lincoln City. It reminded me a bit of Marquette, Michigan. We stopped on the northern edge to walk the beach. By that time it was around 65 degrees out with a rare mostly clear sky.
About 15 miles further south was Depoe Bay. When we were originally planning our Oregon trip, we wanted to stay in Depoe Bay. It is a relatively small town right on the coast that has a lot of nearby amenities. It is also where you can do some of the best whale watching in Oregon. There is even supposed to be a pod of gray whales that lives there nearly year round! Unfortunately no openings became available for the timeshare.
We parked the car right next to the water on the main street (still US-101). Jaime got out to take a few pictures while I called my parents. It was my dad's birthday, so I wanted to give him a call. Plus, they like it when we call from wherever we are at and can describe what is going on. They were getting a new furnace that day so were jealous that we were on the ocean in sunny, mid-sixty degree weather while they were huddled under blankets temporarily without heat.
Depoe Bay was a really cool stop on our trip. Located in the center of a wide, crescent shaped bay, it is very scenic. Another neat attraction is the tide pools. The waves come crashing in on a rocky beach creating many shallow tide pools. We ignored the "go no further" signs and climbed down onto the rocks. We saw someone else doing it and there were no ropes or rails. The climb was a little treacherous but well worth it. We explored all around the tide pools, checking out all sorts of marine life, from anemones to hermit crabs. Underneath one particular ledge Jaime saw movement and pointed out some full sized crabs. The picture did not turn out great, but you can still make them out.
We climbed back up and walked to the whale watching center, but it was closed. We sat out on the patio for a while and looked for whales. We had brought binoculars and took turns searching, but did not see any whales. We did get a picture of the entrance to "the world's smallest navigable harbor". Even without seeing the whales, it was a very memorable stop on the trip.
We left Depoe Bay and continued our journey south. Not far down the road we pulled off at a roadside park. It was a bit cooler and breezy, probably because it jutted out into the water a bit and was not surrounded by as much concrete. Once again we scanned the nearby waters for whales, but did not see any. We did see some people hanging out on some steep rocks a couple hundred yards away from us.
The next stop we made was Cape Foulweather. The view was gorgeous. Again we did not see any whales. We did see a lighthouse off in the distance which ended up being our next stop. As we were leaving a group of bikers pulled into the parking lot. It would have been a great day for a ride.
Down the PCH (US-101) a ways was Yaquina Head. We turned off the highway onto a narrow road. We stopped at the booth, but were told we had to pay at the Visitor Center. We were also warned that the park would close in roughly an hour and a half, so we should not go exploring too far down the beach. We drove on to the Visitor Center and paid the $7 fee. I thought that it was a little bit of a rip off to go see a lighthouse, but there turned out to be much more to see than I knew about. The peninsula had a rather large hill that ran along the side, so we could not see what all was in the park.
After paying we drove out to the lighthouse. When we stopped to take pictures of the lighthouse and surrounding area we noticed smoke off in the distance. Jaime got a good shot of the hillside while I got a nice zoomed in shot of the smoke. Then we walked over to the lighthouse itself and went inside. We were greeted by a young woman in a period costume who told us a little about the lighthouse. Then we climbed the 114 steps to the top. That does not sound like a lot of steps, but we were both a little winded at the top and looking down it seemed pretty high.
At the top of the stairs was a small room that was right below the light chamber. An elderly man was there just finishing up talking with some folks who had made the climb before us. He was a very friendly volunteer who told us all sorts of interesting things about the lighthouse as well as about several lighthouses along the coast. We could not go up into the actual light chamber, but we could stick our heads into it. Jaime got a neat shot of the 1,000 watt bulbs in mid-pulse. The volunteer told us that due to the prisms, the light could be seen from quite a few miles away. I want to say something like 15 miles. We also learned that we were a couple of weeks early before the sea birds pretty much took over the large stack right by the lighthouse. He said that at the peak there are tens of thousands of birds there. He also told us that if we looked south from the parking area we would see a bunch of seals out on the rocks near the beach. That last bit of information really piqued our interest. We thanked him for his time and help before heading down.
Sure enough, when we got to the parking area we looked off the south side and saw gray-white colored seals lying around on the rocks. They were actually easy to see because of their winter coats. Then we made our way down to the beach to get a closer look. All through the trip so far we noticed that there were few places that were truly fenced off from exploration. We did see a few signs talking about nesting areas and breeding times. At this particular beach we saw a sign asking people to stay off the muscle beds and to not take any "souvenirs" other than driftwood.
We explored the beach which was pretty interesting. The rising tide was just starting to cover the muscle beds and tide pools. Near the water's edge, the larger boulders were covered with barnacles of all sizes, some still alive. It was also interesting to see how tiny the rocks got when pummeled by the surf and larger rocks. As I was taking a close up picture of some rocks I heard a "whoosh" and saw Jaime come running past me as a wave came rushing in between two boulders. She narrowly avoided being soaked while taking pictures of the nearby seals. We both laughed.
By the time we were done with the beach, we had less than a half hour until the park closed. We had come a bit further south than we expected for the day which put us only a few miles north of Newport. Being almost dinner time, we drove into town to eat.
We parked the car near a Rogue Ales brewpub. It was there that we noticed written on the window the longitude and latitude. We were wondering what latitude we were at as compared to Michigan. About 44 degrees at Newport, for those that care. That is equivalent to the area between Clare and Houghton Lake.
Anyway, we wanted to take a quick walk down the piers before dinner. We had heard the sound of sea lions as we were driving down the street so we looked around for them. They were pretty easy to find. They were making a bit of a racket, so we followed the noise. Lounging about on a platform down by the water were eight, large sea lions. Most of them were sleeping, but a few were looking around and "talking". I caught a little of it on video before we left.
Back at the pub, we went in. After a couple of minutes a girl greeted us and showed us to a table. There were about a dozen people in the place, most near the bar and most were likely locals. We looked over the menus, but no one came to take our order or even gave us water. We sat at the table for over 10 minutes before getting up to leave. The girl who sat us even made eye contact, but never came over to us. So if you are ever in Newport, Oregon, do NOT go to the Rogue Ales pub. The company does make some fine products, but if the restaurant employees only care about locals, they can do without our business.
Our initial dinner plans a bust, we headed north out of town. We pulled out our handy book and looked up a few potential places along our path towards home. The one that sounded most interesting was the Otis Café, just north and east of Lincoln City on Highway 18. So we drove the 30 miles or so up to the town of Otis. The book said it was 2 miles east of US-101. At 4 miles, we turned around. On our way back we spotted the café, but it was dark. We were bummed. Since we were only a few miles from Lincoln City, we headed back there.
We stopped at McMenamins Lighthouse Brewpub, just off the main strip. We were very glad that we did. The food and ales were very good and reasonably priced. Sorry, no pictures from that meal. After dinner we walked to another part of the shopping center to Coldstone. That was another good move on our part.
It was already dark by that time and we had about a 75 mile drive back to the condo, so we headed north. About a third of the way back, the highway leaves the coast and heads through a hilly area with a mix of forest and farms. Somewhere around the town of Cloverdale, we were coming around a curve when Jaime yelled, "look out!", the second of the day. I slammed on the brakes as I caught sight of an elk right on the edge of the road. I have never seen an elk in the flesh. I am used to deer in Michigan. This elk stood at least five and a half feet at the shoulder with a long neck and massive set of antlers on top. The reason I know how tall he was is because he was only a few feet from the side of the car and I could not see his shoulder (and the top of the window is almost five feet up). Wikipedia confirmed that males can get that big. He casually stepped off the shoulder of the road and walked down the hill. I saw another elk a dozen or so feet in front of him. My heart was pounding at being startled, but it was an incredible thing to see. I hope I never see it again from a moving vehicle. :)
The rest of the drive back was uneventful, with a quick stop for gas in Tillamook. I noted that by the time we would get back to the condo, we would have driven a little over 600 miles on the trip.
[ Preface] [ Day 1] [ Day 2] [ Day 3] [ Day 4] [ Day 6] [ Day 7] [ Day 8] [ Day 9]
Sticking with the unofficial plan of going in opposite directions each day, we decided to again head south. We made a quick stop at the Jazzy Bean. The day was already pleasantly warm and was supposed to get up near 70 degrees. The woman at the stand made a comment about the weather and asked where we were heading. We told her we would likely end up in Depoe Bay. She said that if we were planning to stay the night to get up early and go beach combing in Lincoln City. All year round, local artisans create hand-blown glass floats and have volunteers hide them along the beaches in Lincoln City. Each float is tagged with the artisan's information. (They are also worth $50-100 retail.) Given that it was winter and the crowds would be small, our chances of finding a float would be greatly increased. We thanked her for her advice even though we were not planning on staying down south overnight.
A little ways past Tillamook, we turned off US-101 to go see Munson Falls. About half a mile down a dirt road Jaime yelled, "Look out!" I hit the brakes and narrowly avoided hitting a dog that had run into the road. He was not chasing anything. It was quite obvious that his intent was to get to the car. He eventually got out of our way and we continued onward.
We drove down a winding logging road for a while and parked in a small dirt lot. Then we walked through what I would call a temperate rain forest. Everything was very lush and green. Moss covered just about everything. I got a neat picture of one fallen tree completely encased in green. We followed a hilly trail next to a brook for a couple of hundred feet to the actual falls. We could not get right up to the falls because a landslide had brought down a bunch of debris and a few large trees, but we could see the falls quite well. It was also interesting because underneath the dense canopy, the air was about 10 degrees cooler (as stated by the car's thermometer.)
On our way out I slowed down when we got near the farm with the dog. I saw two dogs lying on the grass up by the house, one of which looked like the dog that had run in front of us. Then I caught a blur out of the corner of my eye and saw an identical dog not three feet from the side door running at the car. Fortunately he was on the side of the car or I likely would have hit him. I could see him standing in the road as we drove off. We both cursed the stupidity of the dogs' owners for letting them run free. Not only was it the only way to the falls, but it was also a logging road. I know that a large truck hauling literally tons of lumber would not be able to stop quickly.
Back on US-101 we headed south. It was a warm and sunny day, perfect for a trip down the coast. As we were going up a slight incline, I lost track of how fast I was going. Right at that moment, both Jaime and I noticed a silver car that read "Oregon State Police" with a radar gun pointed our way. I took my foot off the gas and let gravity slow me down, all the while looking in the rear view mirror. "He's getting in the car. He's making a U-turn. He's put on his flashers." The last part was accompanied by a few expletives.
Trying to be considerate, I immediately pulled over, not even waiting for him to have to catch up to me. I knew I had screwed up and was not going to try to deny it. He got to the window, choosing the passenger side because there was not much room on my side. We had a very polite exchange and I said that I simply lost track of my speed. I said that I was aware of the speed limit and that I knew I was speeding. I handed over my license and the rental slip that acted as the registration. When he noticed my Michigan license he made a comment about how speed limits were much lower than we were used to (55 instead of 65 or 70). Then when he saw it was a rental he said, "So you're not totally familiar with the car too."
He went back to his car. I watched him radio in some information and write on his little ledger. When they write stuff down, it is never good. When he returned to our car, the totally unexpected happened. He said he was not going to give me a ticket. "Nobody wants a fine on their vacation." We thanked him several times and I said that I would definitely be more mindful of my speed. And that was the truth, too. I had been quite careful of my speed through the whole trip and would continue to do so. What a nice guy!
We made good time (under legal speeds) to our next stop, the Salmon River in the Cascade Head Preserve. It was a few miles off the highway along a very windy road. We parked in a lot with two or three other cars, but saw no people. They were likely off hiking. The river's water level was very low, leaving the dock completely dry. Granted it was low tide, but we had heard that many of the rivers would have low levels until more snow melted in the mountains. As usual we took pictures and took a moment to enjoy nature. I also got a picture of a poster that talked about a nonnative species of crab in the area that you are encouraged to remove or kill if you find. I found it interesting.
A few miles down the highway was the first commercialized town we had encountered outside of Portland: Lincoln City. It reminded me a bit of Marquette, Michigan. We stopped on the northern edge to walk the beach. By that time it was around 65 degrees out with a rare mostly clear sky.
About 15 miles further south was Depoe Bay. When we were originally planning our Oregon trip, we wanted to stay in Depoe Bay. It is a relatively small town right on the coast that has a lot of nearby amenities. It is also where you can do some of the best whale watching in Oregon. There is even supposed to be a pod of gray whales that lives there nearly year round! Unfortunately no openings became available for the timeshare.
We parked the car right next to the water on the main street (still US-101). Jaime got out to take a few pictures while I called my parents. It was my dad's birthday, so I wanted to give him a call. Plus, they like it when we call from wherever we are at and can describe what is going on. They were getting a new furnace that day so were jealous that we were on the ocean in sunny, mid-sixty degree weather while they were huddled under blankets temporarily without heat.
Depoe Bay was a really cool stop on our trip. Located in the center of a wide, crescent shaped bay, it is very scenic. Another neat attraction is the tide pools. The waves come crashing in on a rocky beach creating many shallow tide pools. We ignored the "go no further" signs and climbed down onto the rocks. We saw someone else doing it and there were no ropes or rails. The climb was a little treacherous but well worth it. We explored all around the tide pools, checking out all sorts of marine life, from anemones to hermit crabs. Underneath one particular ledge Jaime saw movement and pointed out some full sized crabs. The picture did not turn out great, but you can still make them out.
We climbed back up and walked to the whale watching center, but it was closed. We sat out on the patio for a while and looked for whales. We had brought binoculars and took turns searching, but did not see any whales. We did get a picture of the entrance to "the world's smallest navigable harbor". Even without seeing the whales, it was a very memorable stop on the trip.
We left Depoe Bay and continued our journey south. Not far down the road we pulled off at a roadside park. It was a bit cooler and breezy, probably because it jutted out into the water a bit and was not surrounded by as much concrete. Once again we scanned the nearby waters for whales, but did not see any. We did see some people hanging out on some steep rocks a couple hundred yards away from us.
The next stop we made was Cape Foulweather. The view was gorgeous. Again we did not see any whales. We did see a lighthouse off in the distance which ended up being our next stop. As we were leaving a group of bikers pulled into the parking lot. It would have been a great day for a ride.
Down the PCH (US-101) a ways was Yaquina Head. We turned off the highway onto a narrow road. We stopped at the booth, but were told we had to pay at the Visitor Center. We were also warned that the park would close in roughly an hour and a half, so we should not go exploring too far down the beach. We drove on to the Visitor Center and paid the $7 fee. I thought that it was a little bit of a rip off to go see a lighthouse, but there turned out to be much more to see than I knew about. The peninsula had a rather large hill that ran along the side, so we could not see what all was in the park.
After paying we drove out to the lighthouse. When we stopped to take pictures of the lighthouse and surrounding area we noticed smoke off in the distance. Jaime got a good shot of the hillside while I got a nice zoomed in shot of the smoke. Then we walked over to the lighthouse itself and went inside. We were greeted by a young woman in a period costume who told us a little about the lighthouse. Then we climbed the 114 steps to the top. That does not sound like a lot of steps, but we were both a little winded at the top and looking down it seemed pretty high.
At the top of the stairs was a small room that was right below the light chamber. An elderly man was there just finishing up talking with some folks who had made the climb before us. He was a very friendly volunteer who told us all sorts of interesting things about the lighthouse as well as about several lighthouses along the coast. We could not go up into the actual light chamber, but we could stick our heads into it. Jaime got a neat shot of the 1,000 watt bulbs in mid-pulse. The volunteer told us that due to the prisms, the light could be seen from quite a few miles away. I want to say something like 15 miles. We also learned that we were a couple of weeks early before the sea birds pretty much took over the large stack right by the lighthouse. He said that at the peak there are tens of thousands of birds there. He also told us that if we looked south from the parking area we would see a bunch of seals out on the rocks near the beach. That last bit of information really piqued our interest. We thanked him for his time and help before heading down.
Sure enough, when we got to the parking area we looked off the south side and saw gray-white colored seals lying around on the rocks. They were actually easy to see because of their winter coats. Then we made our way down to the beach to get a closer look. All through the trip so far we noticed that there were few places that were truly fenced off from exploration. We did see a few signs talking about nesting areas and breeding times. At this particular beach we saw a sign asking people to stay off the muscle beds and to not take any "souvenirs" other than driftwood.
We explored the beach which was pretty interesting. The rising tide was just starting to cover the muscle beds and tide pools. Near the water's edge, the larger boulders were covered with barnacles of all sizes, some still alive. It was also interesting to see how tiny the rocks got when pummeled by the surf and larger rocks. As I was taking a close up picture of some rocks I heard a "whoosh" and saw Jaime come running past me as a wave came rushing in between two boulders. She narrowly avoided being soaked while taking pictures of the nearby seals. We both laughed.
By the time we were done with the beach, we had less than a half hour until the park closed. We had come a bit further south than we expected for the day which put us only a few miles north of Newport. Being almost dinner time, we drove into town to eat.
We parked the car near a Rogue Ales brewpub. It was there that we noticed written on the window the longitude and latitude. We were wondering what latitude we were at as compared to Michigan. About 44 degrees at Newport, for those that care. That is equivalent to the area between Clare and Houghton Lake.
Anyway, we wanted to take a quick walk down the piers before dinner. We had heard the sound of sea lions as we were driving down the street so we looked around for them. They were pretty easy to find. They were making a bit of a racket, so we followed the noise. Lounging about on a platform down by the water were eight, large sea lions. Most of them were sleeping, but a few were looking around and "talking". I caught a little of it on video before we left.
Back at the pub, we went in. After a couple of minutes a girl greeted us and showed us to a table. There were about a dozen people in the place, most near the bar and most were likely locals. We looked over the menus, but no one came to take our order or even gave us water. We sat at the table for over 10 minutes before getting up to leave. The girl who sat us even made eye contact, but never came over to us. So if you are ever in Newport, Oregon, do NOT go to the Rogue Ales pub. The company does make some fine products, but if the restaurant employees only care about locals, they can do without our business.
Our initial dinner plans a bust, we headed north out of town. We pulled out our handy book and looked up a few potential places along our path towards home. The one that sounded most interesting was the Otis Café, just north and east of Lincoln City on Highway 18. So we drove the 30 miles or so up to the town of Otis. The book said it was 2 miles east of US-101. At 4 miles, we turned around. On our way back we spotted the café, but it was dark. We were bummed. Since we were only a few miles from Lincoln City, we headed back there.
We stopped at McMenamins Lighthouse Brewpub, just off the main strip. We were very glad that we did. The food and ales were very good and reasonably priced. Sorry, no pictures from that meal. After dinner we walked to another part of the shopping center to Coldstone. That was another good move on our part.
It was already dark by that time and we had about a 75 mile drive back to the condo, so we headed north. About a third of the way back, the highway leaves the coast and heads through a hilly area with a mix of forest and farms. Somewhere around the town of Cloverdale, we were coming around a curve when Jaime yelled, "look out!", the second of the day. I slammed on the brakes as I caught sight of an elk right on the edge of the road. I have never seen an elk in the flesh. I am used to deer in Michigan. This elk stood at least five and a half feet at the shoulder with a long neck and massive set of antlers on top. The reason I know how tall he was is because he was only a few feet from the side of the car and I could not see his shoulder (and the top of the window is almost five feet up). Wikipedia confirmed that males can get that big. He casually stepped off the shoulder of the road and walked down the hill. I saw another elk a dozen or so feet in front of him. My heart was pounding at being startled, but it was an incredible thing to see. I hope I never see it again from a moving vehicle. :)
The rest of the drive back was uneventful, with a quick stop for gas in Tillamook. I noted that by the time we would get back to the condo, we would have driven a little over 600 miles on the trip.
[ Preface] [ Day 1] [ Day 2] [ Day 3] [ Day 4] [ Day 6] [ Day 7] [ Day 8] [ Day 9]