We were to catch up with Erv Reikart in Portland, but as it turned out he had a motorcycle run planned for this weekend. We started the day in Coos Bay and his run was to finish in Coos Bay. So as it seemed we weren't going to meet, we decided to skip Portland altogether.
Hope the run wasn't too wet Erv - ours was.
My mattress went down last night. I'd almost forgotten how much fun camping is. Specially in rainy conditions.
Packed away, we set out in drizzle conditions and it didn't get much better for most of the day But we made the most of it, sightseeing along the rest of the Oregon Coast. We stopped and looked for otters at Otter Point, guessed we wouldn't see whales at Whale Point but we did see plenty of sea lions at Sea Lion Caves. A strange attraction where the sea lions rest on rocks in a very large sea cave they claim to be the world's largest. You pays your money in the gift shop and then go for a walk down a windy path - no turns - hold on to the hat type windy. Then you come to an elevator. Yep, a genuine elevator set into the rock which takes you down into the sea caves. You land at one level and look down into another level where the sea lions are.
No flash allowed but it wouldn't work anyhow - too far away. So it is set the camera's ISO at maximum, zoom in and hold it very steady. One big male seemed to be having fun tossing all the females off the rock. But he ended up in the drink himself.
Back on the road in wind and rain and we eventually came to Newport where we stopped at a diner. Coffee and clam chowder. We are not connoisseurs but Jack reckons it is the best he has ever had. I guess no more clam chowder for us. If we've already had the best, any more we try will just be a let down. Maybe we'll try some more - it was pretty good.
Being Saturday, the roads were pretty crowded and there were a lot of seaside towns on Highway 101 so the going was mostly slow. But we did eventually make it all the way to the top of Oregon on the coast where there is a simply huge bridge leading across to Washington State.
The Astoria-Megler bridge is the longest single truss bridge in North America with a largest span of 1,232 feet and is overall four miles long. It had clearance of 196 feet at high tide so very large ships can get up to Portland.
We got ourselves a motel almost under the bridge and went for a ride over without the trailers. We followed the northern side of the bay and found a little diner/bar/motel where we had dinner before returning over the bridge to our motel. Warm tonight. And a great view of the bridge from our window.
Here's Charleen's efforts for today:
Plenty of lakes
Misty weather
Hot Rod Grill - get it? Oh dear.
The windy walk down to the elevator
Two Birds..............
Sea lions inside the cave
Lighthouse keepers house from a bridge
These signs are all along the coast.
One long bridge
Another pretty bridge
The bridge at Otter Point
A surprise to see this
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