Oregon Coast

We spent a week in Lincoln City which is labeled the heart of the Oregon coast and really enjoyed where we were.  Our daughter, Stephanie decided to fly out and join us for a few days before she goes back to work teaching.  It was a joy to have her with us exploring the coastline.

We picked her up at the Portland airport and decided to have dinner in the Pearl District of the city which has a nice blend of housing, restaurants and boutique shops.  We enjoyed dinner at Metrovino which featured foods and preparations of the northwest.

We spent a day exploring the area to the north of Lincoln City which Gerry and I had briefly toured earlier.  Stephanie and I covered it in much more detail.

We drove on highway 101 and then did a 40 mile drive called the 3 Capes Scenic Drive.  The views were especially spectacular since it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day.  Here are some of the views of Cape Kiwanda.

 

 We enjoyed the stark beauty of Haystack Rock!

We continued our drive to the town of Tillamook which is home to the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we got to view the facilities where they make the cheese and got to taste several different kinds of cheese.  We left with three different cheeses:  a 100 day aged white Cheddar, a medium Cheddar and a Habanero Jack cheese.  We also bought a nice piece of smoked salmon.

Just up the road was the Blue Heron Cheese Factory, featuring French cheeses.  We got to taste 4 different Brie cheeses: a traditional, a garlic and herb, a black pepper and a mildly smoked.  Since Brie is my favorite, we had to get one of the 8 ounce wheels.  We had picked up some, marinated olives, a half baguette, some pita chips, an heirloom tomato, a red pear and some red grapes and with the cheeses and salmon had the makings for a wonderful picnic lunch.

We stopped and explored the Dunes a little after lunch.  For some reason with all the rocks around, I found it amazing that there are several areas of dunes.

 

We took a tour of the Cape Meares Lighthouse which was really interesting and finished our tour with a short hike to the Octopus Tree (a Sitka Spruce with a very unusual shape).

We spent the next day, exploring the area south of Lincoln City.  We stopped in the Siletz Bay area simply by chance and happened to be there while a gray whale was exploring and apparently feeding in the area.  We stayed and watched it spouting and following its movement until its tail disappeared in the water for about 15 minutes until the chilly wind got the better of us.  I snapped several shots of it, but it was really hard to capture its movement on film.  However in the picture below we all thought "they're gonna need a bigger boat".

We stopped at Cape Foulweather Scenic Overlook for a faraway glimpse of Devil's Punchbowl.

 

We then drove closer for a different perspective and truly discovered why it was so named.

 

Next on the agenda was the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  We visited on Wednesday which is the only day they do not give tours of the inside of the lighthouse.  We stilled enjoyed the lovely views of both the lighthouse and the vistas all around it, including the seals just chilling out.

 

We ended our day of exploring by taking Newman for a walk on the beach which was just across the street from the RV Park we stayed in.  It was fabulous to be within walking distance to the beach and Newman loved it.  He especially loved running ahead to the end of his leash and then laying flat on his belly waiting for us to catch up.  He thought this was a fun game. 

 

Our week on the Oregon coast ended on Friday when we drove back to the Portland area to be near the airport since Gerry had a business trip.  We are in a very nice RV park in Fairview, Oregon which is right on the Columbia River Valley and the best feature is the 20 minute drive to the airport.  After our travel and RV set up on the new site, we decided to go back to the Pearl District in the city for dinner.  We dined at Jamisons and had a wonderful meal sitting on their outdoor patio overlooking the park with the fountains where families and children enjoyed splashing about.  It was a fabulous dinner and a perfect way to end the week.