Gorgeous Oregon coast
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2008
1
96
108
Trip End
Oct 31, 2010
Lincoln City, Oregon
Saturday, July 23, 2011
We crossed over into Oregon on the impressive Astoria bridge. It was to be one of the many attractive bridges we would cross.
Next stop was at Cannon Beach, where we took a long walk at lowtide towards Ecola State Park, our feet squeaking in the silky,white sand. There were more great tide pools with the gigantic and gorgeous starfish that thrive in the cold, rich Pacific waters. We enjoyed watching the red-footed pigeon guillemots come into land on the sea stacks. They stick their feet right out in front of them which causes their body to form a strong crescent shape. Little did we know until we overheard a conversation at the visitor's centre that there were crested puffins and common murres landing just like that at the other end of the beach on a formation known as the haystack. It was amazing standing down there. I felt like a powerless air traffic controller with birds coming into land and others flying off seconds apart. The common murres are similar to penguins, except they can fly of course, but flying above you they look like they could drop on your head. The tufted puffins are amazing birds (but amazingly hard to photograph we discovered). I even took my first swim in the Oregon ocean, which was brisk, but not as brisk as I had expected. A fantastic spot.
Fairly reluctantly we pushed on, stopping at Arcadia Beach for lunch, Rockaway Beach for a view of an arch in the offshore rock and Tillamook Cheese Factory for some cheese sampling and delicious icecream.
We then took the Three Capes Scenic Loop but got confused by poorly signed road closures and possibly the worst pot-holed road we have ever driven. Still, the views were good, especially from Cape Meares State Park with its coast vista of more rock arches, a lighthouse and octopus-imitating Sitka spruce.
In complete constrast, the next day was raining and overcast. We spent sometime outlet shopping for some replacement travel clothes for Mark and admiring the glass blowing studio in Lincoln City. They let tourists blow their own floats, vases or paperweights and it is a great attraction. One young girl had made a gorgeous float and seemed to have taken to the craft like a duck to water, searching out classes. The city promotes the glass industry in the town by putting out 200 floats on the beach in the winter for happy treasure hunters. The sea currents and sandy beaches in the area meant historically many Japanese glass floats used to wash up intact. I have to confess I didn't know fishing floats were made of glass before the advent of aluminium or cheap plastics. Nor did I know that New Zealand exports frit, the substance used to colour glass in glass blowing. So I learnt more than one thing that day.
That night we stopped at a great State-run campground called Beachside.
The next day was set aside for exploring Oregon Dunes, which are the largest dunes in North America. They may still be the largest, but an introduced plant is stabilizing the dunes and causing them to be vegetated, so we didn't find them much of a spectacle.
The weather was glorious however, and we had a nice campground beside warm Takenitch lake. During dinner we watched the wind whip the lily pads as it whizzed over the surface, causing a mexican wave ripple as the pads rose and then righted themselves.
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