Tuesday, October 6 - Day 5

What a great day. Lisa took a run on the beach before breakfast this morning and really enjoyed it. It was in the 50's so I just drank coffee. We packed up and were on the way by 9am, target Coos Bay.

Truly spectacular ocean views during the whole day. Look at the photos. This is just the sights I wanted for this trip. It was pretty cold most of the day so we had to bundle up to walk the beaches.

We arrived in Coos Bay, made contact with Jessie Bates and headed to their home. What a great bunch of kids, most of whom I had never seen. I last saw Tony, my great-nephew, 9 years ago. He was a little kid then and I was teaching him to shoot pool. Tayla was a one year old baby then. Bethany, Alex and Levi were unknowns when we arrived but were fast friends when we left. We were entertained with a nice piano recital by Tony and a poem by Bethany and wild glee by Superman and The Hulk. Quiet Tayla did not sing but I bet she would have been great. Jessie, Clark, Lisa and I went to a sushi restaurant run by a friend of their family. It was a top notch meal and it was so good to remake the family connection. Great to see that Jessie and Clark are happy and surrounded by happy children.

Tomorrow we work our way South toward the California border. I think oysters are on the menu.

Happy Birthday to my aunt Terry!

Monday, October 5 - Day 4

What a great day. Out early to Cape Disappointment and the L&C Interpretive Center. On the way we stopped to visit North Head Lighthouse. Anyone who has ever been in our kitchen could attest to our long interest in lighthouses. They are always on beautiful, isolated, dangerous seacoasts. We would live in one if we could. So we visit and photograph them wherever possible.

I never tire of hearing of the Lewis and Clark venture, with admiration and envy that they had the opportunity. I would have joined them 300 years ago. My mother used to say I was born two hundred years too late. I have always wanted to see what was on the other side of the mountain. This trip is a testament to that.

I have always wanted to see the Northwest coast of the USA and this trip is measuring up nicely. It took us nearly six hours to drive the 100 miles from Astoria (accent on the second to last syllable even though it was named for John Jacob Astor). We stopped to have lunch on the beach at Seaside. After a frugal lunch of Tillamook cheese and crackers and apple, Lisa went to wade the surf and I did a little tai chi. She said the water was numbingly cold. We stopped a lot for some amazing photos of some amazing places. Haystack Rock was maybe the highlight. This coast is as magnificent as I imagined it would be.

We stopped at the Tillamook Cheese factory and bought cheeses and ice cream. I had read on line about the generous scoops of their first rate ice cream and was not disappointed.

The news here has been mostly about the shooting at Umpqua CC and we are getting closer to Roseburg. The President will be in the area on Friday. We will be out of the area by then.

We are in Newport, OR, tonight. We watched the sunset from the beach and then had a memorable meal of seafood at Local Ocean Seafood. I can think of nothing which would have improved it (unless it was free). I had the best crab cakes I ever ate and smoked king salmon salad. Lisa had rockfish taco and a crab po'boy. Absolutely excellent.

Tomorrow will be a leisurely drive to Coos Bay to meet with Clark and Jessie Bates and family.

Sunday, October 4 - Day 3

Got underway South out of Seattle in clear, bright skies, enroute to one of our prime destinations, the Lewis & Clark National Park and it's environs, at the mouth of the Columbia River. We got off the interstate at Kelso, WA, and got info at a visitors center which had a 9 ft tall stuffed Sasquatsh, all hairy and fierce, right in the lobby. Lisa posed. 

Had a good lunch at Stuffies, famous for their cinnamon rolls. Lisa took a photo of one which weighs 7 pounds and they have bigger. While we were there, a birthday party ordered one of the big ones. I had some outstanding fried fish for lunch. We took a normal sized cinnamon roll for our breakfast tomorrow. 

We drove West on a scenic highway along the Columbia River and were amazed at the size of that river. It was wider than the Mississippi in places. It was wonderful to envision the Corps of Discovery drifting down that river in 1804 after more than a year since they left Wood River, IL, in March 1803. They were nearing the end of one leg of the greatest adventure which ever occurred in our country, the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase which doubled the size of the US at that time. They were about to sight the Pacific Ocean after following the Missouri River to its source in the Rockies. They crossed the mountains and were led to the source of the Columbia which emptied them into the Pacific. Their adventures were epic and when I was in my early 20's, I wanted to repeat their voyage but found that the rivers had all been dammed and private property would prevent me from completing. Oh well, I have always been enthralled with their trip and finally got to visit their Winter camp on the South coast of the river, Ft. Clatsop, named for the Indian tribe in the area. It is a reproduction of course but the National Park people say it is on the same place. 33 men and Sacagewea and Pomp, her son, lived in a small log fort from November 04 to early Spring 05 before they started back toward St. Louis, arriving in September 05.

While relaxing before dinner tonight, we heard seals barking in the river. They were very loud so we went outside and walked a little ways to a commercial boat pier where the seals congregated. We spent a nice hour watching them cavorting. Lisa got some nice photos of the sun setting into the Pacific under the Astoria bridge.

We are going to spend tomorrow morning “exploring” Cape Disappointment and the L & C Interpretive Center and maybe go back to Ft. Clatsop. Then we are heading South along the Pacific coast at a very leisurely pace, enjoying the scenery.

A late recollection from Seattle: while waiting for a shuttle at our hotel, a very brightly painted passenger van pulled up to collect some people. The large name on the van was CANNABUS which provides marijuana tours of the city.

Another late recollection from Seattle: walked by a restaurant with a sign out front that said "Soup of the day - whiskey".

 

Saturday, October 3 - Day 2

Day 2

What a great day. We slept very well and that made all the difference in our enjoyment of the day. We decided not to travel down to the giant ferris wheel but we did go back to Pike Market so Lisa could get more souveniers. The vendors remembered her from yesterday and greeted her like an old friend, very happy to see her return with her backpack. I went over to watch the fish mongers throw fish some more. They are good showmen.

We next went to the Space Needle for our brunch, I was a bit skeptical about the quality since I had read some reviews which were critical but I figured that the view from the revolving restaurant would make up for mediocre food. Nothing to fear. The meal was as good as the view of Elliot Bay and Seattle. It was a beautiful, bright, clear day. Lisa (known by the Tilamook Indians here as Eiramasil “stands with camera”) got some good shots while I snuck some of her food. We got to choose an app, entree and dessert. Lisa had tomatoes and cheese curd, eggs benedict with crab, berries and cream for dessert. I had smoked salmon, gruyere and crab omelet and apple crumble. Everything was top quality as was the service. Highly recommend it if you ever get the chance.

While revolving we got to see Mt. Ranier looming in the distance. At first it looked like clouds, but the waitress said that since it was clear the mountain was visible.

We went from the tower to the water for a harbor cruise. Quite informational regarding the founding of the city by people from Cherry Grove, Illinois, who nearly froze to death on an island their first winter in 1858 but whom the Indians advised on where to live for a better life. Seattle's major export is airplanes and their parts since Boeing is headquartered here. There is a huge shipping port and of course fishing is king.

We went from boat to church. Made it to Mass just in time. Vietnamese priest with a heavy accent.

We were not going to spend this extra day/night so we could get to the Pacific coast asap but I'm glad we stayed for these experiences. Memories are better than money.

Friday, October 2, 2015 - Day 1

Up at 6:30 for personal care, breakfast, and trip to the SYR airport and flight to Minneapolis, then flight to Seattle arriving at 1:30 Pacific time, 4:30 our time physically.  Got the rental car, a Ford Fusion, seems like a big car but comfortable.  Our Garmin GPS was not working so we relied on Lisa's phone GPS to get us to the motel on the outskirts of downtown Seattle.  We are not used to heavy traffic, stressful.  Motel has a shuttle which dropped us off at the famous Pike Market Place and we arrived just in time for the "fish throwing".  If you don't know about that, go to you tube and watch it. They are really good at it.  PMP is an enormous market selling almost everything.  I did not see car parts or motorcycles but maybe I did not look hard enough.  We did see several drug deals going down while we ate a snack so does that count toward everything?  Lisa asked if I noticed the drug deals and I replied that it's probably legal here.  People were openly smoking something not tobacco.   We decided to graze instead of stopping for a sit-down meal so we sampled some great sausages at a couple places, "The World's Greatest Mac and Cheese", fresh made lemonade (very good), cheese, mushroom kolachke.  We looked all over for ice cream for dessert but never found any.  Decided to walk the mile back to the hotel and further decided to stay another day and night.  We did not want to leave without:

Riding the largest ferris wheel in the USA, dining in the Space Needle restaurant, and taking a boat tour of the Harbor. All of which we intend to accomplish tomorrow.