West is Best

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Bye Bye Portland, Hello west coast and hopefully some better weather. And it was! The drive to Astoria was not as scenic as I had expected considering we were following the Columbia river. We crossed over the 4 mile bridge which crosses to Washington for lunch and then half an hour later crossed back into Oregon.
Then climbed the Lewis & Clark Monument tower and checked out a great view of the rivers and valleys below. Lewis & Clark were the founders of the US north west, having trekked all the way across America! There were 164 steps to get to the top of the tower and obviously the view was very good. So we continued to head south down the coast. As soon as we hit Seaside…Wow, the pacific ocean stretched out along a gorgeous coastline.
There are viewing spots every 5 minutes and the road winds through some very cool seaside towns where everything looked like it was made of driftwood . Lots of rocks jutted out along the coastline, which had been caused by coastal volcanic activity once upon a time. It felt like home to see the beach again.
We pulled over and ran down to the beach at cannon beach to snap the most photographed rock in Oregon. It’s a huge mossy rock in the shape of a haystack which is what it is called funny enough.
We were treated to a colourful sunset before we headed inland to find a campsite for the night. We know some more rain is forecasted so cross fingers we can miss it tomorrow.

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Photos

Crossing 4 mile bridge
Driving the 4 mile bridge from Astoria Oregon to Washington. By the way 4 miles is 6.4 km for the rest of the world. I got so used to using mph and gallons in the States.

Tower view
Looking at Astoria and the bridge from the top of the Lewis and Clark tower.

Up High
Look there she is. The corolla as viewed from the tower.

Lewis & Clark Tower
This tower is a monument to remember these to famous pioneers who discovered Oregon after trekking across from east America. Note the writing on the tower.

Haystack Rock
The most photographed rock in Oregon! Located in Cannon beach on the northwest coast this rock does indeed look like a haystack don't you think?

Northwest Coast
The northwest coastline. Finally the beach again. What more can I say? Enjoy....

Northwest sunset
The first sunset on the west coast. I love sunsets. So here is a photo.