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Published: July 31st 2017
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Ellie all strapped in Mileage – 193.9 Total mileage for the trip - 4146
Today started out differently. We packed the rest of our bags with all that has to go back (except the few things we needed for today). After breakfast we got the rest of our stuff and headed to Parker. It was cloudy and cold. At least it wasn’t windy like last night. As we were driving down the road, it started to drizzle, but only drizzled for a few minutes. That was the longest rain we had on the entire trip.
We drove along the Oregon coast – one of the 7 scenic wonders of Oregon. This is not North Carolina. You drive on the coast and all you see are trees and hills. I felt like we are driving in the NC Mountains. We tried to drive down to the water a couple of times, but it was like in New England where we could see it, but there was no access or place to park. We weren’t feeling like it was very welcoming.
The first city we saw was Seaside. No ocean access, ugly little town, surely didn’t look like a beach town. The town had
some big hotels. We all asked why?? First, it was not pretty, but more importantly it was cold and everyone was walking around with jackets on.
We drove thru another town and we did see a few big rocks in the ocean. The rocks were pretty, but you couldn’t stop anywhere to really get pictures.
Then we went thru Cannon Beach. It looked more like a beach town. If I had to go to the beach in Oregon, that’s where I’d go. It still was cold, but at least the town was cute and seemed to have some restaurants, shops….
We trudged on. Susan had found 2 lighthouses on the route. We entered them into the GPS and continued on. We turned toward the coast, but suddenly the road headed back into the woods and up a hill. This is not the beach… We kept going as Dorothy (our gps) kept telling us to proceed. We see a state park. It’s $5 to go in. This is the slowest gate person we’ve EVER seen. It took her forever to process the cars in front of us. Wow… We drive in and stop at the first of 2
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the cliff by the beach stops where all we see is a close big rock and lots of fog. So we decide to drive to the 2
nd spot. It’s back into the woods and up and down more hills. We break out and the parking lot is jammed, but we find a place and walk to the overlooks. It’s freezing. Many of the people have on jackets, others have on bathing suits. There were lots of surfers. We could see more large rocks, but again we couldn’t see the lighthouse. Oh well. We drove back to the first stop and the clouds/fog had lifted a bit. Low and behold we finally saw the lighthouse and took pictures.
We then entered the next stop into the GPS and headed out. It was much further down the road and we continued to go thru hills and trees. Occasionally we saw the coast, but we never found a place that was warm enough or close enough (there were places where you had to take a boat to get to the beach) to let Pam get her feet wet. It was also still too windy.
We finally made it to the other park where the 2
nd light
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This is right by the beach in the parking lot. This is not North Carolina house was. We ate in the van and then decided to hike down, yes, I said down to the lighthouse. Why would you put a lighthouse at the bottom of a hill? It doesn’t make sense. Then when we got there, really, this is not a lighthouse. It has to be the smallest lighthouse there is. Susan stated that by the time a ship saw it, it would be too late and it would crash into the rocks. We got pictures then hiked back up the hill. I went on up to see one of Oregon’s big coastal attractions, the Octopus tree. It wasn’t too exciting but it was nice to get some more steps in.
Then we jumped back into the car and we headed to Portland. More hills and trees, and the temp kept getting warmer and warmer. We went from around 60 at the coast to close to 90 around Portland. We got to Portland with time to spare so we tried to do the Japanese Garden, but well, it was packed beyond capacity so we drove downtown. We found a park with a group of homeless folks in it, and we gave them a bunch
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Pam in front of a big tree of our leftover food. It was fun walking around and handing it out to them. They seemed so appreciative.
We then decided to find a place to eat a light dinner and headed there. The restaurant was right near the airport and on the water of the Columbia River. It was a good way to end our trip. When we got back to the car, we packed the last of our stuff into our suitcases and headed to the airport. As we gassed up, we saw someone with a hungry sign. We still had an apple and 2 bananas and some bottled water. We gave him what we had. I saw him eating the banana as we were driving out.
Our last view of Oregon before driving into the airport was of Mt. Hood in the late afternoon. It was a special way to end our journey.
We turned in Parker, it was sad but the attendant took our picture with him. Luckily when I rent thru my SAS account it includes the insurance, so there was no paperwork to fill out for the cracked windshield or other little dings we might have put in it.
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They grow moss out here Now we are at the gate and waiting for our plane. It was a great 17 days and I always have fun with my sisters. I can’t wait for our next adventure. Hopefully it will be soon. The laughs and comradery we have is so wonderful. I’m blessed I came from such a great family.
If anything fun or exciting happens on the return trip, I’ll write another entry, otherwise, stay tuned for our next adventure.
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