Blogs from Cape Disappointment, Washington, United States, North America

July 14-18th Sunday 14th Happy Sunday! We watched GBC live streaming before leaving for Cape Disappointment SP in Washington. Just 50 miles up the coast and across the Astoria-Mengel Bridge, over the Columbia River. Got set up in camp and then went t to the North Jetty. Saw both lighthouses and the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean Confluence. Really cold and windy. After getting lots of great pictures of the rugged Pacific Coast and the calm, almost glass like river, we were ready for a quiet evening. Travel Day to Washington and Cape Disappointment at the mouth of the Columbia River. 7/15/13 - Monday A trip toLong Beachtoday and a beautiful day - in the low 60’s. On the way we see a Bald Eagle and by the roadside, a fawn with it’s Momma. A long ... read more

All of us went to the lighthouses today. They had predicted rain, but apparently they’re not any better at predicting weather in Washington than they are in Montana, because it was sunny and warm~~perfect weather for touring. The first lighthouse we went to was at Cape Disappointment~~the Cape was named by a British fur trader after his inability to locate the river's mouth. This coast is especially hazardous because of all the sandbars, and undertows. The ocean is very powerful along the coast between the mouth of the Columbia and the tip of the peninsula, which is almost entirely rock. The sand in the water shifts so rapidly that the maps weren't able to inform the ship captains of the sandbars. There have been over 2000 recorded shipwrecks. (One was only three weeks ago. A sardine ... read more

We gave our farewells and many thanks to the Turney Family. Using the hire car we headed on Interstates 5 and 101 for Ilwaco near Columbia River estuary. I was still getting used to left-hand drive and right-hand roads again at a huge junction near the centre of Tacoma, when all these people start blasting their horns at me. Thinking I was somehow in the wrong, I gesticulate to show my embarrassment at such poor driving. Anyway, I was assured later the horn blasting was probably because we had Californian licence plates! They're not too pleased with Californians up here because they're migrating up in droves, buying all the houses and blocking up the roads! West of Olympia it started pouring buckets and we hit a traffic logjam. Evidently, a tanker had skidded and spilled tons ... read more