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Published: October 14th 2013
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October 11, 2013 = Waldport, OR
Today we enjoyed our last full day in Waldport. It will be very hard to leave tomorrow. We’re so glad we decided to have the whole week here. It’s been the perfect place to relax after lots of busy sightseeing and long days in the car. Also a chance to catch up on reading, writing, work etc.
We had fun trying out our cheap fishing rod (impulsely purchased one holiday in Lefkas, Greece) before Steve broke it. The upside of that being it’s another thing we don’t have to bring back with us and things are getting decidedly difficult on that score. Just as long as no one expects any holiday presents!
We enjoyed our beautiful beach and had another bonfire, toasting marshmallows and popping popcorn thanks to the Jiffy Pop.
(According to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (and for non-Americans or Canadians out there) the Jiffy Pop is a small disposable mini frying pan thingy containing popcorn kernels buried under a layer of folded foil. When heated and shaken the foil expands into a dome as the kernels explode. In the UK we know nothing of these
"Our" beach
Barefoot in October!
Waldport, OR spiffy things but here in American it’s the way to cook popcorn and it’s awesome! It worked very well although we did have a little explosion at the end and lost some of the popped corn to the fire. C’est la vie.
October 12, 2013 - Waldport, OR to Elma, WA.
Another long day of driving today but we’ve got the whole day and it’s all coast so it’s a beautiful drive. It’s also pretty much the last of such journeys on this trip. I’m so grateful to Steve for doing all the driving. Normally we would have added me onto the insurance to help out on trips like this but the reality is those journeys were only a few out of over one hundred days of car hiring and paying an extra premium each day of the rental would have seen us paying over a 1000 bucks more. Got to keep the costs down wherever we can!
We stop off briefly at Rockaway beach. Not surprisingly there’s a rock away out to sea. It’s like a version of Durdle Door in Dorset that’s been uprooted and left to drift out to sea.
I pick up a very nice latte (why can’t the UK get lattes right all the time ‘cause they do out here?) and we move onto Cannon Beach where we stop for longer.
Cannon Beach is a really nice place. The beach is attractive with its rock formation out to sea like a mini version of South Australia’s Twelve Apostles or Cornwall’s Bedruthan Steps but the little town itself is really quite sweet.
It’s a bit more upmarket than many of its neighbours with a few boutique type shops and classy (read as ‘less tacky’) gift shops. We eat in Bill’s Tavern which does excellent cod and chips (we briefly panic we may get potato chips (crisps) instead of chips but it turns out we’re ok. Phew). The tavern probably does very good ale as it’s a brew pub but unfortunately Steve doesn’t get to find out, fearing an afternoon doze on the wheel otherwise.
A drive over the impressive and long bridge at Astoria takes us into Washington State and through forests where the trees are really beginning to turn. Being barefoot in shorts and a t-shirt, in and out of the waves on Oregon beaches,
did not make us feel autumnal but this is and a tiny bit of me feels…well sort of homesick I guess. I’m looking forward to cosy weekends in English villages with the feel of Christmas approaching! It’s a good sign I suppose as our trip is nearing the end but I’m not sure if it’s because I’m looking forward to going home or have just resigned myself to the inevitability of it. But we have a few weeks left and every night of them planned out, hotels booked, and I’m certainly looking forward to every last day of it.
Tonight, as I type this, we’re in the imaginatively named “Guesthouse Inn and Suites”. Surely the name is just a description of what it is? Aren’t they missing some kind of inspirational name before the Guesthouse bit? I realize it’s a chain but even so. Even Elma Guesthouse Inn and Suites would have been an improvement – since we’re in Elma – but even that would still have demonstrated a sad lack of imagination. Even the Best Western’s make more of an effort. Eureka’s BW was called Bayshore for example. Granted that didn’t require a whole lot of
Catch this!
Playing football on our beach in Waldport thought but it’s certainly an improvement on “Guesthouse Inn & Suites” surely?
It does seem indicative of the area (or perhaps it’s just caught my attention and now I’m fixated?) for we’ve not long come through the coastal town called Seaside in Oregon. Again, surely just a description of what to expect? (And boy would you be disappointed if you arrived to find there was no beach!)
We also passed through Bend and granted there was a large bend in the road but I rather expected the name of the town to provide something more interesting than simply a description regarding the curvature of the road. I’m guessing the people that settled here 100 odd years ago were just too knackered from their journey across the plains and prairies to bother with any grandiose name. “That’s quite the bend where we’ve set up our camp, lads. How’s about we call the place “Bend” and get some bloody sleep”.
But seriously (and to put the record straight) I think the place we drove through was actually called South Bend. There is a place called Bend in Oregon which was originally called ‘Farewell Bend’ by the early pioneers as
Reflections
Waldport, OR it referred to a location along the Deschutes River which was one of the few fordable points along the river. So I admit, a river not a road. There’s also a North Bend in Oregon, which is where we rode our dune buggies and I think I’m right in saying that name also derived from the shape of the - in this case - inlet.
On the subject of imaginative (or not) place names, Captain James Cook in 1778, during his third voyage around the world, wrote in this journal about an area of the Oregon Coast, just south of Depoe Bay.
“The land appeared to be of moderate height, diversified with hill and valley and almost everywhere covered with wood. There was nothing remarkable about it except one hill…At the northern extreme the land formed a point which I called Cape Foulweather from the very bad weather we soon after met with.”
I’m not an Oregonian but even I take offence at the “nothing remarkable” comment. Oregon is one of the most beautiful coastlines I’ve ever seen (and I think it’s fair to say I’ve seen a fair few). It’s true that Oregon is not known
Footsteps
Waldport, OR for its good weather and I dare say that out at sea, looking back on a misty, rainy coastline while getting buffeted about by the raging sea you might be forgiven for not thinking the most positive thoughts, although personally I think the coast has a beauty all of its own in the rain. So that explains how Cape Foulweather came by its name.
But I should move on, away from place names and onto the present day. The non-descript town of Elma is our home for the night (and I use that derogative description guiltlessly as it was pretty much how the lovely, friendly hotel receptionist summed it up when she asked us what (‘could have possibly’) brought us to her town. Obviously she didn’t say the bit in brackets but you understand the point I’m making.
There’s nothing obviously wrong with the town but she’s right, we’re here just passing through. It’s about the right distance between Waldport and Port Angeles where we catch the Coho ferry back into Canada tomorrow evening. As long as we get a good night’s sleep I don’t really mind. And there’s another buffet breakfast to look forward to in the
morning. More waffles! Yay!!
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