Northern Oregon Coast

The Oregon Coast is varied and rugged and windswept.  The locals quickly remind us that the "outsiders" who think it would be wonderful and relaxing to live on the coast have only visited in the summer months.  The winters are long and rainy and stormy and WINDY!  Looking at the miles of coastline and seeing the weather worn houses convinced me that they are telling the truth.  Speeding along at our lightening quick 10-15 mph gave us lots of time to savor the magnificence of this area.  Note:  If you want to see a picture full screen, just double click the picture.

Look at those wonderful north winds blowing!

Cannon Beach is quite the tourist area, but that water is COLD!

Haystack Rock

After an uphill climb, we are rewarded with this nice view.

Another of the many beautiful sea stacks

Pelican Bay - we didn't climb the sand dune, but many others did.

Talk about a view

Devil's Punchbowl which is certainly more exciting at high tide.

We are now approaching the lovely town of Newport, not even half way down the Oregon Coast.  The tour will continue another day.  Hope you are enjoying it.

Beginnings

Let's start at the beginning of our journey today. We took the Amtrak from Bellingham to Kelso, Washington where we pedaled to Cathlamet, Washington.  The end of our first day was at a marina along the Elochoman Slough which put us on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

Yurt #12

Our cycling partners (Paul and Alaine) on the ferry crossing the Columbia River

Columbia River

Astoria is the northern most town on the Oregon coast and our destination on day 2 of our trip.   If you are a Goonies fan, you know that the movie was filmed here.  We did not search out the Goonies house, instead we enjoyed lunch at the Rogue Public House and then camped at Fort Stevens State Park where we had our first peak at the Pacific Ocean.  Fort Stevens was the primary military defense installation in a three fort Harbor Defense System at the mouth of the Columbia River (Forts Canby and Columbia in Washington were the other two). The fort served for 84 years, beginning with the Civil War and closing at the end of World War II.  The park was very nice and we took a stroll through the remains of the fort and over to the beach where we just about got blown to pieces from the ocean breezes! 

I love the sign!

A preview of the weather that would follow us most of the coast!

Shipwreck along the beach

That's all for now.  I hope to do a few posts each week which will be a nice way of reliving our trip.  But I do promise not to post all 500 of my pictures!

Back Home

We arrived in Seattle about 8pm last night after taking the midnight train from Sacramento.  20 hours on the train was cushioned by amazing scenery watched from the observation car, but we were ready to be off the train and home!  So now it's the putting away and washing of clothes portion of the show, but I couldn't help but download my pictures and take a first glance through them.  Here's just a few shots from the trip.  I'll be doing more later.

First look at the Oregon Coast

I actually have to remember how to upload pictures on this blog, so that'a all for now!  I'll try again tomorrow.

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach

San Francisco

We arrived in San Francisco Sunday afternoon.  The skies were blue and the wind was blowing as we cycled across the Golden Gate.  I would have liked to stop and take a few pictures, but the cycling lane on the bridge was packed with what seemed like millions of tourists who had rented bicycles so they could also cycle across the bridge.  It was quite a scene with no roon to stop and "pull over".  Foolishly I thought I would come back today and take some pictures from the pedestrian lanes on the bridge.  The fog rolled in yesterday afternoon and never quite left today, so no blue sky pictures of the SF Bay today.  Maybe tomorrow.

We leave tomorrow for Sonoma wine country before heading over to Sacramento for a visit with Dave's relatives.  We hear the sun is shining just a few miles to the east of here!

The Northern California coast was rugged and beautiful and foggy!  There may be a massive heat wave everwhere else in the country, but the Pacific coast has had it's coldest and foggiest summer in recent memory!  We did have moments of sunshine which were greatly appreciated!  All for now.

Rest Day

I have found a coffee shop that still has desktop computers for their customer's use.  Pay phones and computers on tables are going the way of the dinosaur!  Eureka is a lovely town with loads of beautiful Victorian buildings.  We are staying in a restored Victorian Inn down in "old town".  The building is so interesting and nothing can beat the individual attention you get at a small, locally owned establishment.  We have front row seating to a local theater production of "Over the River and Through the Woods" tonight.  The desk clerk is also the theater critic for the local paper and has her connections!  She raved about the show so we had to give it a try.  Here's a little run down of what we've been seeing.  Pictures will come later!

Lighthouses  - the coast has so many of these and they are all beautiful.  We have tried to see as many as possible, but when the book says that the lighthouse is located "p a steep and rough road" or "at the end of an isolated penninsula", we decide just buy the post card.  There are spots a bicycle or bicyclist just can't really go.

Sand Dunes - the area around Florence, Oregon is one giant sand dune.  It can be miles wide in spots and I think over 100 miles long.  It is a favorite spot for dune buggies.  We were reminded of those old video games as you see these little buggies screaming up and over these massive dunes.  Quite amazing to see.

People - unlike our cross country trip, a day never goes by where we don't meet at least 1 other cyclist.  It is utter foolishness to travel the coast south to north due to the winds, so most people are cycling south.  In Oregon, we traveled at the same pace as a few other cyclists and became good traveling companions.  Sarah works for a non profit in DC and has taken a 6 month break to travel, cycle and recharge her batteries.  She is traveling alone and has visited friends in Alaska and is now cycling to San Francisco  We last saw her back in Oregon, but wouldn't be suprised to run across her again some day.

Nick lives in Northern California and is cycling from Vancouver, BC to San Francisco also.  He is an environmental educator and lives in a tree house he built himself.  We seem to run across him most every day, but he may be ahead of us by now.  His calling card is his white basket on the front of his bike loaded with wild flowers he has collected along the way. 

We rode yesterday with Dave from Minnesota.  He's 68 and has peddled more miles than probably all of us combined!  He's written a couple of books about his cycling and has promised to send them to us once he gets back home.

Tomorrow we continue on the road.  We will ride through the "Avenue of the Giants" and camp among the redwoods tomorrow night.  Soon Highway 101 will split and go inland which will leave us on Highway 1 with only the local traffic and the tourists.  We won't miss the logging trucks, although the commercial drivers are usually the ones to slow down and pull over as they pass us by. We also get off the main roads whenever possible and have been treated to quiet country roads through farmland and old growth forests.  And that north wind is always a welcome treat! 

Eureka, California

I'm here at the Eureka Public Library with 16 minutes remaining so this will be a quick update!  We have ridden over 600 miles and crossed into California on Tuesday.  Lots of magnificent sites and many miles of slow chugging uphills and heart racing downhills.  The majority of the route is along Highway 101 which runs parallel to the coast.  This gives wonderful views of the ocean, but is not the most tranquil of rides.  Luckily there have been several times we've been able to take side roads that are so much quieter and many times just stunningly beautiful.  Even though this is termed the "coastal" route, we've also ridden inland among farmlands and into the Redwoods National Park.  The Redwoods are incredible!  And given that they grow in the "cool, moist, environment" of the coast you can probably guess that we haven't seen the sun much.  The mist wafting through the trees and flowing over the hillside cliffs is really quite mystical.

I'm almost out of time....  We are staying inside for the next 2 nights here in Eureka, so I might be back in the library tomorrow.  Until then....