Trip Memories 2 – some previously unpublished pictures

Yesterday’s post we covered the first part of our Washington trip from the Port Angeles area through La Push.  Today we start with South Beach, were I will start with a panoramic sunset…nothing like a sunset over the ocean, and we had some real nice sunsets in South Beach.

South Beach where the campsites have no boundaries, camping is cheap ($7.50 with senior discount), and the campers are as friendly as can be.

   

Where people come to walk, fish, relax and just kickback listening to the ocean, basking in 72 degree weather.

And the sunsets can be out of this world…

And we have now exited Olympic National Park…but we have the rest of the Washington Coast and half of the Oregon Coast to go…

Our next stop was at a Casino in Ocean Shores where we were surrounded by Seahawk Fans, but it gave us a chance to do laundry.  Then we had an overnighter in Long Beach (above), and all of our stops from here on out are one-night stops until we reach the Sacramento area.

Besides, after spending all that time with the Seahawk Fans, EVERYONE else looked pretty friendly.

Our next stop was in Tillamook, and we had some nice ocean views…

….and some very nice taste buds explosions.

Next we went to Newport, and on the way, Marcia was surprised that we stopped at one of her favorite Ocean views…this little waterfall to the right off-set by the motion of crashing waves all around.

Even the birds enjoyed the view….

And Newport brought our last sunset along the ocean.

On our way to Coos Bay we got a dose of reality again as to what some Ocean Days look like.  Thank goodness we had seen this area back in 2012, but it would have been nice to enjoy to its fullest again this time.

Inland we find I-5 near Roseburg, and we find a couple of covered bridges in the Tri-City area.

And although we had not encountered smoke from the fires yet, we did encounter some helicopters which are fighting the fires.

But as we get close to Medford, and on into California, the smoke is thick at times…yep, the fires are bad, real bad.

There are many reasons we choose going to Washington and visiting Olympic National Park and cruising down the ocean shores.  We had not been up into Washington like this before, we knew it would be cool, we knew it was doable in four weeks, though five or six or even seven would not have been enough to get a full feel of it all.  But high on the list was that it would get us out of the heat, and had we known that so many fires were going to blow up in the areas, staying away from the fires would have been high up there too.  Along the ocean the fire dangers were there, but not as high as east of I-5 was. Overall, we enjoyed the trip immensely, and are in awe of that which has been provided to us for enjoyment.  Next trip will be a number of week away as we spend time with family, and with mom’s surgery next week.  But something tells me that our next trip might also be along the coast…because I am fairly sure these fires will still be burning….

How Do You Say It, Without Rubbing It In?

It is 72 degrees, and what is that thing that Marcia is eating?

WOW, never seen anything like this…is that YELLOW stuff LEMON by chance?  (By now my sister Sandy has to fuming!  It is 102+ in Citrus Heights, and her sister-in-law is rubbing it in by eating a LEMON Ice Cream Bar?)

   

Remember to click on the images to get them bigger and readable

A Tillamook “Lemonilla Tillabars” no less!!!   I think we might have just lost our free parking place in the backyard!  We can hear her now….”Arny, burn those ramps!”  (we have to get over her curb using wooden ramps or we might break our black tank lines like we did two years ago)

Thanks to our friends and fellow bloggers Ron and Barbara whom we met in Port Angeles, they suggested staying at the Port of Tillamook RV Park, which is total dry camping for $12 per night.  Right now there are five other campers, four RVs and one tent.  No frills, little noise, and only five miles away from Lemonilla Tillabars, I mean, the Tillamook Cheese Factory.

   

A look around us shows very few campers, lots of room, grass for the dogs, and I think we will have a peaceful night.  But all is not good..for one, those Lemonilla Tillabars only come three per box and I am going to be LUCKY to get more than the two bites I got off the first bar.  Second, when we were here in 2012 we found some Lemon Cheese at the Blue Heron…so we went there for lunch, but alas, no Lemon Cheese this time.  Third, since it is only 5 miles away I KNOW Marcia is going to want me to go back and get more bars….but our freezer can only handle so much…

Back in 2012 we spent a few days in Tillamook, including a tour of the Cheese Factory.  (Picture above was taken back then.)  If you want to see what one can do in Tillamook, visit our blog back in time at these two posts:

Three Capes Scenic Drive - Tillamook Oregon

Tillamook - Air Museum, Cheese Factory & a Waterfall

(Just remember, we did not have a good camera back then, so the picture quality won’t be very good)

Marcia was busy busy busy with the camera on the drive from Long Beach over to Tillamook.  Here she got a picture of the Columbia River as it meets the Pacific, with Oregon faintly visible over there somewhere.

The Astoria–Megler Bridge from the North side.  This is one long bridge, over 4 miles long, with a height of 196 ft. clearance at High Tide…it must have been low tide because it looked a lot further down than 196 feet.

This is a view from the north looking south not even a mile into the crossing.  The north end passes over non-navigable waters, so is much lower.  The bridge first opened in 1966, and is undergoing a massive repainting.

Now we have been climbing up, and about to enter the southern portion which goes over navigable waters…very large ships, oil tankers, freighters, pass under it.

Over 7,000 cars, on average, go across the bridge every day.  On the south end the road makes a full circle to allow cars to go either towards Portland, or towards the Pacific once they cross over the bridge.  As one who gets a bit queasy looking down from high places, crossing a bridge like this does not bother me because I am not near the edge.  Even looking out a window from let’s say the 24th floor of a high rise is fine…as long as I look out and not down.

   

One thing about traveling along the coast of Washington, Oregon and even California is that there is green, lushness all around.

And the ocean views of the Pacific are unreal…like this one which shows a bit of the marine layer holding on before it burns off for the day.

As we get closer to Tillamook, we come to Tillamook Bay, which has a sandbar running through a major portion of it along US 101.

The views along this stretch of the road are just wonderful…

   

And the community capitalizes on the view with train rides.  This is engine 25 of the old McCloud Railroad.  Back in July Marcia and I went to McCloud California and I wrote about the history of this logging town, including their vast railroad that included the states of California, Oregon, Washington,and Idaho.  Visit our post McCloud California, A Nice Little Town to see a map of this huge lumber railroad…this Engine was part of that railroad!

We get one more look of Tillamook Bay, then we roll the six more miles inland to Tillamook.  Tomorrow we plan to make Newport…Nancy (see yesterday’s post) told us of a good seafood place that we want to give a try…nothing fancy, just great food.