We have been in travel mode after leaving Mt. Rainier. We had two excellent camping days and then on August 25 starting heading south to San Francisco. We traveled along Route 5 then to Route 101 in Oregon and then to California before switching to Route 1 in Leggett California. Both Routes 101 and 1 pretty much follow the Pacific coast.
On the 25 we tried to get over to the Oregon coast around Tigard, OR but the traffic was just to heavy and we turned back. We stayed in Woodburn, OR for the night. The next day, August 26, we cut over at Eugene and got to Florence on the Oregon coast. Had a very nice lunch in Florence and then worked on getting a hotel for the night. By mistake we ended up picking a town about 20 miles north of Florence called Yachats. It worked out great. I also was able to finally get into and stand in the Pacific Ocean. We have come all this way and hadn't gotten to the beach yet. This area, south of Florence, OR, is the area of giant sand dunes. We drove into several of the sites along the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. This is a great area for dune buggies and you see lots of them all around. We were also now on Route 101 and driving along the coast.
We wandered along the Pacific coast, stopping at different viewing sites. It is beautiful along this route, we still had mist and fog, but it is beautiful. For the evening we stayed in Brookings, OR, just north of the California border. On August 28 we headed into California passing through the Redwood National and State Park. Route 101 sometimes gets down to just 1 land each way and the giant redwood trees are inches off the road. Very dramatic. Along the way we passed the Trees of Mystery in the Redwood forest. kind of a small Redwoods trees theme park. They have a giant Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox to bring in the tourist. We also saw near the end of the park 3 male elks trying out their horns and testing their manhood. Pretty amazing to see.
We left Route 101 and picked up Route 1 which is even narrower and windier than Rt 101. It goes right along the coast with the cliff on one side and hill on the other. Don't make a mistake. There isn't really any place to stay on the upper end of Route 1 and it was getting dark. We drove into Westport, CA, not to far from Fort Bragg and discovered a wonderful little hotel called the Westport Hotel and Old Abalone Pub. It is a reconditioned 1890 hotel with excellent food and accommodations. We had an excellent dinner and breakfast at this great little hotel. Very nice rooms. I highly recommend it.
August 29, we left Westport this morning heading south along Route 1. Around Port Arena we got tired of all the switchbacks and driving on the cliff edges and cut back across the mountains through Booneville to Route 101 and headed down to San Rafael for the night. The cutting back had even more tiny mountain roads, back and forth and up over several mountains but we made it fine.
 |
| Bruce and Louise on the beach near Yachats, OR |
 |
| Bruce standing on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. The entire area has been just mist and fog |
 |
| I think this is Yachats, OR where they pull the fishing boats out of the water everyday, because of the harbor depth, and put them on these funky trailers. |
 |
| I continue to see dinosaurs everywhere I go out here. |
 |
| A giant Paul Bunyan at the Trees of Mystery in the Redwood forest |
 |
| This was really cool, we watched these elks butt heads with each other for a while |
 |
| Louise standing on the black sand beach in Westport, CA |
 |
| The cool little Westport Hotel in Westport, CA, excellent food and sleep |
 |
| The California coast along Route 1, we finally have a sunny day on the coast |
No comments:
Post a Comment