The Cool Coast

Our visitors from Wisconsin arrived via Amtrak on Monday morning. Believe it or not, the train was actually one minute early... something I certainly didn't expect. Way to go Amtrak.

Dar's Mom and Dad, Marion and Cal, were tired from the two day trip but in good spirits. Nothing wrong here that a good hot breakfast and a nap won't cure.

We'll keep them pretty busy with visiting Andrea and Gage and the two munchkins... their great-grandkids (our grandkids... Ryan and Evan) and some other sightseeing Dar has in mind.

Marion and Cal at Cape Meares Lighthouse

On Tuesday and Wednesday we were over on the Oregon Coast. Poking our noses in here and there, it took most of the two days to explore from Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia, to Newport about 100 miles to the South. Tuesday night we stayed in Oceanside, OR., at a little motel high on a bluff directly above the beach, a perfect place to watch a gorgeous sunset.

The Oregon Coast is among the most picturesque in the world. High rugged capes, large "stacks" (vertical columns of rock isolated by erosion) hundreds of feet out in the surf, and a series of wide sandy beaches give the coast it's character. Pepper this scene with a series of historic lighthouses and you've got yourself some world-class eye-candy that you won't soon forget. Despite the mid-week late-September timing of our visit the road and attractions were quite busy.

Of note, we saw the worlds shortest river -- the D River, in Lincoln City, so proclaimed by the State of Oregon despite claims by some in Montana that it has one shorter. In any case, depending on whether you'd get your tape measure out at high tide or low, the D River is somewhere between 120 and 440 feet long.  Down the road apiece, we saw a sign in Depot Bay proclaiming the worlds smallest harbor. Hmmm.

The big highlight of the trip was whale-watching at Cape Meares and at Depoe Bay. There are a few gray whales that stay resident along the central Oregon Coast instead of joining their buddies near Alaska during the summer and fall. They seem to love showing off for crowds. As big as the bus-house, we could have watched them for hours.

After a long couple days of exploring we took today "off" to rest and recover.

Wondering what Dar has up her sleeve for the rest of the week...
T