Day 04 — Back Down the Coast 



Pictures for this blog entry can be found here on my Flickr page.

We woke up to look out and find a heavy marine layer had moved in overnight, giving the scene a grey cast. Went down and had breakfast in the hotel's breakfast area; was a very good complimentary breakfast as complimentary breakfasts go — we will probably reserve suite 238 for future visits. We were ready to head out before 10 AM, but not sure which way to go.

US 30 comes to its western terminus a block west of the hotel at the junction with US 101 and the ramp to the bridge, so we swung onto the ramp and headed north over the bridge to Washington — didn't think we would ever stop climbing, this is a high bridge. One-third of the way across we dropped back down to water level and went on over to the other side just above the water. Having made that decision, we decided to head 12 miles up the coast to get pictures of the two lighthouses at Cape Disappointment State Park.

The drive into the park goes through a thick rainforest with huge douglas fir, spruce, ponderosa pine hemlock and western cedar trees, some of them with their foliage covered with a grey-ish moss that looked like a short form of spanish moss. The rhododendrons were blooming profusely and there were millions of foxgloves standing on both sides of the road, blooming for all they were worth — Lynda says they were purple. There was also a strange plant with blooms like queen anne's lace back home, but had large leaves that looked like pumpkin leaves and it grew both on upright stalks and on thick vines that also looked like pumpkin, with the vine as thick as my wrist if not thicker. Not sure what this plant is, but welcome any information about it.

We parked and walked the easy quarter-mile trail to North Head Lighthouse. Beside the parking lot are two lightkeepers residences (number 1, number 2) that are available for vacation rentals and we may come back and do that on a future trip. Like most left coast lighthouses, North Head is in need of paint and/or restoration. Lynda and Heather elected to stay outside and look around and I paid the dollar to go up to the lamp room. Normally, the volunteer manning the lamp rooms at other lighthouses gives a short 60-90 second canned talk and then answers questions. The reason for the brevity is there can sometimes be 6 to 10 people crammed into the lamp room, each with questions and more people waiting to come up into the light. Unfortunately, I seem to be it for the day for this guy — he was a very nice, knowledgeable older gentleman — and he launched into a 15 minute spiel about the two lighthouses here on Cape Disappointment, the First-Order Fresnel lens that was once housed here (six feet wide, twelve feet tall, made in Paris in 1822, originally installed in a lighthouse in NJ, then here in the Cape "D" lighthouse on the other side of McKenzie Head until they built this lighthouse and here until 1938 — see, I listened), the six-inch, rapid fire guns installed at Fort Columbia during WW II on McKenzie Head, and the shifting sand bars here around the mouth of the Columbia River — folks who work with me, now know why I never have to take notes in a meeting.

Well, I finally slipped away and we drove around McKenzie Head to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse and found out that you can't drive up close to it. We parked way down the hill from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and caught a shuttle bus up to the center and the trail to the lighthouse. I don't know what qualification the bus driver was hired for, but driving ability wasn't her strong suit. She dropped us off at the center and it seems to be undergoing extensive renovation and its parking lot is a total mess.

The hike to the lighthouse is six-tenths of a mile through the forest, down a steep hill tripping over exposed tree roots to just above Dead Man's Cove and then back up the hill beside the Coast Guard Station to the lighthouse. Terrain is very rugged, and so were the mosquitos. I was beginning to worry they might gang up on us and haul us off for lunch. Each time I tried to stop to take a picture, they would swarm over me and I would have to walk on, flailing away with my jacket to get rid of them (more than 2 dozen bites when we got out of there), swatting for all I was worth.

We came out of the trees and all of us thought, "what an aptly-named lighthouse!" Disappointment is the word. The lighthouse is probably the roughest-looking lighthouse we have been to on the left coast. Weathered, almost crumbling, we shot a couple of pictures and headed back down the hill. We hadn't left the yard yet when a van and a car drove up. Heather got a laugh over the open-mouthed look of indignation I gave the two vehicles. When the guys got out, I realized they were Coast Guard; but still, I wish I didn't have walk back on the lousy path and fight the ferocious mosquitos. Since there was no choice, back we went.

Back on the road, we headed back to Oregon and down 101. After fighting the path to the lighthouse, we didn't go up to the Astoria Column to take in the view, as climbing 164 steps to the top sounded like no fun at all. The coast was pretty, but the road is very twisty because of the ruggedness of the coastline. I chose not to drive down the Three Capes Scenic Route as we had done that last time, nor did we stop at the Tilamook Cheese plant, because we didn't think we had time to do it justice. Likewise we drove on by the Tillamook Air Museum, housed in an old blimp hanger, it looked it might be a good candidate for a future visit.

We did stop to eat in Seaside, OR at Morris' Fireside Restaurant where I had a burger and fries, but with a green salad starter. The salad was bigger than I expected and the honey-mustard dressing was the best I have ever had, definitely not from a bottle, rich, thick and creamy, not too sweet and without the overpowering wang you get from a lot of honey-mustards. The burger was huge, cooked all the way through as I prefer to have mine done, but still juicy, despite being lean Angus beef. The fries were interesting; they took whole potatoes, halved them and then chopped the halves into thick half round slabs and fried them. Different, but very good. I would rate Morris' a 10 out of 10. Lynda had a BLT with the fries and was extremely satisfied with it. Heather had a turkey and cranberry on white with — you guessed it — the fries. If you head to Seaside for all the little shops, at least you know you can get well-fed with great food at Morris' (a block west of the Visitor's information Center).

We got to the OR 18 turnoff at Otis and saw signs noting that there was construction from there to Newport (where we were headed to take US 20 back inland) with long delays expected, so we got on 18 and headed toward Salem. Oregon 18 may be my favorite road across the Coast Range, we had taken it last year when we did the north-central coast. Turns are much more gentle than US 20 from Corvallis to Newport and I don't think the grades are as steep (have not been over a pass through the Coast Range much higher than 700 feet) and it may be a little bit prettier. Anyway, east on 18, swing right on 22, pass the pig farm and on through Salem and its hat box capitol building to the 5.

We hadn't much more than gotten on the Interstate when we stuck in traffic and wouldn't move much for the next 45 minutes. Apparently, someone in a pickup hauling a big fifth-wheel trailer got going too fast going down the steep grade (long 5% grade) and tapped the brakes and had the trailer wag the truck into the center retaining wall. The wreck had both lanes and the center emergency lane blocked, so everyone was squeezing to the right onto the emergency lane to get around the mess.

Got back and edited and posted pictures online and called it a night.

Wednesday the 6th will be a down and recover day before we drive to Seattle on Thursday. 

Posted: Thu - June 8, 2006 at 12:29 AM          

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