Day 8 - Gold Beach OR to Oregon City OR



Day 8 - 24 June 2006 - Saturday

--- Starting in Gold Beach, Oregon ---

Our motel was extremely nice, and had the most comfortable beds of the entire trip. We got up early because we had a lot of ground to cover. Kristina and I managed to set off the smoke alarm when making bagels for breakfast.

We drove up the coast on US 101, stopping in Bandon at Bandon Beach:
Bandon Beach

Here we saw a starfish:
Starfish

And seals:
Seals

And a sea arch:
Sea Arch

And Sea Anemones:
Sea Anemones

We got to spend a lot of time on the beach, although it was a bit cold and windy. We were looking for agates, for which this part of the coast is famous.

We kept driving up Highway 101. We drove through Coos Bay, which is one of the largest exporters of wood chips ( Excelsior!):
Wood Chips

We drove through the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. There were miles and miles of giant sand dunes looming over the highway, but I did not get any good pictures of that. Here are some much smaller dunes:
Oregon Dunes

We stopped at Sea Lion Caves but didn't actually pay to go down and see the Sea Lions. From there you could see the Haceta Head Lighthouse:
Haceta Head

Further up the road we stopped at the Devil's Churn (one of a number of sites belonging to the Devil on this trip). It is a narrow inlet that can cause massive eruptions of spray when the waves hit it right. Here is what it looks like from above:
Devil's Churn

We walked down along it, here is a small wave causing spray:

Devil's Churn

Not much further up the road is Newport OR, the start of US Route 20! This is the far end of the road I was at the other end of in Boston MA just a few days before. Here is the start:
Begin Route 20

We stopped at Agate Beach, again looking for agates (at least this beach had rocks visible, which is a good start). We found lots of pretty stones, some of which might be agates. Here is what the beach looked like:
Agate Beach

We then started getting stuck in tourist traffic as we got closer to civilization. We drove through Lincoln City, the home of the D River, which claims to be the "shortest in the world" (which really annoyed Kristina) (Coming as it did right after the world's smallest harbor).

We stopped at Munson Falls, said to be the tallest on the Oregon Coast:
Munson Falls

We kept heading north to Tillamook, home of the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We went in, but due to newer machinery the factory doesn't make any cheese on the weekend. So we had to content ourselves to looking at idle machines. We did get some ice cream there (I got rootbeer float flavored). (and squeaky cheese curds!).

Our goal for the evening was to meet some of Kristina's extended family. We were already running very late, so we turned away from the coast, and headed over the mountains toward Portland. We drove through Portland, and arrived at Oregon City, the final destination of the Oregon Trail:
Oregon City

Luckily they had saved some food for us, and we got a tour of their beautiful yard, along with a very prolific garden.
--- Ending in Oregon City, Oregon ---


Continue on to Day 9