Tales from the Oregon Coast

Our stay in Portland was the longest on the trip--six days parked outside Sarah and Stuart's house. The Airstream acted as an apartment and we became neighbors that came to dinner every night. We broke our Ben Franklin policy regarding length of stay, but everyone seemed comfortable, especially Allison, who had her good buddy, Carly, to play with.


Yesterday we headed west, back to the Oregon coast. We took Highway 6 to Tillamook where we made a quick run through the Tillamook Cheese Factory (mildly interesting) and then began driving the coastline. We made a quick stop at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a nice little gem of an attraction. There is a large exhibit devoted to crustaceans (huge lobsters and crabs) that were distractingly arousing to my appetite. I'm sure I'm not the first to wish for a bib and some drawn butter. My favorite section was this acrylic tunnel under a enormous aquarium. I took this shot of Allie on the runway as the overhead lighting warped the arch.



We found a nice spot for the night, the Carl Washburne State Park in Florence. Robert started a campfire, but the wood was too wet and no one wanted to sit with him while the wind whipped smoke into our eyes. Actually, Allison wouldn't come out of the trailer at all. Robert had spent the last three hours telling her Bigfoot stories. Don't you know Bigfoot creatures live in the remote forests of Oregon, probably in the very spot we were staying. We woke up with her in our bed, a habit we thought we'd recently broken.

The Oregon coast is rugged and in this October weather, very foggy. The wind was whipping up the sea and gusting across Highway 101 this morning. The Sea Lion Caves were temporarily closed due to the weather so we drove on. Robert had hoped to play golf at Bandon Dunes, but he's not eager to spend $250 to play in rain and wind. We stopped there to check the place out and I accidentally left my purse in the restaurant. We had to drive from Port Orford back to get it which put us in the middle of the rainy onslaught. We are now back in Port Orford buttoned-down for a stormy night. A fierce front has hit the southern Oregon coast prompting wind advisories and dumping hard rain. When we pulled into the RV park we didn't bother to unhook or set up the stabilizers. We'll just ride out the elements battering us from the outside. It feels like we're riding in a private train car with all the rocking. And now Robert is hollering for me to bring a pan to the bedroom. We've sprung a small leak. More updates later.