Month: July 2008

After checking out of the Rosebriar Inn, we started our tour of Astoria.  There are many Victorian houses and a large column, the Astoria Column, at the highest point in town.  It shows the founding of Astoria and honors Clark and Lewis.  (Lewis gets way too much credit and I’m a Clark.)

Then we went to Fort Clatsop where Clark and Lewis wintered in 1805.  They really don’t know the exact site but it was an interesting little National Park.  From there we went to Fort Stevens State Park to see the wreck of the Peter Iredale, a  British ship that ran into trouble in 1905.  The picture is the hulk of the ship on the sand looking from one end to the other.

We then went out and looked at the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean, had fish and chips (meh) for lunch and checked into our new hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, where it’s “a good thing to sleep under a bridge.”  This is a picture taken out of the window in our room.  Yay! for clean. Yay! for big, comfortable king bed. And yay! for no ants!

 

When we looked at our GPS, the demonic “Missy” told us that we had about 250 miles to go today and it would take over 6 hours. Huh, that seemed like a long time. But by the time we stopped and had breakfast and lunch and looked at the Alsea Bay Bridge Interpretive Center and Tillamook Cheese Factory, it took us over 8 hours to get from Bandon to Astoria, Oregon.

John was really great about doing all the driving. Between the cliffs and the high bridges, there was no way I was going to participate.

First we stopped at the Kountry Kitchen for an awful breakfast. Will I never learn? Never eat at a restaurant called “Kitchen” and never, never eat at a place that thinks it’s cute to misspell things.

Our next stop was at the Alsea Bay Bridge Interpretive Center. Conde McCullough was the architect for most of the bridges along US 101 in Oregon. In fact, we had seen a program about him and his bridges on Modern Marvels. They are art deco masterpieces. The Center explained the history of the bridges and the building of the Alsea replacement bridge. The McCullough bridge had been built with the wrong mix of concrete and had begun to fail. Anyway, really interesting.

The Oregon coast is really beautiful and very wild. The road is windy with lots of grade and the little towns really slow you down. A speeding tourist is a real revenue opportunity.

We also stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory . There was a self-guided tour and lots of people. We didn’t spend too much time here.

Finally we got to Astoria with its looming bridge across the Columbia River. We checked into the Rosebriar Inn. I had booked the Carriage House. Not clean, not comfortable and with giant carpenter ants. No way we are spending two nights here.

Will the fun never end?  Having lived within a mile of the Alameda County Fairgrounds for the last 15 years, we have only once gone to the fair.  And that was only because Jonathan was singing there.  But we’re on vacation!  Time to do wild and crazy things.  So today we bundled up and headed to the fair which was about 25 miles inland from here – in the middle of nowhere.  Who would come to this fair?  Judging from the parking lot, a lot of people from Oregon, one car from California, and one car in stealth mode with Utah plates (ours).

Now here’s something you may not know.  When John was at MIT he was in a fraternity and had nicknames.  One was Ponch, for Pontius Pilate and the other was llama because of a long upper lip.  Now I’ve never thought of John’s upper lip as freakishly long but I took a picture of a county fair llama.  You be the judge.

We enjoyed looking at the animals and watching girls on horseback doing dressage.  We went to a technical judging of llamas and learned lots of new facts about them.  For instance, their offspring are called crias.  We saw sheep that looked like Cousin It.  We looked at lots of jarred fruit and vegetables as well as platesful of cookies.  There were quilts and knitted garments.  Almost everything had some sort of ribbon on it.  It seemed much like when the kids were on swim team.  You got a ribbon no matter what.  Yay, seventh place out of seven.  Perhaps we never taught them how to deal with defeat.

Finally, we watched a guy do chainsaw art.  He started with his big chainsaw and gradually worked down to the more precise chainsaws.  He never paused.  Never stepped back to evaluate his work.  He just kept sawing at his masterpiece until it became a bear holding a “welcome” sign.  You’ll notice that he’s concerned about his hearing but not so much his eyesight.

Tomorrow we head up to Astoria, Oregon.  The sun finally came out today around 5 PM and we are hoping for warmer (but not too warm) weather in the future.

We have a house right across a park from the ocean. If there were actually a sun, we could see it set. The weather has been rather totally marine layer and the sun never made it out today. But intrepid travelers that we are, we went to the park and down the cliff to the beach. The picture tells it all.

Along with freezing at the beach, we went into downtown Bandon, had lunch and did some shopping. As doting parents and grandparents we are always on the lookout for some piece of vacation schlock to foist upon our kids – only good presents for Nathan. (Actually we try to get our kids some nice stuff too.) We also went to the Coquille Point lighthouse. That’s pronounced KO KWELL, not like the famous French dish Coquille Saint Jacques. Apparently the native Americans here were more into subsistence than haute cuisine.

We found out that the Coos County Fair is opening tomorrow and we think maybe we’ll go check it out. There are probably some mighty fine presents to be had there!

 Today we wended our way up the Oregon coast. We stopped for some coffee in Crescent City, CA on our way to Oregon. Many years ago we spent a vacation in Crescent City. We wanted to see if the place had improved at all. It hasn’t. Most store fronts are vacant and the place has the look of a deserted beach town. If Eureka lacks good weather and accessibility, then Crescent City is inclement and desolate.

We visited the Cape Blance lighthouse in southern Oregon. The town nearby, Port Orford, is the further west of any incorporated town in the contiguous United States. The lighthouse, which is out on a point of land, is subject to extremely high winds. Extremely high. Although the picture looks quite calm, the wind had to be blowing at a steady 35 to 40 mph with gusts higher. Add to that the fact that it was in the 50’s and you’ve got some uncomfortable weather.

So we took the tour and then hurried back and huddled in the car. I think when I was planning this trip I was hoping for something between St. George weather (100+) and winter (here).

Today when we woke up the marine layer was in.  Yay!  I am really hoping that the cooler moist air will help to soothe my lungs.  I have been having constant asthma problems ever since the fires here in California started.  In fact on the way up here, we passed through miles and miles of murky, smoky air.  There was a fire base camp with hundreds of small tents for the firefighters to get a few hours of rest.  It must be a really difficult job.  Anyway, the moist air from the Pacific is covering Eureka and will probably remain until this afternoon.  And I’m glad.

This morning we went to the Blue Ox Millworks.  We were treated to a personal tour by the owner, Eric Hollenbeck, who had quite a bit of acclaim in the 90’s being televised explaining his craft and honored by President Clinton on Earth Day. Here’s a picture of John standing by Paul Bunyan at the Blue Ox.

The shop does both new and restoration work.  The machines in the shop date from the 1800’s to the mid-1900’s. They make their own knives for the woodworking machines and their own stains.  They also run a program for at-risk youth.  The mill is an alternative high school.  The kids learn a trade and all their academics through a hands-on program.  On the grounds are many exhibits including a rose garden.

After lunch we did a walking tour of downtown Eureka.  I had printed the tour off the internet and was the envy of other tourists. Since our condo is in a great location, the tour started right outside our door.  We walked all over downtown and then took a ride to the Carson Mansion.     

                                           

 Finally, we took a ride out to the beach.  As you can see, the beach is a pretty uncrowded place.

An interesting aspect of the beach here is that after Pearl Harbor was attacked, there was a lot of fear that the west coast would be attacked.  For protection, ammunition bunkers were built and the coast guard patrolled the beaches watching for submarines.

So all in all Eureka has been a pretty interesting place.  There are Victorian houses, a working harbor, WWII history, and the lumber industry.  We ate out at the Lost Coast Brewery Pub and stayed in a condo on the waterfront in the middle of the historic district for about as much as you would pay for a good hotel.  Here’s a picture of our condo.  It’s on the second floor in the middle.  The picture is taken from the Eureka boardwalk.  Eureka only needs sunnier weather and more accessibility to become a tourist haven.

 

After getting up bright and early and snagging some breakfast at the hotel, we headed up to Eureka.  On the way, we took the Avenue of the Giants, a road through magnificent coastal redwoods.  We stopped to walk into the forest a little and take some pictures.  John looks very tiny!

Later, we stopped at the Visitor’s Center where there was a tree that had fallen down.  The rings were marked with various historical dates.  The tree had been born in 1187 so it had been alive through a lot of history. 

 Inside the visitor center, there was an exhibit about a man, Charles Kellogg, who had been instrumental in saving the redwoods.  He even built a truck out of a redwood and drove around promoting his cause.  The odd thing, though, is that this man could vocalize bird songs and is the only known man to extinguish a flame with his voice.  Until, that is, our Jon extinguished a flame on MythBusters last year!  Wow, what a coincidence.

We arrived in Eureka around 4 PM also stopping in Scotia, a Pacific Lumber Company owned town.  And Ferndale which is a totally Victorian town, really cute and well preserved.  We are staying in a condo here and it’s right on the harbor.  Here’s the view out our window.