May 25: Newport to Astoria

We had a nice breakfast this morning at the bed and breakfast, and got to meet some of the other guests. French toast was a nice change from the Starbucks binge we’ve been on.


The state of affairs on Sunday morning;


We left shortly after breakfast and headed up 101. There are times when 101 is right on the water’s edge, but there are times when it goes a bit further inland, too. We had another partly sunny/mostly cloudy/a little bit of rain sort of day today. At least we haven’t had to buy sunscreen. And it least we didn’t pack those shorts. I packed one pair of capri pants, and I figured I’d wear them today, as we’d be on/near the water a bunch, but all day long I was debating changing to jeans, because it’s been in the 50s all day.

There are a bunch of places to pull off 101, and we hit a bunch of them. The road also goes right through the middle of some towns, with lots of roads for beach access. Another strange thing to an east coast girl is that there are a lot of beaches where driving on the beach is allowed; guess I should have learned that from the beginning of Goonies.

The first overlook we stopped at was called Cape Foulweather.


This picture makes me laugh. People don’t seem to realize how awesome Greg is at taking arm length pictures of the two of us all the time, even with the new, heavier camera. So, we took a couple and then this guy offered to take one for us. I was saying “yes, please” as Greg snapped this one.


We headed on north, and hit a few sprinkles and some rain. We needed a break, and so stopped at an outlet mall in Lincoln City for a little while. Greg found a few new shirts, and I got a few pairs of pants and found a new raincoat finally. (I’m getting sick of seeing myself in the black one in all of the pictures so far from this trip!)

The rain let up, and so we back tracked a couple of miles to a spot on Siletz Bay that we wanted to check out. There were lots of people on the beach near here, and some had fires going.


Back on 101. Greg found something in Fodor’s about this Three Capes Scenic Route that promised a “thrilling driving experience”, which just hung closer to the coast than 101 for a stretch. We headed out that way, and found this beach at, Cape Kiwanda. (You can see some truck tracks in the 2nd picture.)






The drive wasn’t too bad, until we started on towards Cape Lookout, and then it just got painfully twisty. Greg was driving, and I think he was making himself sick, so we turned around and caught back up with 101, which took us into Tillamook. Some people at the bed and breakfast mentioned that Tillamook was a big dairy town, and there’d be lots of cheese and ice cream (“You had me at cheese!”). We stopped at a place called Blue Heron, and tasted some cheese and got some ice cream. We never really had lunch, so we bought some brie and a loaf of French bread and called it lunch. It totally reminded me of being in Europe, where I subsisted on bread and cheese.


I had read an article on cnn.com a few months ago about some iron deposits ("red towers") and ghost forests that were supposed to be somewhere on the coast near this tiny town of Arch Cape. We never found anything, but we did find this rock beach.




Our next stop was Cannon Beach, the one from Goonies. It’s a nice area, and 99% of the houses have those worn cedar shingles – so pretty! You can kind of see a couple of houses in the 2nd picture.




Some of the “it was windy” series:





Back on the road, and finally to Astoria. We stayed at a Holliday Inn Express that’s right on the Columbia River, and almost immediately underneath the huge bridge where 101 crosses the Columbia. In fact, we were greeted by this sign when we arrived. I probably shouldn’t be as amused by it as I was. (“Where sleeping under the bridge is a good thing”)


The hotel really was a pleasant surprise: it was new, clean, the rooms were huge, we had a gorgeous view of the bridge and river, there was a gas fireplace in the room, and we were right on the Riverwalk. This was the view from our room.


The hotel, as well as the pushy lady at the winery, recommended a new restaurant called the Bridgewater Bistro, which turned out to be a 2 minute walk along the Riverwalk. There’s a large, new hotel out at the end of the pier that used to be used for fish processing, and somehow this building that the restaurant is in was associated with it. (Yeah, my grasp of details is sub-par.) Anyhow, the restaurant had 2 levels, and views of the river from pretty much anywhere you sat. It was just so pretty, and the food was really good, too.

By the time we headed back for the hotel, it was almost 9:00. The strange thing is, it wasn’t really much darker than it was when we went to dinner. We’ve been noticing that: I don’t know if it’s just because it’s gray all the time or what, but after 7:00 or so, the amount of “darkness” doesn’t change very much.

We actually had to do some laundry tonight to make sure that we can make it through the week. Another point for the Holliday Inn: we got the Discovery Channel and watched the Deadliest Catch marathon while working on the laundry.