The Last Two Days of Our 35 Day Journey

After Crescent City, California it isn't too long before you cross into Oregon.  Driving thru Oregon on Highway I-5 is rather boring but when you take Highway 101 along the coast it is a wonderful, scenic drive. Oregon has some of the most beautiful bridges and light houses I have ever seen.  (Of course I'm sure there are other states that have them too but I haven't seen them)

We stopped in Brookings, Oregon at an outdoor Flea Market.  There we met a nice man named Ray (who actually grew up here in my home town) who made model airplanes from beer and soda cans.  Bob & I each bought one from him, the one I  bought is for my son for his birthday.  It was made of  17 Sierra Mist cans (his favorite soft drink).  The craftmanship of these planes is amazing.  The propellers even turn in the breeze and they are replica's of real planes.  The plane I bought is a replica of a Starduster II.

We had a hot dog lunch in the camper and continued north with our next stop at Gold Beach, Oregon.  This is a great town and the home of Jot's  Resort.  I've been there twice (with the girls) and once with Bob.  This is where you can take a jet boat ride up the Rogue River (I've always gone on Jerry's Rogue River Jet Boats.)  If you've never done this...add it to your list of things to do.  I've been up the river three different times (July and August are the best months) and it is a wonderful, exciting experience.

From there we went on to Humbug Mountain State Campground.  We have driven thru this campground so many times but this was our first time to stay there.  It's down off the highway and the path from the campground to the beach goes under another one of Oregon's beautifulbridges.  We walked out there and watched the sun dip down into the ocean.

The next morning we left the campground about 10:30am after another walk out to the beach. We stopped off and on throughout the day at various spots to take pictures and just take in the views.  We've traveled this road so many times but you just never get tired of the beauty of this area.   That evening we stopped at the beautiful Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City for dinner and then we camped in the parking lot at the Lincoln City Eagles Club...our last night on the road.

Tuesday we left the Eagles parking lot about 8:30am and stopped for breakfast.  From there we continued on to Tillamook, another one of our favorite stops.  We stopped at the Air Museum, housed in a World War II blimp hanger and then on to the Tillamook Cheese factory.  A place you must stop as you drive thru this part of Oregon.  They have the most delicious ice cream and here at the factory they offer about 30 or so different flavors for your eating pleasure.  They also have a great gift shop, and a store where you can buy all kinds of their cheese, including bags of curds.  Gotta have the curds !  I bought two small bricks (instead of the big ones) of their Garlic Cheese and I'm so upset because so far I've not been able to find it in any of the grocery stores in town. And it makes wonderful grilled cheese sandwiches.

Later down the road we stopped at Cannon Beach.  Bob took a nap and I walked on the beach.  Cannon Beach is known for the Haystack Rock and their many gift shops.  I decided I was all "shopped out" when it came to gift shops so stayed away from the ones there.  When the tide is out, you can walk out to Haystack Rock and climb around.  But, there have been people who didn't head back soon enough, the tide came in and they found themselves stranded and had to be rescued off  Haystack.

Our next stop was Seaside,Oregon and their Outlet Mall.  I like to shop at that one because there's no sales tax in Oregon.  I only wanted to go to two stores...the Paper Factory and the Corning Outlet.  Soon after leaving Seaside, the big bridge over the Columbia River at Astoria,Oregon came into view.  The south end of the bridge is in Oregon andthe north end is in Washington.  

We had planned to continue on Highway 101 along the Washington coast and spend another night at Westport but once we got to the little town of  Raymond, Washington.... it was raining, it was getting late,  we were tired so we headed across a little cow trail to Highway I-5. Once we were on I-5 we were at my house an hour and a half later.  It was so wonderful to be home...to be able to sleep in my own bed and to see my little kitty.

I hope you all have enjoyed this journey. It was really a lot of fun and   very interesting. And I've enjoyed sharing it with you...I wish we could have all been in a long caravan of vehicles, seeing the sights together.  I have printed out about 900 pictures and have them in an album to that I can take it out at anytime and remember all that we did.  Stop ny anytome and I'll be happy to drag out the album and let you see the pictures.  By the way, the total price for gas for the 4,000 miles we drove was just under $1,800. 

Until next time...........Linda