Our 40th Wedding Anniversary Adventure

 

 

June 2-4, 2013

Ron and I had our 40th Wedding anniversary on May 10th....but we were tending Preston and Taylor, so we postponed our little getaway until June. We decided to visit the Oregon Coast.....one of our all time favorite places to go. We stayed in Oceanside, just 3 miles from the Cape Meares lighthouse, near Tillamook.

Ron had flown down to Salt Lake City for James' baptism, and didn't get home from theairport until almost midnight on June 1st. I was all packed and had our food ready to go by the time he got home. Ron changed his clothes, we loaded the truck and started driving. There are times that I think I'm getting to old to drive through the night like we used to when we were younger. We got as far south as McChord Air Force base near Tacoma, and had to find a parking lot to pull and over and take an hour and a half snooze. We took our time driving down to Oregon.....we stopped at any place that looked interesting. We enjoyed driving through the Willapa Bay area.....it is a wildlife refuge and goes on for miles and miles . We found a wide spot in the road and pulled over to eat our breakfast. It was slightly overcast and we were a bit worried that the weather wasn't going to be really great
but we lucked out and it starting clearing as the day went on. The Willapa Bay area is a huge shallow bay with grassy marshland and is the home to all kinds of birds, bear and fish. We didn't have good luck though, because we didn't see more than a couple of blue herons.

We continued south to the Cape Disappointment State Park and drove out to the picnicing area which has a view of the lighthouse. It was the best restaurant in town! We sat on the tailgate of the truck and enjoyed our lunch, with a great view of the mouth of the Columbia River and the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. And of course after lunch, we needed to take another nap, so we put the window shades in the truck, reclined our seats back and enjoyed another hour nap. That's the best kind of vacation......just go where you want, when you want.....and end up where-ever the road takes you.

The two photos below are at Cape Meares Lighthouse looking south towards Oceanside, (which is just around the point on the left). This lighthouse is quite easy to get to, but you need to be creative to get a good picture of it. It is the shortest of all the lighthouses, but one of our favorites. The glass is incredibly beautiful.

We decided to find a motel before we headed out to the lighthouse. We found these cute little beach cabins for a very reasonable price, (compared to other motels anyway.) Our room had a small kitchen, and bedroom and bath. Tiny, but very cozy. We tried to book it for two nights, but it was already taken for the next night, so after one night they moved us to a larger cabin, with two bed, a kitchen with a couch and kitchen table. It felt huge compared to our first little room. We would have room to have some grandkids come too!

(Below:  the view from our cabin in Oceanside.)

 

The town of Oceanside is just 3 miles from the Cape Meares Lighthouse. About 4 years ago, a couple of young men (who were drunk) used the Lighthouse for target practice and shot it full of holes, destroying the priceless Fresnell lens that it had. Those lenses are irreplaceable. The people of Tillamook were extremely upset with this act of vandalism, and the men were caught and sentenced time in prison, plus a huge fine. The lighthouse will never be the same, but it is still beautiful.   

We stayed at the lighthouse taking pictures until dark, and then came back to our cabin. I cooked some salmon and made a salmon salad for dinner. Yum!

To say the least, we were absolutely exhausted. I think that we slept 10 hours! (which is unheard of for us!) The bed was even more comfortable than our bed at home. Like I mentioned earlier.....I think we're getting too old to drive through the night. It catches up with us!

  

We were very lucky to be able to get to the lighthouse......the park service was actually closing it down for three days for repairs and maintenance on the day we left. It is a pretty busy place, because the light is so easy to access. These few days were no different.....there were lots of people. It's rather interesting how people respond when you come "loaded for bear" with camera equipment.....they are usually pretty easy to strike up a conversation with. We had quite a long conversation with one older couple from California; they had been up to Seattle for a nephew's wedding and were on their way home, when they decided to stop at Cape Meares on the way home. The gentleman was carrying a Nikon camera as well, (D5200) so it was natural for him to want to know what kind of cameras we had. He was asking questions about the neutral
density filters that we use, so Ron ended up giving him a lesson and demonstration on how to use neutral density filters. I talked to his wife and we exchanged little stories about our grand children. There was another young fellow who came by, who asked me if I had gotten a shot of the sun coming through the glass....he was carrying a point and shoot camera. Then a couple of motorcycle guys asked us if we were going to get some pictures of the sunset, and with another couple Ron volunteered to take a picture of both of them in front of lighthouse. (they were trying to figure out how to do it with a phone camera.) The second night wasn't quite a busy, because there was a really strong (and cold) wind. We had to bundle up pretty good. I still got chilled through though......it took me half of the night to get my core body temperature warmed up. The best light was in the evening.....mornings were a bit overcast, but not too bad. We were hoping for some morning shots, but the place where Ron wanted to go, was inaccessible at high tide....which it was. So we decided to go exploring. We drove down the rest of the Three Capes Route, to Cape Lookout.....found the picnic area, fixed lunch and then took a nap in the truck again.

The photo below is of the peninsula where the State Campground for Cape Lookout is......I am standing on the mountain above, looking north. In the distance is the Cape Meares Lighthouse (on the point of land sticking out) and Oceanview.

Driving down Oregon Highway 101 is beautiful at every turn. I can't count the number of times that we have taken that drive, but I never get tired of it. All of the beaches in Oregon are public, so there are many access points and places to explore.  

We had wanted to go to Cape Kiwanda (which we did) which is south of Cape Lookout, to take pictures of the water on the rocks there. But when we got there in the middle of the day, the wind was so strong and cold, that we opted out. The tide was still too high for what we wanted to do as well, but we still explored a bit.

The sand on the Oregon Coast is beautiful, soft and white. Washington beaches are mostly rocky so visiting Oregon beaches is a real treat. I love the seagrass that grows along the coast as well. As we drove long the inlet close to the town of Netarts, there were several sand bars in the bay where huge groups of harbor seals were baking themselves. What a life! Eat, sleep and enjoy the sunshine all day. 

We took our time driving home.....and stopped at every place that looked interesting. I think that we were both dragging our feet going home. We wished that we had several more days to spend.

There was a cute little steam engine that ran on tracks along the highway, from Garibaldi to Wheeler. It cost almost $100 per person to ride, but it was a 6 hour trip and you got lunch in Wheeler, plus made several stops along the way. It was a great way to see the area anyway.  (maybe someday we'll take the train ride.) 

The weather was beautiful the entire drive home, so it was easy to make an excuse to stop at every place that looked interesting.

We had to stop at "Hug Point" and give each other a hug! 

I think we pulled over at just about every viewpoint that there was.....everything was so beautiful, and we were sure NOT in a hurry to get home.

We stopped in Cannon Beach, and went to the city park for an early brunch.

 

(Below;  Ron, at Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River...Cape Disappointment in the background.)

 



(Below:  The Nehalem River, in Oregon, close to the Nehalem bay State Park....town of Wheeler.)

 

After our early brunch, we drove through Fort Stevens State Park and found a spot to close our eyes for an hour or so. That park is huge with roads going every which direction....it's easy to get lost. Then we crossed the Astoria Bridge over to Washington. The bridge is 3 1/2 miles long and very high up in the air, because huge cargo ships and cruise ships need to navigate up the Columbia River to get to Portland. We pulled into Cape Disappointment State Park again and fixed ourselves a sandwich. There was a stiff breeze, but not strong enough to make the incoming waves crash against the shoreline.

 

 

 

After our stop at the Cape Disappointment State Park, we started driving north through the Willapa Bay area as we headed towards home. We took our time driving and enjoyed the scenery, still not seeing any birds or other wildlife. As you drive through the little town of South Bend, you see piles of oyster shells near the docks. They claim to be the oyster capital of the world. The town of Raymond which is right next to South Bend, is full of logs.....piled just as high as the mounds of oyster shells.

We continued along the coastal road toward Westport. We actually found a place just south of town that let you drive onto the beach....which is unusual. (In Oregon you can drive on the beach almost anywhere.) So we had to take the truck onto the beach....just to say that we drove on the beach in Washington.

The Grays Harbor Lighthouse is located in Westport, so we drove out to see it. It is not in use any more, and is maintained by the Historical Society. They give tours on a regular basis. There are curtains drawn all around the lens room, so you couldn't see into the room at all. It is the tallest lighthouse in the state of Washington.
 

It was getting to be very late afternoon by this time, so we drove down the main dock area of town, and bought some fish and chips and a fish burger for dinner. We sat out on the sidewalk next to the marina and enjoyed looking at all the fishing boats as we ate dinner.

Westport is totally dependent upon fishing for it's livelihood. It seemed like every boat in the harbor was used as charger for fishing.

It was a beautiful and warm afternoon, and we enjoyed getting out and walking for a while.

We finally (a bit reluctantly) got back on the highway and headed east toward Olympia and Interstate 5. There was lots of traffic going home, at least it felt like it, because we had been so used to back roads for the past three days. Actually, for freeway traffic, it wasn't bad at all.

It was time to get back to "the salt mines" as my dad used to say....back to teaching, church work and everyday responsibilities. It's was really nice to have a few days to relax and "re-charge our batteries" so to speak. I think we came back with some nice photos, and had a great time doing it. However, we are ready to go again, right now!
 We arrived home around 10:00 that night.....it was not even completely dark yet. We unloaded the truck, unpacked everything, put the food away and got ready for bed. I turned my computer on and downloaded my pictures though.....I didn't want to wait until the next day, because I had students coming and I knew that I wouldn't have time. I'm glad that we took so many pictures.......we'll have great memories of a fine time together.

I think that we would stay in Oceanside again when we go back to photograph the Cape Meares Lighthouse again.....which are definitely going to do. We want to have a large collection of lighthouse pictures......we're off to a good start.  (all the good photos will be posted on Ron's website, because they will be for sale.)