Trying to get away from the never ending smoke, we mapped our route down the coast of Washington and Oregon. The Scenic Byway was closed for rock blasting near Lake Crescent and we didn’t want to wait around for at least four hours, so we chose to go back around the east side of the peninsula, the same way we drove up.
Not far from the Hoh Rain Forest, the popular Ruby Beach had the same poor air quality that we have encountered for the past couple of weeks. We stopped and walked around on the beach and it felt like we were in a spooky horror movie. It started raining a little, but that didn’t stop us and dozens of other tourists and locals that were strolling up and down the beach.
If you need any driftwood, this is the place to find that perfect piece. Huge trees have washed up all over the place. There were so many that you had to climb your way over them to get to the water.
Not far from here is where they filmed a Twilight movie scene where Bella was on a cliff. Speaking of Twilight, we drove through the town that is featured in the books and movies. Forks is definitely a logging town, and the surrounding dense forest was a perfect backdrop for someone to be chased by wolves.
There is actually a company that conducts Twilight bus tours and you can see some of the places that are depicted in the movies. I made Darin drive us to the high school to take a photo.
Once we got around the east side of the National Park, we were able to drive over to the scenic 101 to head south. It was a very nice change of scenery, with expansive views of the ocean around almost every corner. We ended up crossing a four mile bridge into Oregon and stayed in Astoria.
One of the popular attractions here is the Astoria Column. We climbed the entire 164 steps to the top to look out in all directions. We could have seen much more beauty farther away if the smoke was gone. The tower was built in 1926 as one of the monuments erected by the Great Northern Railway.
The outside is covered with a series of murals, similar to the Trajan Column in Rome and the Place Vendome Column in Paris. Back in the early 1900’s they thought this city would be the second largest port in the northwest behind Seattle. It’s amazing how things change over time.
Beside the base of the tower, stood an Indian canoe monument dedicated to Chief Comcomly. He helped Lewis and Clark tremendously in the early 1800’s. They say it is possible that he is buried under the monument.
After our stair master workout, we drove downtown to walk along the river walk. It was flanked by boat pilot companies, restaurants, stores, and a large museum. It was too late to see the entire maritime museum, so we just kept walking.
According to TripAdvisor, we stumbled upon the number one restaurant in town, or should I say food boat? I’m not sure. The line was not moving very quickly and I don’t eat fish, so we found another place to eat dinner.
Once we drove 16 miles south to Seaside, the smoke was almost gone. I had been yearning to stick my toes in the sand, so a long walk on the beach was in order. It was low tide and we saw lots of broken pieces of sand dollars. The sound of the waves was so calming.
We were wondering why we saw so many antique cars driving around town. Seaside was hosting a Wheels and Waves festival, that’s why! Most hotels and campgrounds were full because of the crowd it draws to the area. We didn’t stop at any of the events, and just kept driving from there.
Seaside was a cute little town, but just south a few miles, Cannon Beach was even cuter! It had a lot more specialty shops and unique restaurants and seemed to cater to summer vacationers. I don’t have any pictures because we had planned to return during the next day, but we got sidetracked. Sometimes that happens when you don’t have a schedule to follow!
I hope I didn’t lose anyone, but we are still driving south on the Oregon coast. Our next campground was located in Lakeside. The road would wind high and low along the mountains and we could see water from above it or sometimes at sea level.
At Depoe Bay, everyone was parked on the side of the road to watch gray whales swimming nearby. I saw one from the truck window, but there was no parking available to fit the RV. Bummer!
Lakeside itself was not very touristy, but Dune City is a few miles north, in the heart of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. These sand dunes can be 500 feet tall and they stretch for miles along the coast. Our national park pass was put to use again to park at a traihead so we could see what the hype was about.
It took about a half a mile to reach the edge of the dunes. We could see nothing but sand! It would be another mile and a half to the beach, but we passed. Walking in soft sand is hard enough and one mile made for a good workout.
One challenge during this coastal drive has been the temperature and trying to predict what to wear. It is cool and windy by the ocean because the pacific water is chilly. When you drive a few miles inland, it can be 10-15 degrees warmer. We just dress in layers and head out and hope for the best.
I am wrapping up this section of our drive before boring all my readers. I just covered 500 miles of our 11,000 miles driven and only shared a fraction of my photos. If I could do this drive again, I would stop every 100 miles for the night and experience all the quirks and attractions of each beach town along the 101. It is truly a scenic byway.