Oregon Coast

On Monday we left Portland and headed for Hwy 101 which parallels the coast. We stopped at a few beaches to savor the view and look for whales (never saw any). We stopped in Florence at the famous Sea Lion Cave. Jen had told us we would be amazed at the number of sea lions in the cave. The place itself is promoted as the world's largest sea cave... and some sea lions. The sea lions were not in the cave when we visited and probably won't be until late fall. There were a lot of sea lions, but they were on a rock outside of the cave which was only visible from the elevator platform. If they had been in the cave, we could have seen them much better. The cave was interesting, and I did enjoy seeing the sea lions, but I was disappointed. I did get to put my quarters in the telescope and see them better, though.



The next day we explored some of the dunes. The sand dunes by the Oregon Coast are about two miles wide and span maybe a quarter of the coast in the south, and some of them are up to 400 feet high. It was fun climbing the dunes and watching Ben roll down one, but there's not much fun to be had without an ATV.



A lot of the fun of our trip is being able to take our time sometimes and really enjoy the drive and the towns along the way. One town which we stopped in was North Bend. We stopped to look for coupons in the visitor's center, and the nice attendant informed us of a good seafood restaurant and some other fun things to do on the way to the Redwoods. The seafood restaurant was in Charleston, a harbor town which has "the freshest seafood in Oregon." We ate our fish and chips at the Sea Basket while gazing out over the seafood boats in the marina. While the fish was a bit too greasy, and the batter wasn't great, the fish itself was good. The clam chowder was very good. Being in a locally favored restaurant where the fish travels about forty feet to get to my table really made my Oregon Coast experience. There are few places in Mobile that can boast such fresh seafood, although it is a port city. Plus the seafood isn't as good anyways.


After lunch, we took a little scenic route to a marine life view point. There was a group of rocks covered in sea lions. They were pretty far out, and we ran out of quarters, so I didn't get to see them through the telescope. Even from 100 yards away, the noise of a few hundred sea lions can be deafening.



At the end of the day we camped at a state park right on the beach and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Pacific. We woke up and went searching for seal pups which many signs warned us not to bother, but there were none to bother. We did find some very friendly and eager squirrels, though.


The Oregon Coast is so uniquely beautiful; I think it may be one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Travel Update

I am in a cafe that serves borderline-bad coffee, is decorated with little wooden country signs and quilted angels, and plays very annoying country music. Isn't that supposed to be restricted to the South? We are in Crescent City, CA. We took 2 days to drive down the coast from Portland. It could've been done in less than a day. Today we'll do Redwood National Park! Lots more pictures and stories later.

Quote from a girl behind the counter: "Is a dozen twelve or ten?" All stereotypes about the South have just been disproved. Ignorance and stupidity (and country music) run rampant across the US.

Portland

We arrived in Portland on Friday evening to stay with our friends Jen and Spirit Meller. Everyone will warn you that Portland is full of hippies and freaks, especially the neighborhood we were staying in (Alberta). I was never overwhelmed, though, and the impression I got from the city was much more of a refreshing need to express, and it felt like a very judgement-free place. I also love that Portland is neighborhood-centric, with residential areas surrounding small business districts. It seems that most people can easily walk or bike to get what they need. Another thing is that everyone here has a tattoo.

On Saturday, we took a bus to downtown and walked around the Saturday Market, a once-a-week outdoor mall with lots of tie-die vendors and natural, homemade doggie treats (which we later learned really messed up one poor pup's tummy). It was fun seeing all the different artsy vendors, the ethnic food stalls, and the creepy street performers.

After we'd had our Saturday Market fill, we took the MAX (local train) to Washington Park, a big park on a mountain with a famous rose garden, an arboretum, a zoo, and lots of trails. We literally hiked a mountain to get to the rose garden. It was really beautiful and is home to lots of prize-winning roses. I think to really appreciate it, you have to know a lot about roses. It smelled nice, though.

We had intended to only visit the rose garden at Washington Park, but due to bad scaling on a map, we ended up hiking to the tip-top of the mountain to get to the MAX stop at the zoo. It was about two miles. Jen and Spirit are pretty athletic, so they didn't think much of it, but I was struggling for the rest of the day.

For a late lunch, we went back downtown to Kenny and Zuke's, a Jewish deli. (www.kennyandzukes.com) This deli is famous for its pastrami, which was recommended to Spirit by a vegan waitress. Ben was very impressed with his pastrami reuben, and I enjoyed my turkey reuben. Sorry, Berck, I'm just not very into the red meat.

We were beat for the rest of the day, so we went "home" to take a nap, and then finished off our reubens for dinner. They were that big. That night, Spirit took us to get ice cream with his friends at the local ice cream/doughnut/burger joint. This place is a Meller favorite not because the ice cream is especially good (It's decent.), but because they have a $1 baby ice cream cone. It is the perfect amount of ice cream. His friends wandered home, and we went pub crawling. It took us three pubs, however, to get a beer though. The first one was recommended by Spirit's friends, but was crowded and looked kind of yuppie to me. The second was closed for a private party. The third was a bar inside McMenamins Kennedy School, an old elementary schooled which was renovated into a hotel, movie theater, restaurant, hot tubs, and a few bars. They also have a brewery, but I think that is at another location. (Portland is famous for its microbreweries.) The beer was good.

The only other notable thing we did in Portland was attend Imago Dei, the "community" (church) made famous by Don Miller's book Blue Like Jazz. Spirit told us it is a "very good expression of the church in Portland," but I thought it was a lot like any other church in any other city, and it actually wasn't very inviting. It is lauded in the book as quite a revolutionary church, and I'm sure the people in it do a lot of good things. I'm just saying the service wasn't great. After that, we just wondered around the city a bit. We left for the coast on Monday.

(Pictures from a coffee stop on the way to Imago Dei, Stumptown Coffee)