101 isn’t Just About Dalmatians, it is Also a Route to take along the Oregon Coast

Our first destination along the Oregon coast was Lincoln City. Lincoln City wasn’t incorporated until the 1960s when it was comprised of several communities. None of those communities had been founded before the 1900s.  Lincoln City was named in a contest by school children. It is in Lincoln County and named after Abraham Lincoln. A statue of Abraham Lincoln, reading a book while riding a horse, is a must see attraction according to a lady we met at the visitor center. By the way, this lady was really excited when she found out we were from New Hampshire. She announced to another lady who was working there that there were visitors from the east coast. She commented that she has been working at the visitor center for many years and we were the first people from New Hampshire to sign their guest book! I almost felt like a celebrity! Can’t believe that no one else from New Hampshire has ever been to Lincoln City, but obviously no one from New Hampshire had signed the guest book!!!! When I think about the places in New England that were settled in the 1600s, it makes Lincoln City appear to be a youngster.

Abraham Lincoln Statue

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While in Lincoln City, we took Rosey and Simon to the beach so they could dip their toes in the Pacific Ocean. Simon quickly took to the water and was curious about the waves. Rosey had no interest at all in the water. All she wanted to do was sniff everything, which is her favorite pastime whenever she is on a walk.

Simon and I dipping our toes into the Pacific Ocean

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Pete and I went to a glassblowing studio where they give glassblowing lessons and you create your own glassblowing masterpiece. Pete made a paperweight that is about five inches in diameter and I made a glass globe that is about six inches in diameter. While conversing with my instructor, Stephen, I asked him if he was familiar with the Simon Pearce glassblowing studio in Quechee, VT. It turns out that Stephen worked for Simon Pearce about 10 years ago at their Brandywine, PA facility. Pete and I, along with Patrick and Casey, had visited the Brandywine studio and restaurant when we were on a three week road trip with the boys over ten years ago. Small world!

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One evening, Pete and I decided to go out to dinner at a restaurant in a town called Depoe Bay which was a short drive from Lincoln City. Along the way, we stopped at Cape Foulweather. We learned that the English explorer, Captain James Cook, discovered and named the area in 1778 during a particularly stormy day in an area where winds of 100 mph are not unusual. This was the first geographic location that Captain Cook named on his voyage to the north Pacific coast. From an overlook area we could look down and see curving lines of rocks near the shoreline. They are called ring dikes and they were created by lava over 15 million years ago. We were fortunate that it was low tide because that is the only time the ring dikes are visible. Over the centuries, there have been many ship wrecks along the Oregon coast due to the rocks that lurk beneath the water near the coast.

Ring dike at Cape Foulweather

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When we reached our restaurant destination, we were able to go out onto a patio deck that overlooked a cove. In the cove was a baby whale that we could see swimming around. The mama whale was just outside the cove keeping an eye on her baby. The hostess at the restaurant said that the whales use the cove as a playpen for the babies. The mother whale protects the baby from harm by guarding the entrance to the cove from predators.

Whale Cove where we saw a baby whale

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When we departed Lincoln City we began our trek down scenic coastal route 101. Our next destination was Florence, OR. This was just a quick overnight stay and the RV park was a short walk to the ocean. We took the dogs for a walk on the beach after dinner. The Oregon sandy shoreline just seems to go on forever. There were never very many people on the beaches and there was plenty of space for the dogs to play. The Atlantic coast that I am familiar with is not anywhere near as expansive as the Pacific coast nor does it have the breathtaking cliffs or towering sand dunes.

After dinner walk on the beach

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The next day we continued our travel along scenic route 101. I didn’t realize that Ocean Spray had a cranberry facility in Oregon. Once we passed Ocean Spray, we began to see lots of cranberry bogs just like the ones we have visited in Carver, MA. Some bogs were flooded and had cranberries floating inside of booms and others were still dry, but you could see that the berries were red.  At the end of the day, we stayed at an RV park in Port Orford, OR. When we arrived at the RV Park, the owners told us that there were a number of whales that had been seen in Tichenor Cove which was only about 1 ½ miles down the road. We took a ride to the cove after dinner and found one whale still frolicking in the water. It would rise up out of the water covered in kelp and then slip back under the water. Even with the camera lens zoomed in as much as possible, it was difficult to get good pictures.

Cranberry Bog in Oregon

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Whale spout

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Whale fluke

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The following day we traveled the last of the Oregon Coast and I think it was the most beautiful and spectacular part of the coast. Around every bend there was a “Wow!” moment. The beaches, cliffs, huge rocks out in the water, and piles of driftwood looked like something out of a movie set. A lot of the Oregon coast reminded me of many areas we saw when we visited several of the Hawaiian Islands.

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California Dreaming by the Mama's and Papa’s, Hotel California by the Eagles, California Girls by the Beach Boys, those songs are just filling our heads as we cross the state line into California. We have to go through a mandatory agricultural check of the motor home because New Hampshire has gypsy moths and California wants to make sure we are not bringing any invasive insects into the state. They crawled under the motor home and only found a mud wasp nest that they removed. It took about 15 minutes and we were back on the road.

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