2014 Oregon (continuation from Utah), Crater Lake, Clear Lake, waterfalls, Coast

After our busy, but wonderful week in Utah, we were off to Oregon for another 2 weeks.  This was a trip to show some friends as much of Oregon as we could in the 10 days they were with us.  Although day 1 for them was a travel day to Las Vegas where they met up with us.  Having lived in Oregon as a kid and vacationed there for over 40 years as an adult, I put together a pretty extensive itinerary for them: Kennedy School Restaurant; Voodoo doughnuts; Columbia River Gorge; Mt. Hood; Cascade Lakes byway; Crater Lake; row boating on Clear Lake; Silver Falls; Oregon Gardens; Frank Loyd Wright's Gordon House; Ugo's in Dallas (my nephews pizza place); 2 days on the coast (lots of whales!); Garibaldi scenic train ride; Tillamook Cheese Factory; Rogue Brewery; Portland Rose Garden; Portland Japanese Garden---then our company went home and we spent 5 more nights on the coast in Lincoln City.

Aug. 30, 2014 --- to Portland:

Aug. 31, 2014 --- Columbia River Gorge; Mt. Hood; Bend:

Sept. 1, 2014 (Labor Day) --- lava tube; Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway:

Sept. 2, 2014 --- Crater Lake:

Sept. 3, 2014 -- Dee Wright Observatory; Clear Lake:

Sept. 4, 2014 --- Silver Falls; Oregon Gardens; Gordon House; Depoe Bay Worldmark:

Sept. 5, 2014 --- heading south along the coast:

Sept. 6, 2014 --- heading north to Tillamook and Garibaldi train ride:

Sept. 7, 2014 --- Portland Rose Garden, Portland Japanese Garden, good bye to our friends:

Sept. 8, 2014 --- north to Seaside for the night:

Sept. 9, 2014  --- Seaside to Dallas:

Sept. 10, 2014 --- South along the beach to Newport:

Sept. 11, 2014 --- South from Newport Bay:

Sept. 12, 2014 --- Dallas and Portland:

When asked if I was ready to go home, I had to admit---not really! 
Link to my UTAH BLOG:

Sept. 12, 2014 --- Dallas and Portland:
Today was check out day.  Hard to believe we had been on the coast for a week.   Hard to believe we've been on vacation for 3 weeks!  Anyway, today we decided to hang around Dallas with my relatives for the day, then head up to a hotel by PDX for our last night.  I went to Hotwire and got a special price on the PDX Sheraton for something like $95.  So we packed up our stuff one more time and headed to Dallas.
Just a few pictures on our ride back into the valley.  Here's another clear cut.

Another farm.

And another one.

One last farm.

Had a great time visiting with my Aunt and Uncle in the afternoon.  Took flowers to my folks grave.  Got Ugo's pizza to take home to St. Louis to our son and daughter-in-law.   My sister even had a dinner party for us with my Aunt and Uncle and brother and his wife.   Great end to a great vacation. 

Sept. 11, 2014 --- South from Newport Bay:
 Today we decided to spend the day on the coast again.  This time we headed south, again, but went farther this time.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse to the far right while driving south on 101. 

About 25 miles south of Newport down to Yachats.

 Another view into the bay at Yachats.

 out to sea from the bay
 more of Yachats bay.

a flowering grass growing wild by the beach.

 One of the viewpoints near Cape Perpetua, a couple miles south of Yachats.

 Cape Perpetua Scenic Area ~ Tidepools ~ Churns ~ Spouting Horns
There was another $5/car fee for parking in the area by the Visitors Center, but Ken's Senior Pass was honored here, too.  

 We hiked down a ways to see the churn.

 More of the Devil's Churn

  Cape Perpetua was named by Captain Cook on March 7, 1778 as he searched for the Pacific entrance to a Northwest Passage. Cook named the cape Perpetua because it was sighted on St. Perpetua's Day.   This part of Cape Perpetua Scenic Area is called Cape Creek.

 One of the hikes down to Cape Creek.  Wasn't going to try it with my pulled calf muscle and bum knee.

 This area is a typical Pacific Northwest headland, forming a high steep bluff above the ocean.  At its highest point, Cape Perpetua rises to over 800 feet above sea level.

 Part of the Saint Perpetua Trail some 700' or more above sea level with very little "railing".  This is the trail to West Shelter.

View looking south from the trail  (I think I have the places marked correctly)

  Ken at West Shelter talking on his cell phone---out in the middle of nowhere.   During World War II, the West Shelter observation point was used as a coastal watch station and a large coastal defense gun was temporarily installed

The West Shelter was another CCC project and built in 1934 during the winter.  

One of the Queen Anne's Lace which grows wild all over Oregon, even high in the mountains.

 Trees along the walk.  If we had walked a little farther, we would have seen a 600 year old Giant Sitka Spruce known as the Silent Sentinel of the Siuslaw. That tree stands more than 185 feet high, and has a 40-foot circumference at its base

 another view south from a lookout mainly to capture the interesting clouds.

 The pathway down to the rocks from the viewpoint on 101.

 Looking up at West Shelter from a Cape Perpetua viewpoint on 101.

 Along the Cape Perpetua coastline there are several unique features like Devil's Churn and Cooks Chasm.  Along the Chasm there is a Spouting Horn.  Thor's Well is another neat feature on the plateau near the Spouting Horn, but I didn't get a good picture of it.

 From one viewpoint on 101 looking back at Ken at another viewpoint on the other side of Cook's Chasm.

Since we had dinner plans for 6pm at Kyllo's in Lincoln City with good friends from Portland, we figured we better head back and get ready for dinner.  So I snapped a few pictures from the car along our way back.

 Riding through Waldport.

 the Historic Alsea Bridge near Waldport.

 Palm trees on the coast!!! I'm ready to move here!!!

 On our way through Newport I thought this bar was neat looking.

 Depoe Bay, again.  The Sea Hag is where we had breakfast for a change.

 Fire department remembering 9/11/01.

It was another warm day on the coast.  We really lucked out!  We decided to sit outside overlooking the ocean at Kyllo's.  Unfortunately I didn't take a camera!  But it was a beautiful evening with great friends and a great dinner.

Sept. 10, 2014 --- South along the beach to Newport:
It was another gorgeous day on the beach, so we headed south again.  

Taking a little side road off of 101.

Pretty estuary along the way.

Fogarty Beach from 101.  We use to take the kids here when they were little and we would all climb all over this rock.  Ken thinks it got smaller, but I think that's just because of how far away from it we are here.

 driving up to Boiler Bay from 101.

 Boiler Bay.

Lots and lots of whales.

 and other critters.

 from Cape Foulweather, again.

Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area 

 the marina in Newport Bay.

 Another painting on a wall in Newport by the bay.

dead trees in an area along the coast that regularly floods.

  We didn't exert ourselves too much today.  Mostly driving around, then back to the condo to watch tv and chill out until time for dinner.  Then we drove inland to Spirit Mountain Casino to meet up with my sister and Chester for dinner at the buffet there.  It was another nice visit.

Sept. 9, 2014  --- Seaside to Dallas:
Originally I thought our trip to Seaside would be a good place to spend the night and explore farther north all the way to Astoria the next day.  But plans changed.  My brother and his wife had just moved back to Dallas the very day we arrived in Oregon, so we told them we'd be happy to help them move their stuff out of storage and to their house.  They spent the previous week fixing things around the house and today was the day they planned to move their stuff out of their storage room.  So we headed straight south.  Although I did make a detour to check out Seaside beach and Cannon Beach with blue skies.  It was a beautiful sunny day today.
The beach in Seaside.  

seagulls 

 giraffe looking tree growing in Seaside.

 Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach.

 Haystack Rock again.

 and again.

odd little spikey berries growing by the beach.

 Distant views towards Cannon Beach.

another lookout with some unique wildflowers growing there.

 Close up of the neat wildflower.

Morning glories ? growing wild near the beach.

 sun shining through the fog in the trees.

 Back along 101.  Love this view while we crossed a lake.

  The distant jagged mountains remind me of Kauai.

The rocks we saw from the train a couple days ago.

passing Garibaldi.

another view looking back at Garibaldi .

The Air Museum in the Blimp Hanger in Tillamook.

One of the many Christmas tree farms in the Willamette Valley.

A buffalo farm in the Valley.

more buffalo.

 My sister's boyfriend working on the side of my brother's house. 

It was about 1 when we reached my brother's place.  4 trips to/from the storage unit with a large U-haul truck, and lots of hauling stuff in and out of the unit and putting it in their garage, brought us to about 9:30pm.  Very exhausted, we broke for dinner at Washington Street Bar and Grill.  David bought us dinner.  I thought I was being nice and ordering a regular burger, ended up being the most expensive burger and was a whole 1 pound burger---oops.  Half of it went back to the Sandpiper with us!  But first, we had one more load of goods to get out of the U Haul.  I also managed to pull another calf muscle---this time in the same leg as my bum knee.  The pulled muscle in my right leg had pretty much healed from the week before.  But now I was limping again.  We didn't get back to the Sandpiper until after midnight.  Hope our neighbors didn't hear us taking showers in the wee hours of the morning, but there was no going to sleep as cruddy as I felt.  Sure felt good to finally lay down.