Going West, Part 3: On the road again ...
The next couple of days we spent on the road, knowing that we had to go from Portland all the way to Bodega Bay, CA by Thursday night. We didn't concern ourselves with how long it would take, we just knew where we wanted to be by the end, so we drove all day until sundown when we'd find a place to stay.
While Rosemary and I had done trips to places, we'd never done a real road trip, so this was going to be fun.
We first stopped and spent the night in Tillamook, OR. After driving through the hills in rain and fog, we dropped in elevation and into wide, flat fields full of dairy cows and golden wheat under bright blue sky. (Tillamook definitely is farm country; it all smelled of cow poop.) The Tillamook Cheese factory is there, and more than a million people visit it each year. Why? Because you can watch people packing cheese, eat cheddar for free, and then eat ice cream. They give you gobs of ice cream for next to nothing; I ate a half-pint in a cup and a double-scoop cone (about 10 inches high altogether) for under $6. Somehow we ate a boatload of cheese and ice cream on empty stomachs, and didn't get sick!
If you're ever out there, we recommend the Shilo Inn chain. The clerk gave us the AAA rate even though we aren't members, and for a little more than $130 we had a giant room the size of my one-bedroom apartment, with giant dressers, kitchenette, king-size bed, big bathroom and double sinks, and a whole other party space with a hide-a-bed couch, tables and chairs. Total score! (Also funny was that it had huge mirrors strategically placed around the bed, and a tracked light that was like a spotlight on the bed. So if you're ever hosting an orgy, this room would be quite suitable. And no, we didn't host one.)
We checked out the capes nearby, complete with a scary drive on roads right next to the bay and rough road uphill. But that day I had to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. And so I did, standing off a cliff watching the water slamming into the rocks, amazed.
But soon we got in the car and just kept driving south, stopping wherever we felt like it and looking through all my tour information about interesting things to see. After a rainy start in Newport we hit BEAUTIFUL weather at Yaquina Head in Newport, where we went to the top of a lighthouse and visited a tidepool where the water on the pebble-sand sounded like clicking heels. Rosemary got her otter, seal and sea lion on at the Oregon State Aquarium nearby, and I felt starfish.
We also went down to the Heceta Head lighthouse, and hiked a bit of the way up to it but didn't go the the lighthouse itself because we were trying to make the Sea Lion Caves. We got there, but they'd already closed for the day, so we just kept driving south to Bandon, this town it takes 5 minutes to drive through on 101 but we found a sweet deal on a motel with '70s rec room-style decor, double beds and a porch with a bench that I drank beer on. We also ate the freshest seafood there.
The next morning on our fourth anniversary we checked out the ocean and all the gorgeous property over there. And then Rosemary's cute animal tour continued at the West Coast Game Park Safari, which had animals including panthers, lions, tigers, elk, and bears, and was part petting zoo where goats, peacocks, deer and llamas roamed free. Everywhere I went I had a goat nudging my leg. Rosemary petted a bear cub, we hung out with a beautiful South Asian lynx, held a baby possum, ferret and skunk at the nursery. And Rosemary finally saw capybaras, the living ancestor of guinea pigs; they were pretty cool, all stately and stuff.
We also checked out the Prehistoric Gardens, which have these life-size plastic dinosaurs in a rainforest landscape. After that we had a few hundred miles to get down to Bodega Bay in California. I drove and drove and drove and drove, stopping at great viewpoints along the way, and then driving and driving and driving and driving. We stopped at some beaches, looked at redwoods once we got into California, and then kept on driving and driving through forests and hills and past vinyards.
Unfortunately we didn't get into Bodega Bay at the bed and breakfast until midnight, so I didn't get to tool around the bay and see where Hitchcock shot "The Birds." I was so drained! By that night I had done about 20 hours of driving! But somehow I gathered the strength to do some anniversary celebratin' ;)
The next morning we checked out and headed down to San Francisco for our tour of Alcatraz. This time, Rosemary did the driving.
Some other observations:
In Oregon, much of Highway 101 along the coast is also a bike trail. We saw a bunch of people on their mountain bikes hauling their gear, including an old man, and even saw someone on a recumbent bike.
Lots of hitchhikers. Many of them hippies.
After leaving Portland on Tuesday, I didn't see any other black people until we got to San Francisco on Friday. While I know black people are only 13 percent of the country's population, I don't spend a lot of time in places without black people in them. At a store in Tillamook, all the ethnic hair care products were covered in dust!
The driving is insane and scary but kinda zen and lovely at the same time, with winding mountain roads, foggy stretches and long bits of the coastal highway where you're running around on cliff faces with hill on one side and a 30-foot drop to the ocean on the other. We learned a lot about passing, and hated RVs. I loved the open road, the open driving where you just cruise along at 75 mph and just go, surrounded by wild, wild nature and vistas that just take your breath away. I'd drive and drive while stealing glances at the coast beside us, and often we'd stop at pullouts along the way.
I have to stress again and again how beautiful the Pacific coast is. Standing on a hillock in Bandon, watching the sand, big rocks and tidepools as the blue waves crash in and out, the wind in my face and sea air in my lungs. I can't wait to go back, and no rushing this time!
While Rosemary and I had done trips to places, we'd never done a real road trip, so this was going to be fun.
We first stopped and spent the night in Tillamook, OR. After driving through the hills in rain and fog, we dropped in elevation and into wide, flat fields full of dairy cows and golden wheat under bright blue sky. (Tillamook definitely is farm country; it all smelled of cow poop.) The Tillamook Cheese factory is there, and more than a million people visit it each year. Why? Because you can watch people packing cheese, eat cheddar for free, and then eat ice cream. They give you gobs of ice cream for next to nothing; I ate a half-pint in a cup and a double-scoop cone (about 10 inches high altogether) for under $6. Somehow we ate a boatload of cheese and ice cream on empty stomachs, and didn't get sick!
If you're ever out there, we recommend the Shilo Inn chain. The clerk gave us the AAA rate even though we aren't members, and for a little more than $130 we had a giant room the size of my one-bedroom apartment, with giant dressers, kitchenette, king-size bed, big bathroom and double sinks, and a whole other party space with a hide-a-bed couch, tables and chairs. Total score! (Also funny was that it had huge mirrors strategically placed around the bed, and a tracked light that was like a spotlight on the bed. So if you're ever hosting an orgy, this room would be quite suitable. And no, we didn't host one.)
We checked out the capes nearby, complete with a scary drive on roads right next to the bay and rough road uphill. But that day I had to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time. And so I did, standing off a cliff watching the water slamming into the rocks, amazed.
But soon we got in the car and just kept driving south, stopping wherever we felt like it and looking through all my tour information about interesting things to see. After a rainy start in Newport we hit BEAUTIFUL weather at Yaquina Head in Newport, where we went to the top of a lighthouse and visited a tidepool where the water on the pebble-sand sounded like clicking heels. Rosemary got her otter, seal and sea lion on at the Oregon State Aquarium nearby, and I felt starfish.
We also went down to the Heceta Head lighthouse, and hiked a bit of the way up to it but didn't go the the lighthouse itself because we were trying to make the Sea Lion Caves. We got there, but they'd already closed for the day, so we just kept driving south to Bandon, this town it takes 5 minutes to drive through on 101 but we found a sweet deal on a motel with '70s rec room-style decor, double beds and a porch with a bench that I drank beer on. We also ate the freshest seafood there.
The next morning on our fourth anniversary we checked out the ocean and all the gorgeous property over there. And then Rosemary's cute animal tour continued at the West Coast Game Park Safari, which had animals including panthers, lions, tigers, elk, and bears, and was part petting zoo where goats, peacocks, deer and llamas roamed free. Everywhere I went I had a goat nudging my leg. Rosemary petted a bear cub, we hung out with a beautiful South Asian lynx, held a baby possum, ferret and skunk at the nursery. And Rosemary finally saw capybaras, the living ancestor of guinea pigs; they were pretty cool, all stately and stuff.
We also checked out the Prehistoric Gardens, which have these life-size plastic dinosaurs in a rainforest landscape. After that we had a few hundred miles to get down to Bodega Bay in California. I drove and drove and drove and drove, stopping at great viewpoints along the way, and then driving and driving and driving and driving. We stopped at some beaches, looked at redwoods once we got into California, and then kept on driving and driving through forests and hills and past vinyards.
Unfortunately we didn't get into Bodega Bay at the bed and breakfast until midnight, so I didn't get to tool around the bay and see where Hitchcock shot "The Birds." I was so drained! By that night I had done about 20 hours of driving! But somehow I gathered the strength to do some anniversary celebratin' ;)
The next morning we checked out and headed down to San Francisco for our tour of Alcatraz. This time, Rosemary did the driving.
Some other observations:
In Oregon, much of Highway 101 along the coast is also a bike trail. We saw a bunch of people on their mountain bikes hauling their gear, including an old man, and even saw someone on a recumbent bike.
Lots of hitchhikers. Many of them hippies.
After leaving Portland on Tuesday, I didn't see any other black people until we got to San Francisco on Friday. While I know black people are only 13 percent of the country's population, I don't spend a lot of time in places without black people in them. At a store in Tillamook, all the ethnic hair care products were covered in dust!
The driving is insane and scary but kinda zen and lovely at the same time, with winding mountain roads, foggy stretches and long bits of the coastal highway where you're running around on cliff faces with hill on one side and a 30-foot drop to the ocean on the other. We learned a lot about passing, and hated RVs. I loved the open road, the open driving where you just cruise along at 75 mph and just go, surrounded by wild, wild nature and vistas that just take your breath away. I'd drive and drive while stealing glances at the coast beside us, and often we'd stop at pullouts along the way.
I have to stress again and again how beautiful the Pacific coast is. Standing on a hillock in Bandon, watching the sand, big rocks and tidepools as the blue waves crash in and out, the wind in my face and sea air in my lungs. I can't wait to go back, and no rushing this time!