On day six I drove down I-5 and then cut across to Astoria, OR to start my journey down Highway 101 along the coast. I was expecting to see signs in Astoria stating, "The Goonies filmed in this area" or signs pointing the way to some of the locations where The Goonies was filmed. I didn't see anything that pertained to The Goonies! What a disappointment! What an outrage! The Goonies is one of the best movies ever made! It's a classic! When I was young I dreamed of following in the footsteps of "the Goonies" and finding a long lost treasure! Astoria should be proud to have been the location for such a great movie!
Sorry to vent...moving on now. I stopped to take some pictures of fishing boats in Astoria Port and when I got out of the car I heard a "barking" sound. I immediately knew what it was coming from so I followed the sound and discovered many Sea Lions. They were laying all over the docks being super noisy! I watched them for a while and they made me laugh a lot. They were so cute! After I ventured on I stopped at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. It was very neat. It turns out that the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean right at Astoria. This location is called the Columbia River Bar and is one of the most dangerous bars to cross. Many ships have gone down in this area and it known as "The Graveyard of the Pacific". The museum displays artifacts from many of the wrecks and people are even allowed to tour a floating lighthouse, which is a ship once owned by the Coastguard.
After leaving Astoria, I started my drive down the 101. I stopped at numerous pullouts to take pictures of what I could see of the coastal scenery (it was very cloudy and rainy). I even stopped at a beach (pretty sure it was near Cannon Beach) and wandered about ankle deep into the Pacific Ocean. It was my first time seeing or touching the Pacific. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it was raining like crazy so I didn't get to hang out for very long.
I continued driving and when I made it to Tillamook I discovered they have a cheese factory. I thought I better stop. I got to see the slicing and packaging process...it's pretty cool to see all the machines and people working. A trip to a cheese factory wouldn't be complete without purchasing some fresh cheese slices and cheese curds, so that's just what I did. :) I also stopped at a small French place, Blue Heron French Cheese and Winery. I purchased some Blue Heron wine (made in Tillamook) and can't wait to try it. As I was driving out of Tillamook I saw a sign pointing the way to the Cape Meares Lighthouse. Of course I had to take the detour to see it. It was quite the detour. Very much out of the way and at times kind of spooky as it seemed I was the only one on this road. I kept wondering what I would do if I broke down or blew another tire. Well I made it to the lighthouse and there were a bunch of tourists there. I got some pictures and went on my way. It took a bit to get back to the 101, but I made it!
Later I saw a sign for the Devil's Punchbowl. I had seen pictures of the punchbowl so I had to stop. It is located at Otter Rock, South of Depoe Bay. It is really neat. At first I thought I was in the wrong place cause I couldn't see the punchbowl. You can't really see it until you walk to the fence along the cliff and look down. WOW! It is really cool! It is a hollow rock formation with a hole in the wall near the bottom. The ocean slams through that hole into the formation and swirls and foams.
Near Yachats I stopped to see the Devil's Churn. Hmmmm, have you ever noticed how a lot of locations have "Devil" in their name? There is a Devil's Den near my dad's cabin North of Harrison. There is a Devil's Swimming Pool on the top of Victoria Falls that I want to visit someday. It's just weird how many locations have the "Devil" in their name. Okay, now moving on. :) Even though it was still raining very steadily I decided to walk down the trail to get a close up view of Devil's Churn. Keep in mind that I was the only person around. I got to the bottom of the trail and started carefully walking across a bunch of slippery rocks to the edge of the churn so I could get pictures. Also keep in mind I had on flip-flops. So I got pretty close to the edge and...and...I slipped! I almost fell in! If I had fallen in I would've been a goner! Devil's Churn is a large, long, crack in the rocks. The water slams into the crack and boils all the way to the end. It is very loud...it was especially loud when I was there cause the Ocean was very rough due to the weather. I got some pictures and then wandered over the hill, where it was much safer. On the other side of the hill from the churn there are a lot of tidal pools. Unfortunately I didn't see any sea creatures in the pools. The waves were crashing very beautifully on the rocks though so I got closer to get a cool picture. As I was taking a picture of a wave crashing another wave crashed on me! Good thing I was already soaked! :)
It was starting to get dark so I decided I better get to Florence. I still wanted to see my favorite lighthouse, Heceta Head, which is 11 miles North of Florence. I drove to Heceta Head Lighthouse and discovered it is a 1/2 mile walk from the parking lot to the lighthouse. Like I mentioned before, it was getting dark, plus it was still raining like crazy. I decided to go on into Florence and find a cheap hotel room (as camping was once again out of the question even though there were many campgrounds nearby). I found a decent place, hauled my saggy self into the room, dried off, got warm, watched "The Top 20 Unsolved Murders" (made me glad I didn't camp), and then "hit the hay".
"I love traveling. I love just going about on my own, feeling I have no roots." ~ Tom Jenkinson
"But more wonderful than the lore of old men and the lore of books is the secret lore of ocean." ~ H. P. Lovecraft
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