Thanksgiving 2013: Over the River and Through the Woods

Over the River and Through the Woods

November 26, 2013

Soundtrack:

• Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds -- Dig, Lazarus, Dig
• The Decemberists -- The Crane Wife

Tuesday's drive was broken into two distinct parts.  Part one was the drive through the Northwest corner of Oregon from Lincoln City to Astoria.  The second part would be the drive up 101 through Washington to Olympic National Park.  In between would be the bridge.

Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR

I always am surprised at how long it takes to get from Lincoln City to Astoria.  Salem to Portland is forty-five minutes unless traffic sucks.  Portland is right on the Columbia River, and if you look on a map you'll see that both Salem and Lincoln City are on the Forty-fifth Parallel.  With Astoria being on the Columbia River as well, and given it's a straight shot North from Lincoln City just like Portland is to Salem, you might think that it would take perhaps an hour given the driving occurs on 101 rather than I-5.  It took me over four hours on Tuesday.  Granted, I stopped a lot, but even without stopping the drive would have been closer to three hours than two.

Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR

There are two things at work here.  One is the funky shape of the state of Oregon in that Northwest corner.  That little bump at the top isn't so little in real life.  While Portland is forty-five miles North from Salem, Astoria is one hundred ten miles North of the same latitude.  It's a winding hundred ten miles, too, through a number of small towns.  Google says it'll take two and a half hours to make that drive, but from my experience that's optimistic.  Count on three.  Don't worry about it, though, it's a beautiful drive.

What's up with that one goose facing the other way? -- Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR

I stopped at Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge just North of Lincoln City.  I hiked up to the observation platform and saw an osprey, a hawk and a couple of sparrows.  The view of the ocean from up there was amazing, though.  Down on the meadows right off of the highway I saw a large flock of canada geese and caught a brief glimpse of my first bald eagle of the trip.

My next stop was the cheese factory in Tillamook.  Tillamook is one of the few brands for which I've developed a keen loyalty.  There's a nice observation platform inside where you can watch the cheese getting packaged.  The employees were all friendly and waved at the people watching them.  Conveyor belts are mesmerizing.

There were plenty of samples to try as well as a large gift shop and ice cream parlor.  It's the best roadside attraction on 101 between San Francisco and Olympia, if you ask me.

I like how the little rocks seem to have just popped out of the big one -- Oregon Coast Highway, OR

Astoria is a cool little town.  It's got a lot of character, which is something a lot of towns outside of Portland seem to lack in the beaver state.  There's a distinct lack of strip malls on the Northern end of town, and the houses all look like they've stood there for decades.  I suppose it's a little like a hilly version of Alameda, but with killer views of the Columbia River rather than the San Francisco Bay.

Astoria, OR

The highlight of the day was finding the house where The Goonies was filmed.  I drove around a bit and couldn't find it, so I ended up looking up the address on my droid.  I was giddy after seeing the house.  Silly, huh?  The Goonies wasn't even that great of a movie.  I know it backwards and forwards, though, since it had a pretty long run at the Elsinore Theater when I worked there.  I've always had a fondness for it for some reason.

The Goondocks, Astoria, OR

Belted Kingfisher

Washington was a different kind of pretty.  101 stays mostly inland through the state, but it's still an impressive drive.  Rivers and wetlands abound.  The logging industry appears to still be thriving in Washington, at least if the amount of clear-cutting along the highway is any indication.  I'm surprised and disappointed at how few pictures I took on this portion of the drive.  I guess the views were so plentiful I took them for granted.

I finally got a decent picture of a kingfisher at Wilapa National Wildlife Refuge.  It's not a great one, mind you, but better than anything I've been able to get so far.  These guys don't sit still for very long.

Palix River, WA

Bald Eagle

I got my first good look at a couple of bald eagles about a half hour outside of Olympic National Park.  They were sitting in a couple of trees.  The light wasn't very good, so I wasn't able to take great pictures.  Still, I was pretty excited.  Little did I know my eagle encounters were only beginning.

Red-tailed Hawk

I stopped for the night at Kalaloch Campground.  I went to Kalaloch Lodge thinking I'd have to get a room there for the night because the South campground was closed, but they sent me on up the road another mile to the campground.  Nice folks.  It was a fairly warm night, but showering on and off.  I found a site that was well covered by trees and didn't have any problems.  I made a dinner of bacon, eggs and pancakes.  I love breakfast foods, but I rarely actually eat breakfast in the morning.

There's a bald eagle in the water on the beach, but he's too small to see -- Kalaloch Lodge, Olympic National Park, WA