We've spent almost 3 weeks in Oregon. It is beautiful, especially in the south. Interestingly enough in the north we ran into daily fog that mostly covered up the coast line and at times even buildings on the shoreline. We're told that this is a normal August phenomenon based on the average high temps 50 to 100 miles inland. Not sure we completely understand it but apparently the heat inland doesn't permit the fog to dissipate; seems counter-intuitive to me but that's what we were told. So our advice is don't come to Oregon in late July or August expecting to see the normally gorgeous coastline. The weather on the other hand while we were here was perfect, as in upper 40's to upper 60's; exactly what we were looking for.
We've taken a few pictures we thought you might enjoy.
Our first stop was in Florence in the upper part of what the locals call the south coast. If you went due west from thew city of Eugene to the coast you would find Florence.
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| We started our tour of this seaside area by looking over a large grove of Picher plants. They eat bugs. If you're interested in the details read the sign otherwise check out the photo below. |
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| We were so surprised that these plants are so large, 18" to 24", and how many of them were growing together. |
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| In the south there were several pull outs for beautiful coast views. On this one we saw 3 very large whales only about 400 yards out. There also were sea lions and if you look in the upper center you will see the Heceta Head Lighthouse which you can see up close in the next shot. |
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| The Heceta Head Lighthouse just outside Florence Oregon. We found this size interesting as it seems small or short, but that is consistent with the others we found on the Pacific shoreline in Oregon. Even though these smaller lighthouses are only two stories their lenses are huge, as in a number 1 Fresnel (as large as they make.) |
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| More Heceta Head shoreline with a single blooming fireweed stalk in the foreground. |
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| Sorry if this seems redundant but this was a very striking cove, we enjoyed it very much and as I mentioned above fog was a problem up north and we don't have many coast line photos to share of that area. |
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This was the shore line near the Devils Cauldron and Cape Perpetua in the Siuslaw National Forest
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| Beautiful flowers blooming along the Siuslaw River in the Old Town section of Florence |
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Just south of Florence is the Oregon sand dunes. They go on for about 40 miles miles along the coast near Florence. Others rented their own dune buggys and 4-wheel razors but we were satisfied with the tour in this homemade thing. If you're asking, yes those really are 747 landing wheels they use for tires.
Next stop was the Elks Club RV Park in Tillamook, Geographically if you drive due west from Portland for 60 miles you will hit this agricultural town of about 5000 known for it's dairy and cheese products.
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| This is Munson Creek Falls just south of Tillamook. We went here because we were told this is the water fall with the longest drop in Oregon, 276 feet. We weren't told it was a mere stream. |
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| This was a coast line over look along the Three Capes Scenic Loop just south of Tillamook. You can see the fog rushing inland toward the mountains in the center of the picture. |
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| This was a crab apple tree in the Clay Myers State Natural Area along our Three Capes Scenic Route |
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| This is a sand dune for sliding and the town beach in Pacific City. Notice the fog coming in; within 5 minutes of this shot the fog was so dense you couldn't see the large dune. |
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| This is the Cape Meares Lighthouse just northwest of Tillamook. Again you can see the fog all around and the short stature of the lighthouse itself. |
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| This is the Octopus tree near the Cape Meares Lighthouse. More information is on the sign below. |
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Information about the Octopus Tree
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| Near the Octopus Tree |
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| Along the coast at Rockaway Beach |
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| At the harbor of Garbaldi |
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| More of the Garabaldi harbor. We had lunch near here the chowder was wonderful. |
We leave our campsite here at the Tillamook Elks Club tomorrow morning and are heading north on to Grayland, Washington. More later on our adventure in Washington.
