yk - We are very fortunate to be spending almost 5 weeks in the Olympic Peninsula, although we are now on the Long Beach Peninsula. The state of Washington has really exceeded all of my hopes and wishes for a beautiful trip. Of course having this kind of time comes from already having worked 47 years and now enjoying the fruits of our labor. I've said this to you before, but what you are giving your son, with your adventures is the most precious gift you can give. Would you be interested in adopting a 72 year man, already house broken and does dishes and windows? Oh and will bring you coffee every mornning?

yk - By the way how do you add all of those links into your posts. I really like them and love to go to them.

Westport, Washington
As you travel south down Hwy 101 you start to turn inland around Queets and you are in the Quinault Reservation for awhile, leaving the reservation around Amanda Park. We drove past the turn off for Lake Quinault which was the start of our Olympic journey about a month ago! Oh, the things we have seen and experienced in the last month. When I looked at the map, I see I'm passing by Ocean Shores, out on the coast, an area that has a Worldmark timeshare but it was booked solid. We end up in Aberdeen. I can continue south to Raymond but in one of the travel magazines I've collected on this trip, I have a whole bag full, I've read about Westport. It is on the south side of Grays Harbor and will add, maybe thirty minutes to our trip, so we take to what is to us, the road less taken! Westport is at the very tip of the peninsula and I will find out that it resembles a mini Long Beach.




Driving into Westport

Nice little marina with cottages and a hotel in the foreground

I climbed the tower where I can see the Grays Harbor and...

...across the Harbor, Ocean Shores, which looks pretty build up, even from this distance...

...and if I turn around I can see the main beach drag and the marina!

Lunch was at Bennett's, world famous, or at least in the region. There are a number of chowder places and fish and chips along the strip but I had read about Bennett's, and it didn't disappoint.

Long Beach, Washington
We have arrived in Long Beach which will be our last Washington location before heading down the Oregon Coast. We are both a little sad to leave the Washington area, but the Oregon Coast is nothing to sniff about. I will assume Long Beach is crazy in the summer time, it has a really long beach, lot's of fudge and taffy stores. Marsh's Free Museum, which is big on shells and gifts, less big on "museum". You can drive on the beach! I can't wait to take the van out and throw open the doors to take in the ocean breeze but my wife nixes that idea. No Van on the beach. The next day while walking on the beach we saw a guy with sand up to his rims and someone pulling him out...the " I told you so look"
I got. LOL. We will be here for 6 days, that means 6 days of showers and a big bed and cooking on a stove! Yeah. Lot's of things to do and report on in and on the Long Beach Peninsula.


It really is a long beautiful beach.

Staying at the Worldmark on the beach. Well nothing is on the beach there are some grasslands and then a berm and then the beach.

You can see it from the beach though

View from our room!

Ok, someone drove on this, I can see the tracks

Looking down toward Cape Disappointment State Park

Leadbetter Point is the furthest point on the Peninsula

Lot's of trails

And a little sunset to say good night!

Cape Disappointment State Park
Wednesday we followed in the steps of Lewis and Clark on the Washington Coast! "Following in the steps" if they were driving a new van and stopped at all of the paved parking lots. But still...we did take steps. Cape Disappointment State Park is at the very bottom of the Long Beach Peninsula right next to Ilwaco. There is a campground, a few pullovers, two lighthouses, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and even a Waikiki Beach, hold on Elvis, not that Waikiki Beach. We stopped at a number of pullouts and spent a good amount of time in the Interpretive Center. The Lewis and Clark story is amazing, that they crossed this country on foot, canoes and horseback, purchased from the Native Americans is incomprehensible given our current Interstate system that takes us from Burger King to Burger King. The weather continues to be excellent, foggy in the morning and sunny by afternoon. I'll be writing a lot tonight because we are back to camping tomorrow.


First stop was Beard's Hollow overlook. When Lewis and Clark were here most of the green you see was beach but it's filled in over the last two hundred years.

Second stop was at the North Head lighthouse. It's still a working lighthouse although no kerosene light now, it's a fancy LED.

The lighthouse keepers had pretty nice digs. The building on the right was the house for the main person and the second set of buildings for assistants. You now can stay in these rooms.

Looking out at the Cape from the lighthouse. It's called Cape Disappointment because of all of the ship wrecks that happened here. There are brutal storms and dangerous sandbars around this cape.

Looking down on the other side of the lighthouse, looking north.

Underneath the Interpretive Center are the remains of Ft. Canby. There are a number of rooms to walk around through. This one had a fireplace.

Entrance to the museum

Outside of the museum looking at the second lighthouse, the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Looking down on Waikiki Beach which is close to the campgrounds

Big Fresnel lens in the museum

A Day in Long Beach
Took a little break and stayed close to Long Beach. Also went to the movies to see the Downton Abbey movie. If you are a fan it's a nice wrap up, if not it's pretty light on story. Long Beach has great natural beauty and I think they've done a great job allowing you to experience it. There is a Discovery Trail that runs for 8 miles from the top of Long Beach all the way down to Cape Disappointment and Ilwaco. The beach is in great shape even though you can drive on it. I think there are at least 4 State Parks on the Peninsula and the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. I wish we were bigger hikers because there are a lot of trails. Also I've been able to go see live music almost every night which is huge plus for me. Here's some shots.


On the Discovery Trail

We saw a number of these markers on the path.

Small whale sculpture. At one time there were some bones of beached whale, but we could only find a few in the grasss

Larger wood carvings of whales.

There was a Sand Castle Festival at the end of July and I think there are some sculptures still standing

One of my favorite songs, and a great Sand sculpture

The Pickled Fish, they had music every night that I was here and right across from the Worldmark!

Excuse me ma'am (Columbo voice here), did you see which way they went?

This is a giant frying pan and whale sculpture. When I visited the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, I found out this frying pan was actually used in giant clam bakes in the 1940's.

Sherburne Hotel is the longest continually hotel in Washington State. Built in 1896. Some of it's guests have been Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Paul Newman and Robert Redford and Elizabeth Taylor. Not all at the same time.

Front desk

A memorial glass panel for a lost daughter

A Day in Ilwaco, Washington
OK, it's hard to spend a day in Ilwaco, but we did have a great afternoon. First we hit the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum, small, but free and really well done. Quite interesting as I discovered the truth about the giant pan in Long Beach. Lunch at Salt on the marina. Great lunch, I highly recommend it. Then we did a sunny little walk on the marina. This is mainly a fishing town but they do have a couple of decent restaurants and it's the gateway to Cape Disappointment State Park. Tomorrow we leave Washington after 32 glorious days. Oregon, here we come!



Entrance to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum

Gerard D'Aboville spent 134 days crossing the Pacific from Japan to Ilwaco in a small, I don't even know if you can call it a boat, it looks more like a big kayak. Someone Google this, it's too incredible.

This is a small model of the boat, the Sector, D'Abovile piloted. He capsized about 30 times. It's quite a story

I'm adding in this picture from the start of our trip in August...

...because this is how you used to get to Astoria from what was called Megler.

Big display about rescue services in Ilwaco

This is the Nahcotta, a 1889 Passenger Coach. This is a Pullman Coach that was part of the Clamshell Railroad which ran along the North Beach Peninsula.

Cushy cushions in the first class section

Salt, it's a seafood place but I had a fantastic cheeseburger. Will have to have seafood next time.

Ilwaco Marina

As you head out of town there is a few parking places for Black Lake Park on, you guessed it, Black Lake

Hi Tdiddly, you can just copy and paste a website's URL to the body of your post and it will show up as a link. Another way is to embed the link using the functions in the type box when you're typing a post. The link function looks like a tiny chainlink fence. So either
copy / paste Fodors website URL
https://www.fodors.com

or use the embed link function
Fodors

I caught up with the last sections of your visit in Washington. How cool is it that you were able to visit all the way from Cape Flattery down to Cape Disappointment! And not to mention the islands in Puget sound at the beginning of your trip. I think it's very ingenious for you to mix camping with timeshare, and how timeshare works out so well for you. I had no idea Lewis and Clark went all the way to Washington coast. All-in-all an amazing trip report you have put up here, so much valuable info for anyone who is curious in visiting this part of the state.

I really like that area around Long Beach and Ilwaco. There's a lovely (but tiny) and quite historic town at the top of the Long Beach Peninsula, Oysterville. Guess the local industry? Then down by Long Beach at the bottom of Willapa Bay is a National Wildlife Refuge that houses huge numbers of migratory birds; there are raised boardwalks etc. The whole area is something of a "sleeper" region that doesn't get the publicity of the rocky shores south of Astoria. It doesn't get the crowds, either.

yk - Thanks for the embed tip, I'm going to use it on my next post. There is a big Lewis and Clark influence around Long Beach and Astoria area. They were caught in bad weather on the Long Beach peninsula and had to wait for a couple of weeks to head over the south side of the Columbia River in Astoria to set up a winter camp. A truly amazing journey, I would like to follow their trail someday!

Gardyloo - I agree 100% that this is an overlooked area, so I don't want to promote it too much! LOL. We didn't go to the Willapa Bay National Wildlife Refuge this time, but it is definitely on our list for our next visit. http://fws.gov/refuge/willapa

yk - I think I found it, but it doesn't look as "clean" as yours, but it serves the purpose.

Last Goodbye to Washington State
We very sadly said goodbye to Washington State, crossing the big bridge at Astoria. In some ways the Oregon Coast is similiar to Washington, but yet it has it's differences, less drift wood, longer beaches, easier to get to the beach, still has sea stacks and great character. We are headed for more camping just south of Florence. I had not booked a site which backfired once we got to Tahkenitch Landing, but more about the later. Along the way we pulled over a number of times, once at Cape Perpetua, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/siuslaw/...visitor-center and at the Heceta Head lighthouse. Both excellent stops along Hey 101. You can actually stay in the old lighthouse.



The visitor center is about 40 minutes north of Florence.

They have a number of very short videos you can watch and the usual park type displays of flora and fauna and these chairs with foot stools so you can simple sit and watch the panoramic view

The surf is amazing and the power that it brings in is something to watch.

More great views

Just before crossing this bridge, the Cape Creek Bridge, you drive down to the beach for access to the lighthouse.

Once in the parking lot, I realize that you have to walk...up hill...both ways, to get to the lighthouse! You can see the light keeper's house. So I have to decide whether or not I'm going to walk it. I walk it.

This is now a B&B, which somehow, you can drive to? Not sure where that turn off was but I missed it.

The light house, similar to the one at Cape Disappointment.

Looking down on the beach from the lighthouse. You can see that the Oregon Coast is rounder, taller cliffs, the forest doesn't come right down to the beach like in Washington. Maybe at some places?

As you get closer to Florence you start to see more sand dunes. This was a pull off south of the Heceta Beach

Camping at Tahkenitch Landing and Waxmyrtle Campgrounds
There are a lot of National Forest campgrounds around Florence which is nice because they are inexpensive, especially for seniors. However, this is Saturday night and the site I want at Tahkenitch wasn't available, but then another site popped up for Saturday night. I didn't book it, took a chance because it's $13 to camp and an $8 online booking fee, and I thought I would go there and book it in person. We pull in, Site 15 is still available but I have to book it online! What! I have no signal, luckily Sam the Camp Host has wi-fi and he hooks me up and I book the site. It's not available tomorrow or Monday though, so Sam directs me to Waxmyrtle which in his opinion is a better campground. He was right. Tahkenitch is kind of primitive, pit toilets no water. We move to Waxmyrtle, tons of sites but again, I have to book online. I did get some signal though so I could book it, but there is that $8 fee again! I need to quit being to cheap!

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233886. Tahkenitch
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234577 Waxmyrtle




We've had the most beautiful weather driving down the coast. This is our view from Site 15 in the afternoon. The group next to us are musicians and they play for a large part of the night, banjo, mandolin, 2 guitars and a ukulele. Great fun. We had stars...and then it clouded up.

Started raining about midnight and this was the same view in the morning.

Lily pads in Lake Tahkenitch

About 10 miles closer to Florence and running water, very nice campsites, we are happy to make the switch.

You drive over a little stretch of river to get into the park

We've been told we can walk to the beach from our campsite so we head out on the trail. It's a very nice trail but it's sand which is odd because it seems like we are in the forest?

After a while, it's a mile trail, we come to a little pond and are looking for critters, but don't see any, then we saw an osprey which was pretty cool.

Finally we are at the beach, we can see it rising up ahead as we climb the last dune.

And then there is the beach, long and deserted but sunny.

The trail back to camp is a loop and now we are walking along the inlet of the Sitcoos river as it meanders out to the ocean

It seems popular with kayaks and I can see why, it's beautiful and very calm on this particular day.

Hi yk - Where is the embed link function, that looks cleaner and I think what you probably use

Hi yk - I tried using the embed link function but I think I typed in the whole http, which you probably don't have to do, correct?

A Day in Florence, Oregon
I have driven through Florence a number of times and it was, unfortunately, always a " drive by", I'm in a hurry to get further north, or further south, but this trip we actually got to spend a little time. One of the things Florence is / was known for was the story of the Exploding Whale. In 1970 a 45 ft sperm whale washed up on the shore, it was rather stinky and I guess too big to bury, so the Oregon Dept. of Highways decided to blow it up. They now bury the whales that wash up. We found out about this when we visited the Siuslaw Pioneer Museum.http://suislawpioneermuseum.com. Well it was a disaster, the whale blew UP and then came DOWN. Ironically a TV crew came to film it and after a story by Dave Barry in the Miami Herald 20 years later, it became a bigger story and the footage has had about 350 million viewers since it hit the internet. One of the film crew said they heard two explosions, one was the actual blowing up of the whale and then another "explosion" when a coffee table size of blubber landed on the roof of an Oldsmobile. So all of these people who came out to see the event were suddenly under tons of whale debris and they all started running!

There is a small "Old Town" in Florence, not as big at Port Townsend or Astoria but it's right next to the marina and that is what caught our eye. The Siuslaw River is very popular for salmon fishing and we saw a lot of mouth watering salmon being cut up and stuffed into baggies on it's way to a grill or freezer somewhere. We had lunch at a place called Homegrown, and it was very good but what was really neat is that they had a big chalk board where you could "Beer it Forward". So you go in pay for a beer and then give it to someone, who will collect later. I'll include a picture. There is also a very nice bridge over the river, the Siuslaw River Bridge, back when Roosevelt ran things and government actually did something for ordinary people, there are at least 5 of these bridges built under the WPA.


This is the old schoolhouse built in 1904 and now the museum. It's a good museum on the outskirts of old town, with lot's of stuff about the town.

Right across the street is Homegrown. We had started to walk into town and asked some locals where to go and they said go to Hometown, it's right across from the museum. There is the standard Mo's down at the marina but we enjoyed our lunch.Bee

Beer it forward! What a great idea. It may be hard to see but Mr. Perry gave a beer to Scott, Terra gave one to John and Hannah. I'm guessing the people at the restaurant know who some of these people are. I'm not sure how Blazer Fans Everywhere would collect their beer!

Picture of building in Old Town although I'm not sure how old this building is. There is a little walking map and plaques on some of the buildings

Big Salmon at the beginning of the marina.

There is a bit of board walk, we managed to get our dog fix in by petting a lot of doggies on this stroll.

A little reflection on the water

Another marina shot

Salmon fishing is huge here and many people book a fishing trip. In this case, the owner of the boat was filleting and bagging the salmon right on his boat.

These gentlemen owned their own boats and brought their catch up to the fish cleaning station to fillet and bag.

Here are some nice salmon steaks, now that is fresh.

There are a number of these sea lions or seals in town

View of the Siuslaw River Bridge from down below in Old Town

"There is a big Lewis and Clark influence around Long Beach and Astoria area. They were caught in bad weather on the Long Beach peninsula . . . "

I've been having some vision problems and first read this as "They were caught in bed together . . . " Naturally, that stopped me cold.

Fra.Diavolo - HaHa, well given their traveling conditions, I don't doubt that at one point or another they were all in bed together, if sleeping in blankets and maybe furs on the ground could be considered bed!

Bandon to Brookings
We will only be in Oregon for three days and I'm afraid we are giving it short shrift compared to Washington. But, at some point we have to get home, I don't know why, we have completely lost track of our days. I mean what is the date, what day of the week is it? We basically have four types of days, washing laundry day, grocery day, shower day and traveling day. It is really is a bit of heaven to not be aware of anything other than our own existence. Of course we have been in our timeshares with all the modern conveniences like a telephone and TV, but it really drives the point home, there is nothing on TV! We end up watching too much Bobby Flay and the other cooking channels, I mean how many Housewife TV shows can you make? Anyways, I digress, we are headed to the next stop which will be California. While walking the boardwalk in Florence, we met a woman who told us that you have to stop in Old Town Bandon which we do and it is a nice stop. We went to a bakery to buy a few cookies for the trip, well, we have a special "today" buy six cookies get one for free. ( How many of you think the special is everyday) After paying our $14 bill for 9 cookies we hit the road.

A couple of years ago we camped at Harris Beach State Park in Brookings. The campsite is OK, very manicured with the feel of an RV Park but the day use area is spectacular. Great sea stacks, nice beach and plenty of parking and a bathroom. It's great stop for lunch, sitting in the van looking at the ocean. Then we hit our new fav Fred Meyer for gasoline and few grocery items. Next stop is Sue-Meg State Park in Trinidad, California.


You can't miss Old Town in Bandon, because you almost drive straight into it off Hwy 101.

A little carving on the boardwalk. There is a bathroom right across from this statue which may be too much information but it's good to know!

A little Orca ride for the kiddies.

After procuring our cookies, we drive out to the Bandon South Jetty Park which has a very nice overlook of the Coquille River and the lighthouse across the river entrance from the ocean

Another picture of the jetty

Day use at Harris Beach State Park.

Some more sea stacks.

Beach area around the north side of the parking lot.