Saturday, June, 14, 2008

We left at 11:15 am ( GA Time...8:15 PT). A nice drive up the coast today... a few places it got a bit narrow. The cloud bank over the oceann was beautiful.


We were going to stay in a campground in Netarts called Big Spruce.... basically a fishing camp. It would have been alright, but there really wasn't an easy way for us to pull out in the morning. We came back to a campground we passed on the way call Tillamook River RV Park. It is a new park... nothing really to it, just a horseshoe-shaped graveled parking lot with electric and water hookups. We got here about 2:20 pm (GA Time... 11:20 am PT).


We had dinner. Then off sight-seeing. We went to Cape Meares Lighthouse and scenic viewpoint. We looked at the viewpoint first. There was a spotting scope set up and we got to see a Peregrine Falcon chick through the scope and there were some Pelagic Cormorants nesting on the hillside. My camera wouldn't pick them up. It was well worth almost freezing to death in the wind and ocean spray to see them.


Then the lighthouse... The path is all downhill going to the lighthouse then does a hairpin curve. At the level (LOL) of the path before the hairpin curve we were almost eye-level with the lens of the lighthouse.... another Fresnel Lens. The lighthouse is tower only 38 feet tall... the shortest on the Oregon Coast. We didn't go inside, but tried to get a half-decent picture with everyone going and coming from the lighthouse. Then the uphill climb to the parking lot... a view of a rock formation out in the water with three arches. The wind was so strong the picture would turned out to be a blur... I couldn't hold the camera steady.


We went down town and walked around the Farmer's Market... basically people selling crafts, plants, food and some produce.


Next up was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It really very interesting watching the workers worker and the process of making cheese. We bought a waffle sunday... Tillamook Mudslide is the flavor we chose with a cherry topping. Our accents are so bad the girl thought we want cherry ice cream. The people behind us they they understood us just fine... they were from Texas.


We were going to do laundry, but decided we were just too tired... it was time to rest. On the way back home we got gas at $4.79 a gallon. We can't get used to people wanting to pump gas for us.


Back home... Frank called his folks and talked to his Mom. I called Mama. She was a bit tired... she had worked in the garden in the morning, then cleaned house in the afternoon. She said thunder was around them... more of a chance of rain tomorrow for them. Then we called Zarone to find the best way to come into their area.


Frank has been watching a bit of tv... cable here :-) Me typing away here... I got a couple of pictures edited earlier.


Frank is talking to the manager of the park now... getting a receipt that was forgotten about this morning. The manager is from Tallahassee Florida... hasn't been there in 32 years. I do wonder why people like to live on the coast here in the cold and wind. If its feels cold now with the wind I can (and will) only imagine it in the winter.


We traveled 68 miles today plus sight-seeing.