Getting to the Oregon Coast and Heading South

Arriving in Oregon, we stopped at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center outside Baker City and on top of a hill where apparently most pioneers got their first look at what they had traveled so far to reach.  During the summer, reenactments are held around several wagons in a circle.  So far, the only buffalo we have seen was the stuffed one in the exhibit hall.

After visiting the museum of life size exhibits from the mid-1800’s, we headed for the coast on I-84 which follows the Columbia River to Portland.  We decided to take I-5 south to Salem before reaching the coast by way of Rts. 18 and 22.  The trees were mostly spruce and reminded us of US 340 between Luray and Front Royal.

We stopped at a visitor center to pick up brochures of things to see and do.  The Oregon coast mile-by-mile guide was numbered north to south as were the actual mile posts; the opposite of all the interstates and other US highways!

One of the first stops was at Sea  Lion Caves just north of Florence.  It was originally built with stairs down into the cave.  Now it’s all concrete block with an elevator.  We expected the seals to really smell rank but as it was a very cool day, they didn’t.

Further down the road in Depoe Bay; we found out that a whale and her calf had been circling the bay.  We were able to spot her a couple times. 

Traffic was light but we couldn’t find any accessible RV parking so we could go on a whale-watching cruise.  The coast is very different from Florida’s; it was very steep and has very, very large boulders.  At one point I held the GPS and saw that we were 600+ feet above sea level.  Access points are few and far between and involved multi-level stairs.

As we traveled south along the coast on US 101, we kept seeing signs which stated that we were either entering or leaving a “ tsunami hazard zone”.

As far as flora and fauna sightings, well, it was more flora and fowl.  We had seen many antelope along the route to Oregon but few other wild animals.