Our comfortable sunny weather was about to turn wet as we headed north toward the Oregon border. Actually “wet” isn’t strong enough. After driving many hours through the lovely winding roads of the Shorline Highway, we turned inland just above Fort Bragg and the weather became soggy.
The Chandelier Tree in Leggett was an important waypoint because there we got onto the highway again. This would be our longest-distance day and we needed to make good time without violating our rule of staying closest to the coast. This day would also be notable for the reason that soggy turned to foggy turned to rainy turned to snowy turned to hail and all combinations of the above. Tough driving but Kelsey was intent on keeping the wheel and by late evening we arrived at our hotel in Crescent City, the most northerly coastal town in California.
Then next day brought a change of theme if not a change in weather. A late winter storm had blown in off the coast so we buckled down for a wet haul. As we entered Oregon we began our lighthouse hunting. A few months ago I visited all the lighthouses along the Oregon coast so finding them to share with Kelsey was not a challenge. Along the way we also focused on bridges, the rocky coast, and special museums including the Naval Air Station, Fort Clatsop, the Tillamook Creamery, the Columbia River Maritime Museum, and the Astoria Column. Another couple of days running like crazy!
Three special gems are worth mentioning. First, we managed to find the western-most point of the continental United States at Cape Blanco Lighthouse along the Oregon coast and this adds to our list of extremes which includes the southern-most and easter-most points. Second, we visited the Jewell Meadows Wildlife Area where we saw a large herd of elk and were able to spend time taking pictures. Third, we found the Oregon namesake of the town where Kelsey was born: Olney.
Of course the west coast doesn’t consist of only California and Oregon. We still had the coast of Washington to drive up and that meant the Olympic Peninsula. This part of the west coast is lightly populated; towns are few and far between. However, just because there aren’t people doesn’t mean there aren’t interesting places to visit as we soon found out.
Lighthouses continue to serve their purpose of warning ships of danger. The town of Forks is now world-famous for being the home of vampires in the Twilight series. Of course the biggest feature of the peninsula is the Olympic National Park which includes the Hoh Rainforest, Hurricane Ridge, and many other natural spectacles. We finished our trip up the coast in Port Angeles where we stayed the night awaiting the morning’s ferry to Canada.
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