The Oregon Coast

by oBelIX

alternately titled: the second most awesome place I have been to

A while back, well, perhaps not a while back, more like around Christmas/new year, I went on a road trip with three other very awesome gentlemen. It was 4000 miles along the west coast of the USA. On our way back to Seattle we took a small detour along the Oregon Coast and found the second most awesome place I’ve been to (yet). This was our route:

I’ll let the pictures (courtesy @rohan and @appi101) do the rest of the talking.

There should be a special word for the time just before sunrise. When it’s not bright but it’s not dark.

 

Highway 42. Early in the morning. Green trees. A hint of fog.Two lane road in the mountains. A nice car. Just another moment of driving nirvana.

 

Dawn

 

A potato pancake at Pancake Mill, Coos Bay. It’s just a glorified aloo tikki with no masala. The stuffed croissants were very lovely.

 

A vista point just before Cape Arago. Do carry on and not turn back from here.

 

Cape Arago. The windiest place I have been to. Notice the trees. You will literally get blown away.

 

Just to give you a better idea …

 

It was so windy I forgot how to park.

 

The walkway to the beach

 

Conversations with the Pacific. It was windy and chilly and blustery and nippy.

A weird looking tree. There are more below.

 

US 101.

Clear Lake. It was silent. The only sound was the waves lapping on the shore.

Heceta Head Lighthouse. It’s a 1/4 mile walk up to it. Go here in winter, there is so much surf …

 

Caffeine was consumed constantly, in many forms, shapes and sizes

 

The view from our room at the Whaler Motel. For 70 bucks a night … In Newport Oregon.

A little more needs to be said about Newport, Oregon. We got there in the evening, tired after a long day of driving, hiking, standing in the wind. We ate perhaps the best tomato soup in the world and a pizza of artichokes, capsicum, onions at The Panini Bakery. The pizza dough is handmade. The soup is brilliant. (Yes, it is so awesome that I had to say it twice).

Also, pop over to “Nana’s Irish Pub”. It’s rare to find a pub that has just the right number of people in it. Where the waitress (her name was “Aubrey”, she was old-ish I guess) knows that the two Indian guys just want to catch up and are not interested in the specials and do not need to be pushed for drinks. Where the fries are good. I do not think I’ve tipped someone that much ever.

Sunrise.

 

I guess it was too windy for him to park properly too. Or perhaps because he is from California. It could be a she.

 

The Pacific.

 

That little spire jutting out – that’s a lighthouse.

 

Cape Kiwanda. Another deserted beach. A rock standing tall against the Pacific. I guess that conversation went as below:

Rock: Bring it, I ain’t going anywhere you puny little ocean you.

The Pacific: Yeah, I’ll check back in a couple of million years

 

I drew a hippo

 

The three capes scenic drive. Apart from a brief stretch when a grandmother in a truck was in front of me it was another one of those roads that make the smile on your face a little bigger after every turn

 

Hiking to Cape Lookout

 

You cannot get bored of the views.

Water water everywhere

 

Cape Lookout

 

School children should be taken to such places. They will never forget the definition of “cape”

 

Duh!

 

 

Rocks, the sun peeking out through the clouds and the surf

 

There are some weird trees out there

 

The Oregon coast saved it’s best sunset for the last 

 

Let’s go home

 

Fuel for the body. A rava dosa followed by filter coffee at Chennai Masala, Portland.

4,000 miles later …

—————

PS: Davis, Vegas, Arizona, Los Angeles still to come

PPS: Filtering photos is hard work

Oregon Coast on Dwellable

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