Intermission

How nice it was for my twin sister and her husband (he and Bill get along ridiculously well - they've known each other since college) to offer to ease our transition away from "home" in Alaska and join us for a 7 day trip down the Oregon Coast. I'll have to admit that she (her name is Karen - she and I are twins) did most if not all of the planning since I was busy with our quick decision to up and go. She searched fun things to do, where to stay, where to eat and how we were going to do it all in 7 days! After our journey on the Kennicott, she and her husband Jim met us in Bellingham, Washington, and was our jumping-off point for our trip. Our plan was to spend the first night (after driving through Seattle) in Astoria, Oregon, then drive down the coast, stopping mid-way in Netarts, where we had rented a two-bedroom vacation rental right on the shore. We didn't want to knock ourselves out driving and seeing "stuff" so we had a basic route planned out and we let the rest of it work itself out!

The west coast of Oregon has beautiful beaches, rugged and full of waterfalls, giant rock formations and lighthouses.

Every turn on Highway 101 held our gaze - even the haze and rain of the day didn't stop us from walking through moss-covered forests with trees straight and tall, or stopping to see part of the route that Lewis and Clark took to "map" this part of the new United States. Who knew history could be so interesting?

One of our the more unexpected things I learned on this trip is how important the west coast was in the protection of our country during World War II. Because of the remoteness of much of the coast, it had to be under surveillance constantly in order to protect it from being invaded unseen by the forces to the west. How, you ask, did that happen? Why, with BLIMPS, of course! In Tillamook, Oregon, is the "Air Museum", a hangar that held the blimps that were sent on missions throughout WWII. During our visit, while we didn't see any blimps, we learned how the extra-large wooden hangar was built and how it was used, even after the war made the blimps unnecessary. Now, the hangar holds planes of different eras and interactive areas showcasing aviation history. Bill liked it almost as much as the tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory -

We walked in the sand, watched whales frolic in the surf, visited wineries and brew pubs and had the best time! Part of the fun was staying "in" after a long day - we did that twice, first making steaks on the grill and homemade marionberry fruit crisp (funny side story - we thought that our rental included an outdoor grill but, alas, it did not. Bill was lamenting the fact that we left our older Smokey Joe grill in Alaska when he spotted a hardware store, ran in and came out with a brand new one! I guess there was room for it after all - if I would have known, I would have packed more shoes!) then, on our last night, we purchased and grilled fresh salmon and local rockfish with little Yukon golds and artichokes purchased earlier at the Bear Creek Artichoke Farm in Tillamook. Along with local Pinot Noir, they were both wonderfully satisfying meals. That said, we did have some terrific food on our journey from pub burgers on the beach in Pacific City to a gourmet meal at a little place in our tiny coastal town of Netarts. We even enjoyed our turkey and apple paninis that were made out of desperation after a really long first day of travel (we used what was leftover in the picnic basket!!)

Travel pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the Oregon Coast - we saw so much of God's wonderful creation! The water was so blue, the waves breaking into white froth, the trees so green with their hanging moss, the sand warm beneath our (finally!) bare feet.

Our favorite, though, was watching this beautiful sunset from the deck of our rental - it took the sun about 40 minutes to disappear through the low clouds over the ocean, changing colors as it went through until it finally disappeared into the dark water. It. Was. Awesome.