Location: Nehalem State Park, OR
I had the best time following along the Russell 1929 trip from Mound City, MO. to Puyallup, WA. Usually the "plain" states (Iowa & Nebraska) are well - a little plain. This trek made it fun to search for clues and imagine life on the road during the early days of the Lincoln Highway. I also thoroughy enjoyed reaching the coastal Pacific Northwest and finally geting a respite from the triple digit temperatures! Love this picture of one of the fishing villages.
For the first time in weeks we weren't held to a certain route or schedule. We took advantage of this and did a lot of meandering today! We hugged the Pacific Ocean driving down inlets and discovering bays until eventually coming upon Cape Disappointment. We had previously visited Lewis & Clark's starting point near St. Louis so thought it only fitting to take some time to visit their ending spot here. In some ways I've felt like Lewis and Clark, going from Sea to Shining Sea and discovering so many wonderful things. (One of my favorite books is called "From Sea to Shining Sea" and is about the Lewis & Clark expedition. I heartily recommend it).
The museum and interpretive center was so fun! It takes you through their entire journey with lots of displays and hands-on exhibits.
Here I am using a telescope to find our "dinner" for the evening, looking for turkeys, elk, rabbits, etc.
Patrick Gass was one of the men on the expedition. He died at age 99 and was the longest living member of the Corp of Discovery. His family donated many items to the museum. My favorite was the razor box carved by Sacajawea. How cool is that!
The top floor of the interpretive center concentrates more on the military and marine history of Cape Disappointment. It's beautiful to look out through an entire wall of glass over the ocean. We had a great view of the lighthouse too.
We've seen many lighthouses in our travels, including the fresnel lens up close. This is the first exhibit where we could actually play with the lenses and create interesting prisms and lighting.
What would a trip down the coast be without stopping to partake in some yummy seafood? We found this little fishing village and Ned enjoyed fish and chips and shrimp cocktail, while I ate clam chowder and crab cakes. Yum!
Ned enjoying one of the few rays of sun we had today.
We continued to explore more fishing villages until
eventually pulling into Nehalem State Park. It's definitely beach camping, but the campground has lots of cypress trees. We were going to jump on our bikes and go on one of the trails, but we decided to take a nap instead. I think enjoying the cooler weather and being on the road for 7 weeks finally caught up to us!
We did manage to rally for an evening ride and exploration of the park
and beach.
I can't help but reflect on all the beaches we've explored this trip, from the Gulf of Mexico to the tip of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean, not to mention the eastern point of the Dominican Republic in the Carribean. Unlike the other beaches we won't be doing any nighttime swimming here!
One of the paths from the beach has a beautiful view of the mountains. Stunning in the early evening.
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