You Did What?!?

This morning we awoke much happier with our overnight accommodations.  We left the hotel and went a grand distance of 1/2 mile and stopped at the Tillamook Creamery.  Since it was just after 8am, we were the only ones there.  We had the show room all to ourselves and enjoyed looking at all the goodies.  We also spent a little bit of $$ there.

I haven't yet mentioned the condition of the highway in Oregon.  It's a mess.  The road is scarred with landslides, sunken roadbed, flash floods, cave ins, you name it.  In quite a few places we found the road had been repaired, but not re-asphalted.  It was a mess.

And the traffic was different, too.  It was clear that most of the travelers in Oregon--at least at this time of year--were locals.  We rarely had a road companion that lasted more than a few miles.  It was interesting.

As we drove up into Washington the roads were in excellent condition, but now we found our fellow travelers had grown in size--logging trucks.  And those logging trucks are dangerous.  When Jenni was driving, a logging truck traveling in the opposite direction went past as we were going around a sharp corner.  That truck was moving so fast you could see the back end of the trailer skidding out!  Yikes!

We no longer had multitudes of spectacular bridges, except for the bridge running over the Columbia River near Astoria.  When you come up to the bridge you see it WAY high above you and you can't imagine how you are going to get all the way up there in such a short time.  But after a loop de loop we climbed up a ramp and found ourselves high enough to touch the clouds--if there had been any clouds.  (It was a gorgeous day.)

It turns out this bridge is the longest continuous running truss bridge in the United States.  I believe it!  It kept going and going and going.  It's over a mile long with half of the trip being just above the water.  Spectacular.

As we headed north up the coast of Washington, we realized we were coming close to the end of our trip.  The road was clean and clear--except for one place were a crew was clearing up the remains of an immense tree which had fallen across the road.  As we were traveling along Grays Harbor, Jenni remembered to look to see if there were any Carnegie libraries in this part of the state.  Turns out we had just driven past one in South Bend.  Oops.  Another is located in Hoquiam.  We decided that we'd do those on another trip.  No turning back, now!

North of Hoquiam we traveled through logging country.  Acres of stands of tall trees alternated with acres of old stumps.  I was surprised to see that much of the cleared acreage hadn't been replanted.  Are they giving up?  This is the land of the spotted owl controversy, after all.

As we drove into Forks we saw a sign for a rest stop and decided that was a great idea.  In the words of Mike's niece, Christina, Forks is a "magical" place.  It's the setting for the Twilight trilogy; I felt that odd because I read that author Stephenie Meyer never set foot in the place.  It was magical, however, because the rest stop had completely disappeared.  Oh, boy.  I could have used that rest stop.

We drove past signs for Hoh Rainforest.  I had been to Hoh camping with my friends Anna and Linda.  I HIGHLY recommend a visit to this place.  The weather was perfect for a visit today.  You know how road weary Jenni and I were when I tell you we didn't want to drive the extra 30 mile round trip to visit the rainforest.  Another day, another trip.

Something very interesting happens when you drive up over the top of the Olympic Peninsula.  Hwy 101 North becomes Hwy 101 East.  I was wondering how this would be handled because eventually Hwy 101 starts heading south on the east side of the peninsula and travels back down to Olympia, nearly circumscribing the entire peninsula.  When does Hwy 101 North become Hwy 101 South?  Answer: well, first it becomes Hwy 101 East.

As we headed east on Hwy 101 we drove past one of the most beautiful lakes in this state--Crescent Lake.  The road skirts right along the shoreline, slowing to 35 mph.  I haven't been here since 1989 when I met my mother here at the end of a hiking trip she took.  (Yes, my mother hikes.  She still hikes.  My mother is in better shape than me!)

Past Port Angeles we passed signs pointing out the direction of Hwy 101 South.  Yay!  We're heading south.  That was shortly followed by a roadside sign stating Hwy 101 East.  Oh.  Guess we're still going east.  Another couple miles down the road and another directional sign for Hwy 101 South.  Somebody's confused!  And, not just me.  So, we decided to give up on Hwy 101 East-South, and headed instead east on Hwy 104.  This took us across our last major bridge over the Hood Canal.  We drove through the charming town (picket fences included) of Port Gamble and around the top of the Kitsap Peninsula and down into Kingston where we waited in line for a ferry to Edmonds.

After the 30 minutes ferry ride we drove over to Elysa's apartment to drop off the peacocks that had been traveling with us for the last 2,000 miles.  Yes, peacocks.  Elysa inherited a peacock mosaic from my parents.  No, my parents are still with us and doing fine, thanks.  My mom is downsizing, though, much to my Dad's chagrin (is that a good way to put it, Dad?), so the peacocks came with us.  It was kind of funny because while we watched home movies back in Walnut Creek last week, we saw a 1961 film showing the peacocks in the background!  Ah, sweet history.  And so the peacocks now roost in Elysa's apartment.

While there we past on goodies we picked up for Elysa, and Elysa gave me my Mother's Day gift.

Okay, I try not to boast about my kids because I think that gets annoying.  So, if you don't liked bragging, then skip to the next paragraph.  Jenni got tired of hearing me complain about my cell phone, so she bought me a brand new Windows phone for Mother's Day.  I chipped in because I felt guilty about the cost.  Because I chipped in, Jenni decided to also buy me a phone case and screen protector (coming in the mail tomorrow) and then mentioned that something else is coming in the mail tomorrow.  On Mother's Day proper, we were traveling through Oregon so Jenni offered to take me to a fun place for lunch.  Upon arrival at Elysa's apartment I found a wooden basket full of tangelos, oranges, pears, apricots, cherries, and--oh, my bathroom scale--homemade bonbons and chocolate dipped cherries and strawberries.  The bonbons are all different flavors--orange, lemon, vanilla, almond, butterscotch, raspberry--and there must be two pounds of them!  My friends are all going to have to break their diets.  I have the greatest daughters.

In less than an hour, Jenni and I found ourselves at home.  HOME??  Didn't we just leave Tillamook this morning? Yes, folks, we drove all the way home.  We had planned to spend the night in Port Townsend, a marvelous seaside village, but when I proposed to Jenni that we skip the libraries in Port Angeles and Port Townsend and head straight home, she readily agreed.  We've had enough of hotel rooms and driving, and Jenni's had enough of my snoring.  We got home after 7:00, Mike helped unload the car, and then I crashed.  As I type this, a day later, Jenni is outside working in the yard (she loves doing that as long as it doesn't include weeding).  Since we gave ourselves until Wednesday to get back, I'm just taking it easy, slowly working through the laundry and the mail. 

We put 3,365 miles on my car with this trip--1,644 of those miles were just Jenni and me on the coastal trip.  I wanted a road trip and I got a road trip!  We had a marvelous time.  This trip meant a lot to me.  I'm glad Jenni came along and I'm glad she had the patience to put up with her mother in such close quarters for such a long time.  Thanks to Mike for supporting me in this journey; Mike, you're the best.

And so ends my West Coast Adventure.  What comes next???