Last day - heading home

Friday July 16, 2010

We had another nice breakfast at the inn. Upon checking out we were given a bag with bottles of water and some mint chocolates (if I remember correctly) inside.

We've stayed in some nice places in our time but for the combination of peace and quiet, comfort, lovely decor, relaxing atmosphere, good food, friendly people, superior service and an outstanding view, the Stephanie Inn might top them all.

We stopped up the road and had a last look at Haystack Rock...

... and The Needles. It was probably just as well it was overcast, otherwise it would have been harder to leave.

After a brief stop at a stationery store in a small outlet mall in Seaside, we carried on to Astoria. I wanted to drive up the coast of Washington part way because I haven't been in that southern corner of the state for a long time.

The 4.1 mile long Astoria-Megler Bridge connects Oregon to Washington over the mouth of the Columbia River.

Once into Washington the scenery almost immediately becomes ugly. In place of soft sand there was dark, boggy looking mud. It looked as if the ground had been gouged by something huge and it felt kind of creepy. I don't remember seeing any birds around and we didn't stop to take a picture. Eventually we veered inland and connected with the I-5. At Maxine's in Marysville we stopped for another inexpensive turkey dinner.

We had to cross the border by midnight because that's when our medical insurance ran out. We were well in time and amazingly got through the border crossing in a mere six minutes!

The End.

Stephanie Inn - another room

Thursday July 15, 2010

Now it was time to go back to the inn and see what our 'new' room looked like since our wonderful beach view one was booked for the night.

This was like a condo suite. Add a fridge and stove and we could just live here.

I've always liked fireplaces between two rooms - here it was between the living room and bedroom. There were two TV's as well, but we didn't turn on either one.

This was the bigger of the TWO bathrooms. These pictures don't convey how big the main one was. There was a huge amount of floor space. This was the bathroom with the telephone beside the toilet (?). I liked the night-light which constantly changed colour.

I believe the 2nd bathroom also had a bathtub but I didn't take any photos of it.

As nice as this room was, what a tragedy it didn't face the ocean! It was hard to let go of the fabulous view we'd had the night before. This room was on the corner, main floor so at least it was an easy trek straight down the hall to the coffee and cookies in the lobby. That evening we stopped by the wine gathering and took a tray of cheese and crackers back to our room.

Cannon Beach, Oregon

Thursday July 15, 2010

I thought the stores in Cannon Beach used to be more up-scale. We didn't find much of interest. To the town's credit though, they try to keep the small-town feel. The closest Safeway store is several miles up the highway - and I don't know (or care) where the nearest McDonald's is. One thing I like about Oregon in general is that they make an effort to avoid urban sprawl.

Salt water taffy seems to be big in the States, at least in Oregon and Washington. Bruce's Candy Kitchen has bins full of all sorts of flavours: banana, blackberry, butterscotch, cherry, chocolate peanut butter, cinnamon, huckleberry, licorice, molasses mint, orange, peach, root beer, etc.

The town has lots of hydrangeas...

... and nasturtiums.

Although the official end of the Lewis and Clark Trail is a bit farther north in Seaside, Oregon, I believe Cannon Beach was as far south as the expedition went, back in 1806. At the end of town is Whale Park (with a whale statue) where supposedly Captain Clark had his first close up view of a whale.

From there we look across Ecola Creek. It appears that it stayed cloudy in Cannon Beach all day.

What a grand place for horseback riding! Lawrence of Arabia anyone?

Manzanita, Oregon

Thursday July 15, 2010

We came across a road sign we liked after leaving Garibaldi. :-)

I thought the highway ran through Manzanita (Spanish for 'little apple') but it doesn't - at least not any more. So, we took a little detour down to see it.

Manzanita is halfway between Tillamook and Seaside, Oregon.

It has lots of sand - nice sand. I wouldn't mind living there... except maybe for the wind factor.

One end of the beach stops at Neahkahnie Mountain. I hadn't realized that this was the beach we were looking down on from the viewpoint on the mountain that morning.

Garibaldi, Oregon

Thursday July 15, 2010

Driving north from Tillamook to Cannon Beach we passed through Garibaldi which featured both a marina and this historic display of an old locomotive and caboose.

It's probably still cloudy in Cannon Beach judging by the fog bank in that direction.

Tillamook cheese factory

Thursday, July 15, 2010

When in Tillamook you feel like you have to visit the cheese factory. On my first visit many years ago, hardly anyone was there. Now it's a major attraction. Mobs of people herd through the viewing rooms and gift shops, and they line up to try cheese samples and to buy ice-cream.

I would find it hard to wake up every day and think that I had to work in the cheese factory. Workers must get used to having an audience.

I don't know what goes on here.

My arrow points to the word 'color.' I'm guessing this must be where they put the colour dye in for orange cheese.

Quality control? At the far end sat this girl by herself. Every now and then she'd nab a brick of cheese from the belt and set it aside.

I must have been getting tired of taking photos because I took none of the crowds of people, which would have been difficult anyway. Glenn got an ice-cream cone before we left. It seemed like at least 90% of the visitors were eating ice-cream.

Tillamook Air Museum - airplanes

Thursday July 15, 2010

A card (above) in the gift shop shows the purpose of the building.

This museum had some unusual (and sometimes unattractive) airplanes. For instance, the Grumman Duck is very rare... but it would not win a prize in my aircraft beauty contest.

Ok, this one is just plain weird. What a profile. Designed by Guissepe Bellanca, the Bellanca Aircruiser with its protruding nose and W-shaped struts looks like an art project gone wrong to me.

It would appear that Mr. Bellanca wasn't concerned with aesthetics but I suppose this plane did have its purpose.

Catalina.

Now, let's have a look at some more regular looking designs. According to the museum's brochure, many of the planes in this canopied area are privately owned and flyable.

The Hispano Buchon also known as the Messerschmitt Me -109.

Ahhh, a Stearman.

A sign says this early Ford Tri-Motor aircraft seat was taken from the mountain crash site in Utah in the early 1930's.

Mustang.

Where does one get all the helium needed for a blimp I wondered. Perhaps we would have found out if we hadn't missed the show in the theatre about this museum and its history. In the Helium Room is a large GE motor "which powered two pneumatic compressors used to remove impure helium from the blimps and pump it into the 60' spherical tank outside the hangar."

Outside was another classic antique, the Stinson Reliant.

Other planes include a Nakajima Oscar, Fairchild 24 and a Cessna 180 with a graphic saying it was one of two planes that were the first light aircraft on the North Pole.

Tillamook Air Museum - Hangar B

Thursday July 15, 2010

Our first destination on this day was the Tillamook Air Museum. I remember seeing this building many years ago but had never been inside.

In 1942 the US Navy began building 17 of these wooden structures to house blimps. Tillamook had two: Hangar B and Hangar A. Hangar A was completed in less than a month; unfortunately it burned down in 1992.

No fumbling around trying to find this museum. It would be hard to miss.

Having come from the pristine, theme-park-like Evergreen Aviation Museum I found this one to be refreshingly rustic. I will remember this museum for some odd-looking aircraft. The Mini-Guppy out front is one. To me it looks like it's missing eyes.

The lighting inside makes photography a challenge.

This building is over 15 stories high.

The doors are 120 feet high. Six sections, 30 tons each roll on railroad tracks.