We are staying at the Port of Newport Marina and RV Park on the Oregon coast; the largest fishing port on the Oregon coast. We are in the middle of several solid storms bringing heavy rain and high winds. It has been a wintry weekend ... now 8.30 on Sunday night.
We arrived at Newport on Wednesday and have a site for a week. We have a rental car for the weekend and, despite the foul weather, we have driven the coast - north to Lincoln City yesterday and today, south to Florence. The Oregon coast is spectacular. We are seeing it at its wildest at present; the Pacific ocean pounds the coastline, the wind whips the surf high into the air and then the waves crash onto rocks.
The drive from Tualatin on Wednesday was enjoyable; nice to be heading to the coast. We are remaining in Oregon for one particular reason. Our friends, the Rossknecht family are celebrating their Mom Margaret's birthday in early October ... in Oregon. What a wonderful opportunity to say one last goodbye.
The sea looks so calm on Wednesday. Our daughter Kim will be in Sydney on the weekend; I tell her to wave to us! Well ??? It is the Pacific Ocean after all.
The Yaquina Bay Bridge is at our doorstep. I walk over it on Thursday morning. It is very high - 246 ft. at its highest point and 133 ft at deck level. It carries Highway 101; was built in 1936 and is on the US National Register of Historic Places.
An arch bridge, it spans Yaquina Bay. It is spectacular!
The wintry weather certainly adds a further dimension to an already spectacular bridge no matter from which angle.
I am glad we are not in the motor home driving across the bridge in such windy conditions!
We also drive around to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse although we remain in the car as it is pouring rain. It is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon standing at 93 ft. It still uses its original 1868 French-made Fixed Fresnal lens, visible 19 miles out to sea.
Our drive around Yaquina Bay follows the Yaquina River to Hwy 20 and then back to Newport.
On Friday night we have dinner at Ocean Bleu at Gino's, a seafood restaurant in the bayfront area.We have a nice meal and share a bottle of wine, a Washington cabernet.
Our drive along Highway 101 as it hugs the coast, on Saturday and Sunday, are the highlights although it is so not the kind of weather to go driving. The coastline surpasses California from Highway 1 (in my view) for dramatic views and scenic wilderness areas.
It is surprising that others are also on the road, stopping at the overlooks, trying not to get blown away. We are not the only travellers wanting to see as much as we can, hail or shine.
The whole of the northwest is experiencing significant rain and wind. Portland and surrounding areas are having some flooding; downed trees are causing problems; as it is so early in the Fall lots of trees still have heavy foliage which gets heavier with the rain.
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| We are tucked in just under the bridge! |
Mace calls us at about 3 o'clock on Saturday morning - our time - to let us know the Dockers lost their Grand Final game against Hawthorn.
It's hard to get back to sleep with the heavy rain and high winds raging about us. It was a sad week with New Zealand losing the America's Cup. (Its a blood thing) We then heard that the Wallabies lost to the Springboks in Cape Town.
I wonder how we are doing in cricket??
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