Friday, October 01, 2021

Rare Fall Sun on the Coast

Lunch stop at the Port of Arlington rec site.

These are unfamiliar times. Through our final years of work and into our retirement we have had the amazing freedom to travel when and where we wanted. We were able to have wonderful experiences connected to these adventures. Over the past few years, our windows of escape have gotten harder and harder to come by. With Linda's parents aging and all that comes with that, the added drama that the Covid pandemic provides, and a change in the overall need to stay closer to home, we have found that we now have to "schedule" our adventure opportunities.

Gorge windsurfers in action.

The last two weeks Linda and I did just that, we "scheduled" a week away from home. Linda spent the week before we left making sure that her parents were going to be attended to properly and that her siblings were aware that we would be gone. We would be a phone call away most of the time and our plans could be changed in the event of an emergency, so off we drove.

Four weeks ago (our last blog post), we drove to visit Linda's sister and her family, and during that visit, we got a short taste of Oregon beach life. The draw was huge. After our return from that short visit, Linda got on line and secured two camp sights for three nights each at coastal state parks.

We drove down through the Tri-Cities and stayed our first night at the same little campground that we did three weeks prior. Wyeth Campground is 329 miles from Post Falls. This distance is well on the edge of being too long of a drive for me, but the highways we follow are straight and well maintained. We can make the trek without getting too tired.

Oh, the Beach!

Our second day of driving took us to our first destination, South Beach State Park. This park is a very large and popular stop-over. The park is located just south of Newport. Linda had secured a spot for three nights.

Arriving in the late afternoon we found our spot and set up. The first thing Linda wanted to do was take a walk on the beach. The days were nearly cloudless and spectacular. Once we finished our walk, I unloaded the bikes and we went for a ride around the campground. The sun set and we had a nice dinner before we went to bed.

Linda on her eBike as we explore.

The next day Linda had a beach day in her head. We did our morning things and she then walked down to take in as much ocean beach time as possible. I got on the bike and started exploring. By 1 PM I was back at the camper and Linda arrived for a late lunch. Once we were full, we hopped on the bikes and went for a ride.

I led the way and we rode north to the Yaquina Bay South Jetty where we followed the road inland and under the Yaquina Bay Bridge. This path took us over to the area where the Hatfield Marine Science Center Oregon State University and the Oregon Coastal Aquarium were located. Since we had visited them before we rode around looking at the boats, docks, and harbor workings in the port of Newport.

Yaquina Bay Bridge from the Jetty.

To get a few more miles under our belts, we followed the signs to an abandoned RV park out on Idaho Point. I took some photos and we rode slowly back to the camper. Linda settled into her chair, taking in the sun, and because of the bright sunshine, I continued exploring.

One of the plans we had made included a bike ride over the Yaquina Bay Bridge. I had no clue how we would approach this task so I went off to figure out how we could get onto the structure and how we could make this crossing. Yaquina Bay Bridge with its Art Deco & Gothic design look opened in 1936. It spans the bay covering 3261 feet of distance from one side to the other. At its highest point, it is 133 feet above the surface of the bay. When you stand on the bridge walkway and look down it gives you the heebie-jeebies.

Yaquina Bay Bridge from Idaho Point.

I rode to the entry point to the bridge and found that to go over the structure you were required to walk your bike. This was a relief! I pictured myself riding up to the crest of the bridge and falling off my bike. Walking would give me a better chance of making the crossing.

Looking at the small sidewalk and then looking around at the beautiful blue skies, I decided that I needed to walk over the bridge now so that I could get good photos of this great weather. On the coast, who knows what will blow in off the sea.

Walking briskly I proceeded up and over the bridge. It was spooky, but I was able to make the trip and I decided that Linda would be able to do the same when we chose to cross over.

The port, boardwalk, and Jetty.

Back at camp I told Linda all about the adventure and assured her that she could make the walk very easily. I told her it was scary but that she could do it and this put her mind at ease. We ate dinner and played cards before we went to bed.

The next morning we got ready and rode to the bridge. An offshore fog was moving in and out. One minute the bridge was fogged in and the next it shimmered an elegant green.

Linda led the way. I had told her to keep the bike on her left, between the traffic and her. Because of the height, she looked straight ahead. Off we pushed. A steady stream of traffic on our left and 133 feet of air on our right. It was nice to have the bridge railing keeping us from rolling off to the right. It would be almost impossible to take a plunge off that edge. Psychologically, it was quite nerve-racking.

Just before we reached the peak of the climb, Linda stopped in her tracks, looked at me, and shouted something. I heard her say, "I'm cold!" I looked at her and she had her jacket on so it didn't make sense at this point to stop. I shouted "What?" She replied "Cold!" I stood there confused. Then Linda pointed down and yelled "HOLE! There is a HOLE in front of me!"

I looked in front of her tire and sure enough, there was a large hole in front of her. An access hole was wide open in front of her! We stood there for a moment looking over the situation. The access hole had two cover doors opened so that we could not step around it, with the bikes, without stepping into the bumper-to-bumper traffic. We were stuck!

Suddenly a construction worker popped up in the hole, like a gopher! "Oh, sorry about this! I didn't think that through too well!" He closed the covers and vanished.

We moved on and made the remainder of the walk with no problems.

Looking south over the bridge on my walk.

On the north side of the bridge, we jumped on the bikes and rode to where we caught the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route into the Nye Beach shopping area. We mostly people watched and followed the trail north. We arrived at Agate Beach, we used the restrooms, and made the decision to turn back and retrace our tracks back to South Beach. The ride was very exciting, the bridge walk was a thrill, and the entire day was a great success.

The next day we packed up and drove to our next camp spot at Cape Lookout State Park.

View of the mouth of the bay
from the north side of the bridge.

The first thing we noticed at Cape Lookout was the difference in the type of campers using this campground compared to our previous site at South Beach. At South Beach, the park was filled with huge diesel pusher RVs, long 5th wheels, and massive trailers. Cape Lookout sets closer to the ocean but has very narrow driveways with brushy parking spots, no hookups, and no water. People camping there were more organic with smaller rigs, many tents, lots of kids, and about three dogs per campsite.

During our stay, we spent our time walking or riding the beach and enjoying the sun. This was one of our best stops, much of which was due to the sunshine.

Fixin' dinner!

When we left Cape Lookout we drove through Portland and headed north to Tacoma. There we visited some wonderful friends at their home. We met Hal and Jenny, Pete and Rita in Mexico and have kept in touch for several years. We had a delicious dinner while catching up with everyone's COVID lives. The next morning we hit the road and drove the remainder of the way home. We both agreed we had a wonderful getaway.