Driving the coast of Oregon and Washington

Okay, I'm tired of the road trip now and I suspect Steve is too.  It has been almost 2 months since we hit the road on July 5.  I think we are probably both in Europe in our heads now.  We fly out on September 18, 2017 and land at Gatwick Airport,  London at 7am on September 19.  No more road trip; we'll be walking and riding from then on.

But,  we still have to get back to Tacoma.  So, today, we drove up the coast, across the Astoria bridge, and landed in Long Beach, Washington.  But, the motels in our price range were pretty iffy.  So, here we are in Longview, Washington at the Quality Inn.  The view is not much to talk about.

On the way up in the Tillamook, Oregon area near Garibaldi, we discovered Barview Jetty County Park where we stopped to stretch our legs.  It has a beautiful beach and a campground that many people don't know about and we found by accident.  There was also an interesting flock of gulls that I became slightly obsessed with, as you will see.

There are two jetties and a dike here to protect and support the entrance to Tillamook Bay.

This is the US Army Corps of Engineers' lookout tower at the entrance to  Tillamook Bay.

The Danger sign in front of this rock means that only seagulls can sit on the jetty.

The mist hung over the whole area, holding down the smoke in the air, I think.

Fishermen leaving Tillamook Bay on their way out for the day.

It was a beautiful drive with many more beach views.  We stopped at Tolovana Beach State Park just south of Cannon Beach, walked the beach, had a delicious lunch at Mo's, and saved two children from disease.

The rocks of Cannon Beach are just next door.

This sign over the opening of a rusty pipe at the entrance to the beach says, "Warning: untreated drainage water may be contaminated with animal waste.  Do not play int it! Wash hands throughly before eating."

 We read the sign and then walked alongside the "drainage" onto the beach and noticed 2 children (about 8 and 5) in their bathing suits happily digging in the sand on the edge of the drainage stream to make "drainage" pools and sand castles with their buckets and shovels.    [I ask you, what the heck is contaminated water doing draining onto a public beach where children play?  Sometimes, I truly wonder what goes through people's minds.  One little sign is not enough, either.]

The drainage that many of us thought was a small creek entering the sea, like many Oregon beaches.

So, as we passed them, I stopped to ask the oldest child, a girl, if her parents had read the sign above the stream of water.  If not, I said, she should point it out to them because this water probably has animal waste in it.  I pointed out that meant animal poop.  We kept walking and, when I looked back, an older lady (maybe Grandma) was gathering up the children and moving them away from the drainage.  Maybe I saved a life today.  "All in a day's work, Ma'am.  We librarians are purveyors of information."

The view of the Astoria bridge from the Washington side on the road to Long Beach.

We crossed the Astoria Bridge twice today.  Tomorrow, we will probably be driving back up I-5 towards Tacoma.  We have two more nights before our AirBnb reservation starts there.  Until then, we'll follow the clean air and see where it takes us; maybe Olympia or Gig Harbor.