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.

The Queen Mary liner, Venice Beach and Canals, and the Eclipse - whooo!

We visited the Queen Mary docked at Long Beach first thing in the morning on Friday.  It was decommissioned in 1967 and has been docked at Long Beach since then, I believe.  Admittedly, we weren't inclined to pay the $40 each to take a tour, but the outside was pretty impressive.  I did spend the night on the Queen Mary when my family visited the Seattle for the 1962 World's Fair.  She was docked and being used as a hotel.  We stayed in what must have been "steerage" because we were at least 4 floors below decks and our room had about 10 bunks for the 5 of us.  I remember distinctly getting off the elevator on the ship to head into Seattle when a couple passed us on the main deck: an older gentleman and a pretty well-dressed woman.  She was very curvaceous, dressed to the nines, and wiggling down the hall, definitely not the man's daughter, but she was saying something like "I'd really like to go shopping, Daddy."  I'd never heard a grown woman in real life call her male friend Daddy.  Sure, Marilyn Monroe in the movies, but not in real life.  It was a pivotal moment for me at 13 years old.

Afterwards, we drove down the coast, found Venice Beach and strolled along the water's edge.  We took photos of each other in the surf and got splashed again, of course.  Then, we strolled down the "boardwalk" and later drove to the Historic Venice Canal District.  It was beautiful, but I didn't realize that there are only 4 canals and they aren't very long.

The Venice Canal Historic District of Los Angeles was built in 1905 by Albert Kinney.  He won the toss for choice of the best plot of land and amazed his former partners by choosing the sand dunes and bog.  They laughed when he said he was going to re-create Venice, but he surprised everyone by creating an attraction that is still drawing visitors today.  There are 4 East-West canals and 2 North-South canals.  There once were gondoliers, fairy-lights at night, and camel rides during the day.  But, after the automobile came along Venice was eventually considered old-fashioned and the canals fell into disrepair for over 40 years.  It was declared a National Historic Site in 1982 and renovated in 1993.  Now, canal front properties are some of the most expensive in the area.

This is a North-South canal.  The next photo looks to your right.

This is one of the longer East-West side canals.

Later, we had a lot of trouble finding a reasonably priced place to sleep all along the coast.  (Malibu was VERY disappointing, as you might expect).  Finally, we found a marginal motel in Oxnard, very marginal and I was very, very glad to leave it this morning.

The coast after Oxnard was the Pacific Coast Highway that I had hoped for.  Gorgeous views of the ocean, winding roads with guard rails, salt spray, and clouds of mist (or smog, but that would break the mood).

We finally stopped at a wonderful AirBnb location in Santa Maria, CA.  We are going to stay here for four nights until the Eclipse is finished and the associated tourists and traffic are gone.  We'll be heading north again on August 23rd to check out Hearst Castle and what we can see of the Monterey to Morro Bay coast.  But, in the meantime, we plan to play; yes, lay around the house in Santa Maria, go to the beach when we feel like it, and maybe check out Morro Bay.

Long Beach and a hidden gem - Sherman Library and Gardens

Long Beach, California appears to be a very much a "blue collar' town.  What we can see of the port is full of working ship derricks and some gas and oil shipping facilities.  It reminds me very much of Tacoma's no nonsense port.  Motels, even here, are very expensive along the coast, but we were able to find a nice clean one in the heart of Long beach to settle in for the night; a minor miracle, I believe.

We left Ontario, California near the Arizona border this morning and drove through some fairly rugged terrain (and lots of road work) before arriving in Los Angeles County (a very, very large county indeed).  After the high dry temperatures in Arizona and the dry climate in New Mexico, it was quite wonderful to be facing 80 degree sunshine with some sea breezes in our faces as we reached the coast.

Once we hit the ocean, we stopped at the first available beach, Aliso Beach (very close to Laguna Beach,which was too crowded), and walked right into the lapping surf.  It was heavenly for me to finally be able to walk in sand without pain and to let the water cover my feet.  It has been Of course, as just about everyone has discovered, there is no just "walking in the water" at the beach.  Within the first 15 minutes of arrival, Steve and I had been soaked to our waists in back with a splash from a wave run amok.  Yes, we had wet pants for more than an hour while we sat and watched the kids with their skim surfer boards playing in the waves.  It was so much fun!

After that, we drove up the Pacific Coast Highway, marveling at the outrageously decadent resort buildings lining the road and facing the setting sun over that miraculously beautiful water.  No wonder everyone seems to want to be there.

Just by chance we stopped so I could take a picture of a beautiful tree with orange Bird of Paradise plants below it and stumbled upon the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar, California.  I mean, really, what librarian could possibly pass up that tantalizing sign?  I ask you.

Sherman Library and Gardens is a gorgeous walled area of wonderful garden rooms.  The Sherman Library is a wonderful old building that houses an historical collection that is often used for research in the area.  I was able to speak with the librarian, who said he had been in the position for 4 years, replacing the librarian who had been there for 47 years.  They are still using a beautiful set of card catalogs, but are in the process of digitizing their more significant manuscripts, which begins the process of going completely online in the future.

Could this have been the original sign, I wonder?

The gardens were just gorgeous, with fountains, ponds, glass sculptures, topiary, and other garden art.

This tree bemuses me.  It has some sort of agave on the end of each branch.

Rose garden with blown glass.

Blown glass in the center of the square.

More blown glass.

Take a close look.  There are small succulents growing between the stairs!

We topped the evening off with a delicious and pleasant dinner at In-N-Out Burger, apparently a California mainstay.

Tomorrow, we plan to take our time driving up the coast.  We want to find a place (maybe an AirBnb) to stay for about 4 days and just relax and play at the beach.  We have several weeks before we have to be back in Tacoma for a Sept. 5 appointment with Steve's doctor.

More tomorrow.