Today I seemed to spend forever in the car, again. I drove from my cold campsite in Union Creek, just next to the park, to the coast road. I am not sure whether it was due to it being before 8am, being a Sunday morning, or my being in the middle of nowhere, but I hardly saw a soul for an hour.
I drove half way up the Oregon coast, calling in at the seaside towns on the way. The coastline was just as beautiful as the Big Sur coast, but more accessible and less remote. I won`t post too many photos as they would rather duplicate the California photos. I did enjoy the Oregon Dunes recreation area, where huge (50` high) dunes dominate the landscape and tower over the road. I took a stroll from the road to the beach, which due to the dunes was a 15-minute walk.
Some of the towns I stopped at included Florence, a very nice and not at all touristy little village, whose Old Town consisted mostly of galleries rather than tat shops; Newport; and Depoe Bay. This claims to be the world`s smallest harbour, which I cannot fathom since it had several dozen boats in, far larger than any Cornish village. Here I sampled Salt Water Taffy for the first time, see the video.
From Lincoln, home of the World`s shorted river (named `D` if I recall) I drove inland to Salem, the capital of Oregon. What this city`s Historic District lacks in character it makes up for in cleanliness, rivaled only by Zagreb for the prestigious title of The World`s Cleanest City In Daniel`s Opinion. I quickly departed for Portland, from where I write now.
I am looking forward to exploring the state`s largest city tomorrow.