Not long after the Lesinas left for their annual Ballard camp on Thursday morning, Jo and I headed off on our Oregon road trip - not as massive as last year's drive down to Southern California and back, via Nevada, but still a decent ride.
Our initial drive was eastward and then north through the Umpqua Forest and up and down the Cascade mountain range. We stopped for refreshments at Beckie's Cafe, which was adjacent to the Rogue River Gorge. Delicious home-made apple (Jo) and cherry (me) pies - both served "a la mode" - we had no idea what this meant but when the waitress explained it was with ice cream, we were sold.
A short stroll to view the gorge was then in order:
Soon we were on the road again and there were some awesome sights:
Soon we arrived at Oakridge, a small community built on the logging industry but now trying to re-invent itself as a base for outdoor activities - hiking and biking in particular. We were booked in to the Oakridge Lodge and it transpired we were the only residents in this large guest house. Our host Gary gave us the lowdown on how it operates. Our room had a double bed and two bunks, but no wardrobe or en suite. The atrium outside our room had all 4 bedrooms leading off it, plus 4 bathrooms - but as we had the run of the place, we could have used any of them.
We went for a walk to take a look at our surroundings, but that didn't take long - downtown Oakridge was tiny and virtually everything was shut - all except the most important one - the pub.
Brewers Union 180 apparently has a reputation and people travel to it from all over - I guess we did as well. The owner/brewer spent time in the UK studying how real cask ale is produced and then replicated it in Oakridge. It's a rare real ale jewel in North America, with 5 cask ales on handpump. We had a few and ate there too before retiring to our room at nearby Oakridge Lodge.
The room was warm and, after waking at about 2 am to open the window, we were then parties to a wild argument from an adjacent house, where the woman, in particular, was having a right rant at her man - "a worthless low life" was one of the more polite phrases she used as she went on and on for 2-3 hours. We were both shattered when we finally got up for breakfast, which, by the way, was fabulous. Banana smoothies, granola, fruit, bacon and eggs - lovely.
Our journey over to the coast on Friday was a bit shorter, so we had plenty of time to stop off at various points and our first stop was just along the road at Westfir, when we stopped to view the Office covered bridge:
This type of bridge is featured throughout Oregon. This one is still in use and, as you can see on the left above, it even has a separate passenger walkway. Most of them are no longer in use and are protected as historic monuments. The original bridges were all constructed of wood and that was why they were covered - to provide protection against the elements and prolong their lives.
Stop 2 was also nearby - there was a short trail walk at Buckhead Nature Reserve so we thought we would try it out:
Driving on, we came across another of the "historic" (a well-used word here) covered bridge:
We bypassed the city of Eugene and drove over the coastal mountains, arriving at our hotel in Newport early afternoon. It's a spectacular setting with a huge high bridge over the water. There's a small walkway over the bridge, but there's lots of traffic flying past and it's a big drop - don't look down! Taking our courage in both hands, with Jo singing away to herself to keep her mind off the drop, we walked over to the main part of the town, passing the large Rogue brewery on the way. We got nice views of the marina below:
Back on dry land, Jo looked a lot more relaxed as we looked back at the bridge we had crossed:
We looked in to Yaquina Bay lighthouse:
After that, it was a stroll along the beach, quick coke refreshments then the walk back to our hotel. We had to do our Good Samaritan act when I spotted an old man falling over a ledge, banging his head against a wall. He was stuck - he couldn't get up so we lifted him in to a sitting position and checked that he was OK before heading off.
Back at our hotel, I went for a quick swim and jacuzzi, whilst Jo read her book - her knee is still leaking after her 3 recent falls on the bike. Then it was time for dinner. We walked round to the Rogue Brewery and got a nice table overlooking the marina. Nice food - not sure about the beer. On the way back, we took this photo at dusk under the bridge we'd walked over earlier on:
That's only one of the arches leading up to the main bridge, which is a good bit higher.
Saturday was to be our longest drive. We were heading south down the Pacific Coast to Coos Bay, where we planned to turn inland and head back to Grants Pass. Lots of stops were planned and some of the views were so terrific, we could have stopped every few minutes. Our first one was at the Captain Cook Trail, where there is a Spouting Horn - unfortunately not on show today as I guess you need heavier seas to force the water up the spout, but we spent a few minutes on the trail taking some photos:
Heading on, the road was twisting and climbing until suddenly everything flattened out and there were miles and miles of sandy beaches:
Eventually, we got to Coos Bay and stopped for some lunch at a German restaurant, which also gave us time to plan ahead. We decided it would be nice to head down the coast a bit further to Bandon before going inland again. That was a good move - Bandon is a beautiful little spot and we spent some time walking the beach there:
The drive home was over the hills again to pick up the I-5 at Roseburg and head back to Grants Pass from there. Nice trip.
