Saturday 29th September

We retraced our steps to Depoe Bay to catch the blowholes at high tide.Water spouts dramatically through these without warning as the waves crash in.

Our next stop was Cape Foulweather, so named by Captain James Cook on his journey to explore the west coast of America in 1778.

At the next cape we visited Yaquina Head lighthouse and were able to climb the 115 steps up to the light.

This is the dramatic view looking north from the foot of the lighthouse .

We drove twenty five miles further south to Yachats Bay where we saw a surfer scramble over these rocks to leap into the ocean.

Back at Yaquina Bay, when the tide was lower, we came across these seals resting on the rocks. There was a very strong wind here and the temperature plummeted.

This the view from Yaquina Head across the bay to Agate Beach.

Just before dinner we walked from the hotel across the bare sand dunes of Agate Beach. The sand was very soft and the wind very strong.

After dinner we enjoyed the sunset from our room across the windswept beach that we had walked on earlier.

Friday 28th September

First thing this morning we walked down the promenade at Seaside and came across this statue of Lewis and Clarke, the two people responsible for the Oregon Trail, much of which we have been following.

On our way south we stopped at Ecola State Park to look over Cannon Beach and saw this view of the rocks there looming out of the fog.

We walked around to the headland and had a clear view of the rocks off Ecola Point.

We walked along Cannon Beach for a mile or so to get a closer view of Haystack Rock which was shrouded in mist except for a few minutes when we captured this photo. Between April and August tufted puffins abound here.

Further down the coast we made a short stop to view these rocks which are known as the Three Graces.

We checked into the hotel at Newport and have this lovely view of Agate Beach with its unusual sand dunes.

Thursday 27th September

We travelled north today up the coast and are presently staying in Seaside.

This is Cape Kiwanda which is a typical view up this coast, with large rocks jutting out from the sea.

This area is popular with surfers as the waves and the beach are both very long.

We took a side road down to Cape Lookout State Park and enjoyed a couple of hours here.

We went down to the beach further on at Oceanside to get a good view of Three Arch Rocks.

As we were returning we accidently discovered a tunnel about thirty metres long which joined one bay to the next.

It led to a secluded bay with these varied rock formations emerging from the sea which was nearing low tide.

Our final stop was at Cape Meares where we enjoyed this view of the beach that we had just left.

We had a great view of the ocean from here and spotted three or four whales just beyond this rock.

We looked around the lighthouse on the tip of the cape before driving to Seaside..

Wednesday 26th September

This is our first view of the Pacific Coast in Oregon, Siletz Bay at high tide.

We stopped further on at Boiler Bay, a popular viewing point.

We spent a couple of hours here at Depoe Bay, hoping to see a whale but not really expecting to.

Just as we were walking away we saw this whale blowing only a couple of hundred yards out from where we were standing. We found out later that it was a Gray whale, about 40 feet long. We were able to watch it for a long time before it disappeared into deeper water.

Further on we walked along the beach with the sea mist coming in and suddenly this island appeared directly in front of us looming over us in the mist - it was quite surreal.

We stopped just north of Lincoln City to enjoy the view when the bank of fog that we could see out at sea began rolling in.

This section of coast is well known for good conditions for kite surfing and we were able to watch five or six of them zipping along the waves.

Tuesday 25th September

On our journey today we particularly noticed the trees changing to their autumnal colours. We had a long drive south down I-5 into northern Oregon.

We visited the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville.
www.EvergreenMuseum.org
Alan had wanted to see the Spruce Goose ever since we just missed it at Long Beach in California about 15 years ago.

If you look carefully you can see Alan looking inside the silver and yellow plane with the Spruce Goose towering over him.

Across the site was the Space Museum which told the tale of the Space Race from the 1940's onwards.
There was an amazing range of exhibits including this unused Mars Rover.

There was also a full sized Titan rocket sunk into the ground so that you could walk around it.

There was a retired Stealth Bomber, which looked very menacing, at one end of the building.

Monday 24th September

We began the day by taking the monorail downtown and then walking along 5th Avenue to Seattle Central Library.

The inside is ultra modern, airey and light and houses over 400 computer terminals for use by the public as well as 1.4 million books and an automated book sorting system. It was fairly busy this morning with nearly all the computer terminals being used.

We walked down to the quayside and enjoyed the views of the city from there.

We took an hour long harbour cruise of the sights from the water.

The salmon are running at present so that is bringing many seals into Elliot Bay.

Later in the afternoon we explored the Seattle Aquarium which has exhibits of fish, mammals and birds.
www.seattleaquarium.org

After dinner we took a night ride up the Space Needle to see the city lit up in the dark.



Sunday 23rd September

First thing this morning we took a trip up the Space Needle. It was very clear and we could see for miles around in all directions.

Nearby is the Experience Music Project, a museum of popular music. In the entrance hall is this sculpture made up of guitars and banjos. It was fairly quiet inside so we were easily able to listen to everything that we wanted to.
www.empsfm.org

On the floor below was a science fiction exhibition which included Captain Kirk's chair from the original Star Trek series.

Part of the Seattle Future 50 Project was today's exhibition of about 40 electric cars and we were able to talk with their enthusiastic owners.

We took the monorail into downtown Seattle. It must have seemed very futuristic when it was built 50 years ago.

Once downtown we explored Pike Place Market and the area around it.