West Cost - Part 2

After the first entry of our vacation in the west coast (click on the link if you missed it), it is time to describe the highlights we found driving thought the Oregon and Washington states. Having had only 10 days overall, it is impossible to visit all spots that these states had to offer. However this didn't discourage us, and we tried to take the best out of it. The pictures talk for themselves, the beauty of the coasts, the nature and wildness surrounding the cities in these states are unarguably beautiful. If you also are lucky with the weather, as we were, you can't really ask for more.

 First Station - Oregon West Coast

Leaving the Redwood National Park behind us, we drove the Highway 101 North, our journey was going to pass along the coast until reaching a small town called Florence. On our way, we were very close to the coast, which made the drive enjoyable, leaving us the opportunity to stop every few miles to take pictures. We saw whales from the distance, unfortunately it was difficult to take pictures of them.

Not only the beaches were magnificent, also the weather was quite warm, at least to enjoy the views. But, as you can see, there were not many people actually on the beach, so maybe the water was too cold after all.

The Oregon beaches frequently have many rock formations near the shore. The geological origin of these natural features seems to be the lava coming from volcanoes emanating from the Grand Rode Mountains 10 to 17 million years ago. Arguable the biggest formation is the Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, unfortunately we didn't have time to visit it. Some of these formations were joined to the coastline, but erosion separated them apart from it.

One thing to notice is the micro climates that form along the coast. In matter of minutes, it can pass from sunny and warm to covered by clouds and windy, you can almost see the cloud approaching.

 Near Florence we spent some time around the dunes. They are not very big, but they go along for miles. We (I must say especially the boys of the family) wanted to rent quads to drive around, but we came too late for that day, and wanted to leave it for the next day. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance, since from the moment we had dinner it started raining, it rained through the night and morning. By the time we wanted to leave we realized we were not going to drive any quads, so we headed directly to the next station.

Second Station: Portland

For our 2-night stay in Portland, we had rented a house boat north of the city, in the Hayden Island. It was great; not only to have a house instead of a hotel, which gives much more opportunity for a group to be together, but this location was great to enjoy the river and the sunlight

The glass doors to the outside gave a sense of brightness and space.

We even had the chance to have a BBQ while watching the boats come and go ;)

The bad part of the house is that it was so cool that we focused more on enjoying the house than on exploring the city of Portland... We were just one morning in the downtown area, and could see some nice buildings just walking around.

The state of Portland is known by the high amount of breweries, in fact, with 53+ breweries, it has more than any other city on earth. Knowing this, we had big chances of finding good beer. And we did! Precisely that weekend the Oregon Brewers Festival took place. That was definitely going to be our place for lunch ;)

There was good live music, nice varied food from different places, and although the beer may have not been the best one, it did made us happy, which is the whole purpose :)

One of the things Americans like of the summer, is that they can drive their old beauties. There are many car concentrations, which brings joy to the owners and all the others that would like to own them. On our way out of Portland, we accidentally took a wrong turn, and suddenly were in the middle of a Buick Car concentration. We took this as a sign of the destiny, and made this visit as part of our itinerary.

 Third Station: Boeing Museum

On our way to Seattle, we would have wanted to visit many places like Cannon Beach, the Columbia Gorge, or the Mounts St. Helen and Rainier, but time was our enemy, and these places really needed one day on their own... So we decided to visit the Boeing Museum instead, which is located near the SeaTac Airport. It is very impressive, both the size and structure and the content.

They have a good collection of aircrafts, from the very first ones to the high-tech and state of the art.

One of the most impressive parts is the World War I and II. They show the main planes used for both, along with interesting information regarding both conflicts. 

Fourth Station: Seattle

Our visit of Seattle started in the Pike Place Market. It is one of the most visited places in Seattle, and especially famous is the fish market, where they pass on the fish throwing them among the fishmongers.

You can see them in action in the picture above. Andres almost got the fish on his camera taking the photo.

Just walking around the market makes an enjoyable time.

Later on that day we went up to the Sky View Observatory, in the Columbia Center, the highest skyscraper in Seattle. It costs 12$ per person to get in, but the views of the city are worth it.

We even had the chance to see Mt. Rainier from the distance, it was cloudy all around it, but its beauty is still noticeable.

We finished our daily visit in the Seattle Center, where the famous Space Needle is located. We spent an or two hour in the gardens, there was some shows going on, and many people seemed to be happy to enjoy such a nice day outside. 

And that is the end of our short but busy vacation on the west coast. Unluckily we left out many places, but on the other side this made it possible to enjoy the time with the family along with exploring new territories. I hope you enjoyed the story and the pictures, and if you keep reading us we will surely come up with many more places that are still out there :)

Thanks for reading, 

Lita & Andres