Oregon and Cape Disappointment

Washington was fun, but the weather has a nip in the air and we need to start southward.  We entered Oregon in the middle of the Columbia River where a sign informs you that you have now changed states.

The Astoria-Megler Bridge is over four miles long and is the longest continuous three-span, through-truss bridge in the world.  It was foggy when we crossed over into our new state.

We set up camp at the Circle Creek RV Park where you supposedly can see elk roaming about.  Didn't see them, at least not yet, but lots of geese came this morning to feed.

Our first destination was to the Cape Disappointment State Park to see the lighthouses and then eat at the Depot Restaurant, a 125 year old station of the Clamshell Railroad.

view of the coastline along the way

It was a bit confusing to find which way to go to get to the lighthouses (there are two in the park) but we found our way eventually.  The first we spotted was the North Head Lighthouse. 

 This lighthouse has many interesting stories, but the one that caught my attention was the wife of one of the lighthouse keepers that was unable to bear the howling of the winds and threw herself off the cliff.  I'm thinking it may have been more than just the sounds of the wind...like being stuck in a lighthouse with the same man and not having any female companionship to maintain her sanity. Or maybe it was the sound of her husband breaking wind...they didn't give a lot of details.

You can rent the lighthouse keepers residence for overnight stays, which would make my sister in law Mary thrilled.  

The road to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was closed as it is under going renovations, so that was ....well...disappointing.


The beach had lots of interesting driftwood and these weird long tubular things with a bulb on the end.  Not sure what this once was, but Left Brain was playing with it as if it were a whip.

It's amazing the odd flotsam that washes up here....oh wait...that's Left Brain.  My bad.

The view of Cape Disappointment Lighthouse just didn't seem as spectacular, but it was still fun to watch the waves coming in and all the driftwood piled up on the edges.

We drove up to the top and I got a closer look at it and found it...disappointing.  It could really use some TLC and new paint.  I guess somethings are just better viewed at a distance.

By now we were starving so it was off to the Depot Restaurant for lunch.  I was so excited.  So you can imagine my "disappointment" when we saw the closed sign.  Sigh.

So we went back to Seaside and found Bell Buoys and shared a crab dinner.  They have picnic seating in the back with a view of the river while you dine.

By now it's getting late in the afternoon so we headed back home to play with the kitties and give them some outdoor time.

Hopefully we won't be needing this route during our visit.

Since the weather is nice we'll be heading into Cannon Beach tomorrow to see what's there.  Trivia fact:  Cannon beach was thus named as a cannon had washed up on shore.

Long Live the Queen of Disappointment