Summer 2011

Another gray morning... Our plan was to head south down the coast to Newport, stopping at whatever presents itself along the way.

The towns south of Cannon Beach, at least until Tillamook, seemed to be hemmed in between the coastal mountains and the Pacific Ocean. From what we could see, there was little built up area to the east of US-101. Most of the residential areas and businesses were on the ocean side of the road. Interestingly, as we drove south, we entered a"Twilight Zone" that brought us back to New York. First we passed Brighton Beach (I saw no signs in Russian). Then we drove through Manhattan Beach (again no Russian signs). I fully expected the next town to be Sheepshead Bay, but they seemed to have skipped that one and went on to Rockaway Beach. The weather conditions continued to be hazy and misty so we never got to do any photography of the coast.

Tillamook was one of the places we wanted to stop. I wanted to see the Tillamook Cheese factory and sample their products and Susie wanted to see Latimer Quilt & Textile Center, a museum and workshop. The other point of interest for Susie was the Tillamook County Quilt Trail, a drive through the rural area around Tillamook and view barns with a quilt blocks painted on them. I got my wish and sampled some of the cheese products and Susie got to see Latimer Quilt & Textile and the trail.

Unfortunately, we never got south of Tillamook. As we looked south we could see the heavy clouds low on the hillsides making photographing views of the coast difficult. So we headed back north and hoped that tomorrow will bring better conditions and we could see what we came here for... the Oregon coast. As an additional piece of irony, the weather gods decided to tease us with sunshine when we got back to the RV Park.

... and for Susie, it never ends!