We Just HAD To Go To This State For 1 Night Due to Kevin’s “Rule”.

Remember Kevin’s rule that HOWE (footnote 1) HAS to spend at least 1 night in a state in order for us to count it as being there and adding it to our US sticker map? We have been to Washington state quite a few times over the years but not in  HOWE. (Washington is a favorite place of ours and was on our travel plans in a few weeks but plans changed and we headed a different direction.) Our next destination was in Seaside, OR, sooooo close to Washington and this area would be new to us. Wanting the state sticker on the “where we have been” map, well, yeah, we just had to stay one night there. HAHA And, we did!

We got up at 7:00am and was pulling out just before 8:00. Kevin had to do a lot of sweeping on the slides because the pine needles and dirt are very thick. If not cleaned off, it can damage the parts around the slide as in comes in for travel. Got pulled out of the site just fine and headed down the road. We took Hwy 101 north all the way. North of Newport, Oregon we passed where the road has slid and it is all crumbled. A new road had to be built right next to it. See the picture at the top. The road is narrow with lots of sharp curves but enjoyable.

The road winds through the coastal towns and were fun to see as we passed through. Sometimes we would climb to over 500 ft elevation and then back down to sea level. We saw round bales of hay that had white covers over them. Kevin said, “Look! They are harvesting marshmallows.” 🙂

We decided to stop at Tillamook Creamery. We were here years ago with our nephew and his wife but Kevin wanted a break and wanted ice cream and cheese (separately, of course!). We were lucky that they opened just a few minutes after we got there. Since we had done the tour before we said we could skip it. Went right to the store and bought several kinds of cheese and then got ice cream cones. Delicious and creamy.

We continued on north and came to Astoria. Up and over the Astoria-Megler Bridge. It was built in 1966 and is 4.1 miles across from Oregon to Washington. The main span is 1,232 ft in length, making it the longest “continuous truss” bridge in the nation, according to the website. On the Oregon side, you make a big loop around for the bridge to be tall enough to let cargo ships pass under. Then it drops drastically to just above the water for most of the way. It is surprising to see how wide Columbia River is right here. After the bridge we drove along the river and then north along the ocean (couldn’t see it) to Thousand Trails Long Beach Campground. We got set up and took off.

I really wanted to go to Cape Disappointment. The history fascinates me: English Captain John Meares, in 1788, couldn’t find a river and thought the Columbia River was a bay of the ocean. He was disappointed and that is the name he gave the headland. 🙂 The campground is just a few miles away and we went to the lighthouse first. A sign said, “One Cape, Two Lights. North Head Lighthouse was built in 1898 to guide ships approaching the Columbia River from the north. Shipping traffic from this direction had increased as trade routes from Puget Sound and the Northwest coast emerged. Nearby Cape Disappointment Lighthouse – established 42 years earlier – was not visible soon enough to provide adequate warning for captains navigating the notoriously fierce currents of the Columbia. Shifting sandbars, violent storms and treacherous waters results in hundreds of shipwrecks and lives lost. Mariners referred to this area as the Graveyard of the Pacific. Cape Disappointment is the only location on the west coast with two lighthouses within two miles of each other.” The lighthouse is on a steep cliff. It looks like you can pay to go to the top but we know what inside looks like so we just walked around. The wind was very strong and cold. The sun peaked out for 2 seconds and I was happy to get neat photos of the lighthouse.

Next we drove the 2 mile short drive, through the trees (can’t see the ocean or river) to Cape Disappointment and Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. Now, the sign at the last place said Lighthouse Keepers Loop Trail was 0.5 miles (loop), rated easy, and fully paved. I thought that was the sign for Cape Disappointment Trail. We started on the path that wasn’t paved but didn’t think anything of it. Up and down over tree roots. What turned out to be 1/2 way there, I pulled out the picture of the sign/map/info I had taken (had the info about the trail above.) NOW I see I had them mixed up!!! Cape Disappointment Trail is 0.9 miles (one way), rated challenging, gravel and dirt and average grade of 13%. HAHAHA Well, we are 1/2 way there so we kept going. Glad we did. This lighthouse looks old and hasn’t been recently updated. It is a shorter lighthouse. Both lighthouses are still used, with electric light. The view really shows how big the mouth of the river is.

Back we walked to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. Along the way I snapped some pictures of Kevin *inside* a tree. It was that big. We bought our tickets to the museum and wow, we were impressed. They had pictures and quotes of Lewis & Clark and others on the Corps of Discovery. Meriwether Lewis had to think, plan, and shop for 30-50 men, enough for 2-3 years, and everything they would need. Can you imagine?! He got clothing, weapons, food, trade goods, tools, scientific instruments, books, maps, paper, ink, linen, candle molds and wicks, cooking equipment, medical supplies, fishhooks, tomahawks and a keelboat. It took him nearly 3 months. At the Great Fall of the Missouri River, they set up the untested iron-framed boat named Experiment. The men worked for days to assemble it, covering it with hides, and adding tallow to caulk the seams. As they launched it, Lewis said, “she lay like a perfect cork on the water.” Then the water poured in around the stitching. “I therefore relinquished all further hope of my favorite boat and ordered her to be sunk in the water.” 😃 😃

Learning all this has gotten us very excited to one day travel along the route of Lewis & Clark. We have talked about it before and it is on our list to do; and now we are more excited for it. I saw up close of a lens from the lighthouse; I didn’t realize it was pieces of glass. I thought it was all one piece but formed to be the slats. Neat to see what it really is.

We went outside and learned about Fort Canby. The US Army constructed Fort Canby along with Fort Columbia and Fort Stevens, along the entrance of the Columbia River. US troops manned the forts from the mid-19th century until the end of World War 2. It was neat to walk through and on top of some of the old fort.

We really enjoyed our day and one night in Washington.

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.