We Went Two for Three on the Three Capes Scenic Loop

In Tillamook we picked up the Three Capes Scenic Loop Drive. Cape Meares proved interesting, with the three arches rocks off shore, the octopus tree, and wildlife volunteers with telescopes trained on nesting Cormorants and Common Murres. Then… we lost the loop somehow, and ended up back in Tillamook. We found the end of the loop some miles down Route 101, in time to check out Cape Kiwanda. Despite desperate searching for a non-existent sign to tell us why it is billed as Oregon’s most famous promontory (and, for that matter, what a promontory exactly was), we had to settle for walking the beautiful (albeit strewn with pickups), wide, white sand beach, and climbing a huge sand dune. Oh, there was a big rock in the water.

FYI

Not all Starbucks have internet access.

Mmmmm, Cheesy Goodness

Tillamook Cheese Factory did not disappoint. No, indeedy. The displays, the movie telling the history of how the farmers in the 1890s came together to build a ship to send their butter to Portland, and how they expanded that relationship to form the Tillamook brand was fascinating. The view of the factory floor where they make the cheese was amazing even though they don’t do any cheese making on the weekends. Topping it off was a cheese tasting followed by a great, Roadfood-recommended restaurant onsite, with perhaps one of the best breakfasts we’ve had.

The Northwestern Rainforest

Route 6 to Tillamook took us down windy roads, with signs reading “ROCKS”, “SLIDES”, and “ELK” every so often. The foliage was dense and close to the road, which cut along sharply rising (to the left) and falling (to the right) mountainside. Large ferns and moss covered white birch trees intermingled with wild celery. One right turn to explore a campground and we felt like we were back in El Yunque, the Puerto Rican rain forest we’d visited several years ago.

In Which Mr. Murphy Pays a Visit

“One of your flights has been cancelled” read the check-in screen at Bradley, “please see an agent for re-booking.” After only a nerve-wracking half hour, we got seats on a Frontier Airlines plane to Denver, where we’d have about an hour and 45 minutes before taking a US Airways codeshare flight “operated by United Airlines” to Portland, arriving 10 minutes earlier than our original flight.

We had lovely wait (hey, isn’t our flight due to leave … now?) in the holding pen for those “selected by the airline for additional screening.” After a few minutes of being ignored (will our plane leave without us?) our bags were thoroughly inspected, our two bottles of tap water confiscated, and we were on our way.

They say changing carriers is the worst thing for getting your luggage lost. They’re right!

Unsure of our next move (hey, the tent was in the checked luggage, and who knew where we’d be in a day or two), and going with the squeaky wheel concept, we opted for hanging outside the luggage place and checking in every 20 minutes. Finally, John McClaine (read his (fake) nametag, homage to Bruce Willis’s Die Hard character) reached Denver by phone. Short story long, our bags had been spotted after going unclaimed in Denver and rushed onto the next Frontier Airlines flight to Portland, arriving in Portland . . . nearly an hour ago.

Off to provision up at the local Albertson’s. Couldn’t find it. The teenager at the Jack in the Box said all of the Albertson’s in the area had “shut down”. Good of them to keep their website up to date. She directed us to a place called Fred Meyer, which turned out to be pretty close to a Super Wal*Mart, but more manageable and friendlier.

Arriving at the campsite just off Route 6 in Tillamook State Forest, we discovered that the directions for pitching our tent were keeping the nozzle for the air mattress pump company on our coffee table back home. A little McGyver work and we were good for the night.

Infidelity and Cacophony (and we haven’t even left yet)

(Note to parents: While we’ll do our best to make this as G rated as possible, the following post might be closer to PG-13.)

Scott had trouble sleeping the night before the flight and was awake earlier then the 4:50 a.m. alarm. He found himself listening to the soon-to-be familiar sounds of pre-dawn bird calls. His mind drifted back to a “Mr. Know-it-All” column in The Hartford Courant from a few weeks earlier. Apparently, birds are not necessarily loyal partners. They use the pre-dawn hours to, uh, sow their seeds and loudly advertise their availability for an a.m. quickie (literally . . . these hookups can take less than two minutes). Once it gets light enough to see, they begin the work of focusing on breakfast and the noise subsides. History shows us we’ll have trouble sleeping through the avian adventures in the campgrounds out West. Who knew?

A (slightly) better sense of where we're going

As usual, our first stop is at the nearest Wal*Mart to provision up for the road ahead. If we pack our cooler with some cold cuts, bread, and a few other essentials it greatly reduces our food costs. Coupled with $10-$15 a night campsites and we travel pretty inexpensively.

The short version of our itnerary has us landing in Portland, OR, driving to the Tillamook State Forest for our first night out, spending a day or two meandering down the Oregon coast (along the All America Road: Pacific Coast) to the border of CA where we'll turn east. We'll make our way to Crater Lake (along the All America Road: Volcanic Legacy), cross Oregon into Idaho where we'll throw ourselves on the mercy of whoever is fortunate enough to be behind the desk of the Visitor Information Center to figure out the "must do" sites on our way to the Tetons and up to Hell's Canyon (the deepest river gorge in North America). After Hell's Canyon we'll cross into Washington (possibly spending the night at a B&B in Walla Walla . . . that's fun to say . . . B&B in Walla Walla) and make our way to Mount Ranier National Park, North Cascades National Park, explore Seattle a little and Olympic National Park. Then we'll turn back south and return to Portland for our trip home, possibly swinging by Mt. St. Helens along the way (provided Scott can convince Amy it'll be worth it). As usual, it's not enough time, but June 16 - July 3 is all we've got.