Last updated: 29 Apr 26 01:27:38 (UTC)
To Oregon We Went! - Week 1
4/07/2025
Today is 1 year after we pushed off from California to drive north. It was an unforgettable experience to spend a few months consistently surrounded by gorgeous nature. I have thousands of photos that I’ve never shared. I think I’m going to try to start posting a photo from each day of that adventure to the topic tag above: To Oregon We Went!
South Fork Eel River near Leggett, CA
4/08/2025
Returning to Lincoln City, OR last year, was almost like returning to a familiar hometown. Though I’ve never lived there, I almost moved there after spending 3 weeks in the region with a friend. I had a job offer, but making the leap didn’t feel right at that moment. On this trip last year, a couple days were spent here before pushing farther north. The sunsets at this beach never miss.
Lincoln City, OR
4/09/2025
The thing about Oregon coast: there’s no way to take only one photo in the entire day.
This day last year, we pushed off from Lincoln City. We drove by Neahkahnie Beach (more about that later) and landed at Ft. Stevens for Jason to begin his journey hiking the coastline, back in the direction we came from.
Lincoln City, OR
Looking south over Neahkahnie and Manzanita beaches
Peter Iredale wreckage at Ft. Stevens
4/10/2025
Well, I goofed the timeline a bit. We pushed off from Lincoln City April 10th and I accidentally posted those shots yesterday… Oops! So here’s the one for April 9th, while still in Lincoln City. If you need a good hotel recommendation in that area, Surftides was very enjoyable.
Lincoln City, OR
4/11/2025
This day last year was a rest day for Jason, so he joined at my airBNB in Seaside. I gathered trimmings to food prep for camping and made a home cooked dinner, tacos & beer!
THIS is the 1st day I tasted Pelican Brewing, and it was delicious! Prior to finding this pack at Grocery Outlet, I had only name familiarity from seeing billboards while driving through Oregon. I had no idea it would be come one of my top 5 favorite brewers AND lend such wonderful memories on the trip to come.
4/12/2025
Ecola State Park day - It’s the location of Indian Beach, filming location for many popular films from my youth, but the forest was the highlight! Trees grow where and how they want, while ocean fills the void behind them.
Variety includes spindly ones, blanketed with moss and lace lichen.
There are wildflowers among the fern, and we were just in time for the elusive Trillium.
Along Tillamook Lighthouse trail, there are a batch of hiker huts with mini rooftop ecosystems. So much forest magic!
Tillamook Lighthouse
4/13/2025
(discovering things are not as they appear)
For years, those rocks in the horizon from Cape Lookout have looked like 2 kissing brontosaurs (and always will).
But on this day, a drive around Netarts bay revealed 3 individual arched rocks, named Storm, Finley and Shag. (more to come about the varying of color in the bay)
Driving Cape Lookout Rd through Sand Lake Rec area, I drove out of the forest, down a dune the size of a mountain, to a landscape resembling high desert, ON THE COAST!