Musings

A week into our planned two-month rain-escape odyessy - with our motorhome and "toad" (what
motorhome owners call their towed vehicle)...

Not hard to find rainbows along the very wet northwest coast of Washington as we head 
towards Cape Flattery, the most northwest and wettest point of the contiguous United States.

The promised smoked salmon shack at Neah Bay was missing salmon - the shack was
a SHACK, offering only frozen halibut.  The fishers were hunkering down in port in winter 
storms.  

Camp wood is advertised and readily available along the coastal route. A friend now says he
knows the difference - camp wood smokes and firewood burns.

South of Forks, WA, we detoured into the Hoh Rainforest - a gem we might have dismissed
given our familiarity with BC rain and forest.  Glad we didn't - it's easily accessible and 
magnificent.

Even elk endure the relentless rain.

South to Cape Disappointment State Park just across the bridge from Astoria Oregon -
another gem - a park encompassing a state of the art marine coast guard rescue station
- practicing helicopter rescues when we were there. (That's not a manikin.)

The view from one of the two park lighthouses - a freighter sounding it's horn constantly - 
and no wonder as it is quickly enveloped in dense fog.

Across the bridge to the Maritime Museum in Astoria Oregon. Not "comfortable" with stark
reminders of the immense power of the sea - fortunately balanced by equally compelling
stories of coast guard rescue.  Even given the sophistication of today's knowledge and marine
technology, 600 people require rescue every year at the confluence of the Columbia River
and the Pacific Ocean, the location known to mariners as "The Graveyard of the Pacific".

And a tsunami story ...

We traveled this coast 49 years ago - blissfully unaware of tidal waves.  Today US 101 travels 
in and out of tsunami safety zones with every passing mile, and awareness of escape to higher
ground tempers pure coastal exhilaration (or at least it does for me more and more as I age, 
and having lived in Japan, the earthquake epicentre).

Cannon Beach - famous for Haystack Rock, a Pacific monolith.  

Impressive, but more captivating was the art scene - amazing unpretentious galleries deserve
Cannon Beach's reputation as the "Carmel of Oregon".  Photographs (with permission) taken 
at Bronze Coast Gallery 
http://www.bronzecoastgallery.com

The Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport offers a close-up view of what we miss as we gaze
from above at this amazing coast.

Not sure what's around the next corner - stay tuned.