Contrary to popular belief, the sun does shine in Oregon, although I was beginning to wonder the day before this picture was taken. In the previous blog, “Rain, Rain, Go Away”, we were traveling north on Highway 101 from Newport to Astoria, but we only made it to Seaside. It was clear as a bell that morning in Seaside, and I arrived at the beach just as the sun was rising above the coastal cliffs behind me. I thought this scene showed the opposite end of the Oregon weather spectrum from what we experienced the previous day.
Haystack Rock, located off the coast of Seaside, Oregon and third largest monolith in the world, is an icon of Oregon’s coast. I was very fortunate to be there on a clear day–or anywhere in Oregon on a clear day. But, I can’t say I actually saw Haystack Rock, because it was always surrounded by fog or low lying clouds. I could see its peak, I could see the beach nearby, I could see the ocean beyond it, and I could see the coastal cliffs, but I never got to see the entire structure from waterline to peak. Mother Nature kept it “clothed” in a protective shroud, shielding it from the hordes of photographers that keep coming here, hoping to catch of glimpse of it “bare naked”.
The Columbia River is over 4 miles wide at its mouth, an incredibly large waterway. This shot was actually taken from the Washington side of the river. We crossed the river at Astoria, Oregon (the bridge measured exactly 4 miles long on the car’s odometer), and explored the Lewis & Clark history in the area. Its hard to believe Lewis & Clark’s party crossed the Columbia River in dugout canoes!
Oregon pinot noirs have become world famous, and the heart of Oregon wine country is called the Dundee Hills area, located southwest of Portland. This is obviously not a picture along Oregon’s coast, but we stopped here on the way to the coast. That counts doesn’t it? We were thinking about the coast as we sampled three different pinots on the deck overlooking this scene.
This is a typical scene from that area. I thought the fall colors of the grape leaves were stunning. (“Stunning”? Does that sound like a word a left-brained engineer would use?)
Other photos taken along the Oregon coast are shown below:
Thought for the day: Everyone has a photographic memory, some don’t have film.
Larry's Blog 
I love the first picture, Seaside.
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