More of the West Coast Trip

Day 6- October 8

Our first stop on this Saturday was to walk through Old Downtown Florence and to take pictures of the Siuslaw Bridge which Mike and I had seen on our mission.











Because we knew that our time on Sunday would be limited and we had time today we went north of Florence and first visited Darlingtonia State Park.  It is just off the highway but somehow we missed it and drove quite a while before we returned and found it.  It is a small marsh filed with Darlingtonia which is an insect-eating plant something like a Venus fly trap.

Next we drove up to the spot where we could see the Heceta Head Lighthouse and none of us felt like the walk so we took pictures and headed back to Eugene.  

Day 7 October 9

Our hotel in Eugene was the worst of the trip and the most expensive but the cheapest one with any rating at all in Eugene.  There was a B & B in Veneta with a shared bathroom and cats and dogs so we took Rodeway Inn closer to OU Campus.  The room was so small that you stubbed you toe on the nightstand if not careful going to the bathroom, There was a free-standing sink with no place to put makeup or a curling iron but that didn't matter too much since there was no plug for the curling iron unless you unplugged their blow-dryer.  

We were scheduled to go to dinner with a young couple that joined/became active while we were there and a couple that we had worked with.  Sadly the second couple were not able to join us.  We went to a Chinese place that was full of Chinese people but the food was so hot that I couldn't eat my dish and it was not listed as a hot dish.  During that night I started having diarrhea and vomiting and figured that it was from the food that I had eaten.  

This is were the second tender mercy took place (for me but possibly not for the Ward members as I will later explain.)  After a horrible night I felt good enough to go to church in Veneta Ward and see so many of the people there that we grew to love on our mission.  I was totally exhausted so we left after the first meeting and headed north to Yachats.

We made it to the visitors center at Cape Perpetua but I ran for the restrooms and we called the hotel and asked if we could check into our room.  I spent another sick night but again was blessed to be able to get up and feel good enough to travel the next morning.  

Our hotel there was called Deane's Oceanfront Lodge and it truly was  oceanfront.  We had a back door on our room with a covered porch and then a grassy field that led to a staircase down to the beach. 

Day 8 - October 10

 After another sick night I felt pretty good.  We got to walk it on Monday morning.

 This was the ocean just as the sun began to shine.

We headed on up the road and skipped some things because we wanted to see Tillamook, Fort Clatsop and Ecola State Park. 

The first stop that I have pictures of is the Tillamook Air Museum.  Mike really wanted to see it the last time we were there and there wasn't time.  We had heard that it was closed and it is true that some of the planes were moved to another museum but it was well worth the stop.

 The Tillamook Navel Air Station was built in 1942 and was one of 17 of these hangers across the USA.  It was a blimp hanger that built and housed K-ships which were 252 feet long and 80 feet diameter.  The first hanger burned to the ground and this one was built in only 27 working days.  It is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world.  It now houses a variety of airplanes and helicopters and a part of it is rented out to a business now.  The building itself is what truly amazed me.

This inside picture has a little blimp but shows the wood framing that is so remarkable.

Outside this huge aircraft is available to walk in and tour.   Mike went in while I took some outside pictures.  I have made copies of two of the pictures.  Both the front and back of the plane are on hinges so that it can be opened up and huge things can be put in and hauled.

Of course after we left the Air Museum we moved on to the cheese factory in Tillamook.

Next we headed to Ecola State Park.  It was beautiful and deserved more time than we had.

 

We really wanted to get to Fort Clatsop (Lewis and Clakr's 1805 winter encampment) before it closed at 5 PM.  Because the sun blocked our view and other problems we drove past it and then kept driving on wrong roads rather than returning to the road that it was on.  We finally returned to the spot and saw the the fort even though there was not time for the movie or much of the museum.

We left Oregon and headed across the impressive bridge to Long Beach, Washington

We just drove down to the beach which has a .4 mile wooden walkway and then went to dinner.  Mike started getting sick that night and threw up many times.  The tender mercy was that he was okay to go again the next morning although feeling less than great.  (At this point we realized that it was not my Chinese dinner that made me sick and I wondered how many of my germs I had shared with Veneta Ward members.)