The Oregon Coast

Oregon – Monday, August 26

It was still a damp morning, but I got packed up and headed back to Salem to do a little walking before heading the rest of the way west to the coast. I had to stop for gas, and I finally saw one of the trucks that come to test and examine the gas to make sure it’s accurate while being pumped by the consumers. When we got to Salem, Tula and I started off with a walk on the river trail. After walking about a mile, we headed across the river on a pedestrian bridge that used to be an old train trestle. We made our way down to the water’s edge on the other side of the bridge, and Tula was happy to get in to take another swim. She also made friends with another dog that was swimming, and she was half wolf and half German shepherd, but she was really friendly. We walked along some paths in the woods, then headed back to the car. Salem is Oregon’s capital, and I drove through the city to see it. There was a beautiful state park across the street from the capital, and I walked around the capitol building and around the park. This capitol building looked kind of different from many others that I’ve seen – a bit more austere, but I didn’t see what it looked like inside.

I didn’t make a donation today, because I only have one left for Oregon, and that’s lined up for tomorrow.

As we were driving west, I saw a sign that pointed down a different road which said something about a covered bridge. I drove down to see it and it was a very pretty bridge – I didn’t expect to see any of them in Oregon! Then we finally made it to the coast, where it became drizzly and foggy again. The rocky coastline was still beautiful though, even with the gray clouds and sprinkles. We tried to walk a little in the town of Lincoln Beach, but it was just too wet. So we made our slow way south to Newport, and got out to walk in the historic old fishing town. There were a couple fish processing plants by the water, and it smelled pretty bad! Tula and I walked all through town in the drizzle, and when it started raining a little harder I put her back in the van, and continued on with my umbrella. I found a boardwalk, and really enjoyed walking along that while admiring the boats in the harbor. I could hear a bunch of sea lions, and found a pier where people could look over the edge and watch them. These sea lions were all male, and they return to this area late every August after a trip down to southern California to visit the female sea lions. I walked nearly 4 miles in Newport to finish off the walking for the day, and it was nice to get to the motel I’d made reservations at to get dried off!