Seaside’s Tim Thumb.
I have driven many beautiful coastal areas in my life: The
three coasts of Florida (East, West, Panhandle) and the rest of the Gulf Coast
– virtually the entire Eastern seaboard and the Atlantic Provinces of Canada –
the complete coast of California and the French Riviera – from Cape Town, South
Africa to Knysna, 300 miles of Indian Ocean beachfront – the north shore of
Jamaica and the coast roads of many other Caribbean islands – three of the
Hawaiian islands perimeter coastal roads (Big Island, Oahu, Maui) and the exquisite
coast of Israel from Beersheba to the grotto on the Lebanon border.
View of Seaside’s beach from the coast road.
But I have to admit that the coast of Oregon exceeded
all of them in stark natural beauty, and Patty and I only saw half
of it.
We left Seaside after a brisk late morning walk on the two
mile long promenade that is a paradise for jogging and wide enough to safely accommodate
cyclists. We quickly discovered a
coastal marsh south of Tillamook.
We continued our Oregon mission of driving along a water
feature – ocean, river, lake – for the entire journey and succeeded 90+% of the
time. We’d walked Tillamook
Point (pictured below) the day before and were amazed by the width and
length of an almost pristine beach and the beauty of the Point and the
Necanicum River that flows by it.
Young boy controls his kite,
the closest to capturing the movements of a bird in flight that we’d ever
seen.
We crossed the Route 101 bridge
over the Necanicum and headed for Cannon Beach, one of the most photographed
coastal places in the world. The
numerous large rocks that dot the ocean’s edge for this stretch of coast are a
popular attraction and drew a large crowd the day we visited.
For those desiring to explore Cannon Beach, a map is
provided.
After Cannon Beach’s rocks, our Nissan Rogue chugged up a
hill and beheld a jaw dropping vista.
The drive from Seaside to Newport Beach was roughly 135
miles and took four extremely pleasant hours.
View of
Newport Beach.
Map of Newport – shows
location of Hallmark Resort where we stayed.
Back side of Hallmark Resort
– our room was ground floor, middle of main building.
Main public
space of Newport, the marina.
For Leg #3, we turned eastward at Florence and went to
Eugene.