September on the Oregon Coast

The next several entries of this blog detail a recent trip my husband and I took along the Oregon Coast.  Though my intent upon return was to write a comprehensive travel guide I forgot a very important detail that might prevent me from doing this:  my failing memory.  I believed the photos, the guide book, notes I took at the restaurants, and judicious use of Google would provide all the prompting I would need to recall everything we did.   This doesn’t appear to be true, but I will do my best to inform and entertain with what I have and hope that as I have found in the past, things will come to me as I write.  

As for a comprehensive guide, I highly recommend a publication by Moon Handbooks that I picked up at Mosaic Books in Kelowna - Coastal Oregon by W.C. McRae and Judy Jewell.  I purchased it a few weeks before we left and it helped us with some early planning.  Once on the road it was our bible, providing excellent and accurate information on what we should see, where we should eat and even recommending  where and when to go for the best sunrise and sunset photos. Though it would take several weeks to do everything recommended in the book, it really helped us decide on the things we definitely wanted to do and the things we’d do if we had time - so useful if you are visiting someplace you know nothing about.

The other thing I highly recommend is to buy or borrow a GPS system, despite the fact that they are known to make the occasional mistake.  We borrowed “Magellan” from a friend and though I wouldn’t necessarily call it a marriage saver, it preempted a number of incendiary comments about poor driving and navigation skills.  Neither my husband nor I will ever win an award for patience, and in those few instances of error, Magellan allowed us the much healthier alternative of yelling at an inanimate object, rather than each other.  

If you are under the age of 10 or over the age of 40 another good thing to know about driving the Oregon Coast is that there are bathrooms a-plenty!  I’m with Martin Short who says “The only time I don’t have to pee is when I’m peeing.”   So have no fear there are public restrooms pretty much everywhere you go; at every rest stop, every State Park and sometimes when you ask nicely, at the out of the way gallery you discovered.  Even though they didn’t have a washroom, The Lookout Gift Shop at Cape Foul Weather thoughtfully provided a hand drawn map that showed the location of the nearest restrooms, both north and south of the cape. 

I look forward to seeing you visit here over the next few weeks as I share photos, stories, restaurant reviews and suggestions for a wonderful drive along Highway 101 in Oregon, U.S.A.  Stay tuned for the next post which will cover Chuckanut drive, the wreck of the Peter Iredale and the quaint little town of Seaside.