Wednesday October 20

Heavy rain very early this morning, but it cleared up by the time we got going. After breakfast at Pig 'n Pancake (Sam didn't like her potato pancakes) we walked up to the Promenade along the ocean. This walkway, built in 1920, runs for a long ways in both directions from Seaside's main square, which has a monument dedicated to Lewis & Clark ; "The End of the Trail".

After exploring the shops of Seaside, we headed south to pick up Rt 26 which will take us to Portland. The fall foliage is spectacular! All yellow, no reds! We arrived at IKEA just at lunch time. It was 3:00 by the time we finished our shopping. We headed on through The Gorge, on historic Rt 30, stopping at Multnomah Falls, and Oneonta Gorge for photo ops. 

Our destination for the day was the historic Columbia Gorge Hotel, featuring the 100 year old, manually operated elevator to the second floor! We had a nice (and very expensive) dinner in the hotel restaurant. Our room features one of those old beds which is so high off the ground you can hardly get into it!

Thursday October 21

Some sun poking through the clouds this morning, making awesome images of  fall colors! The grounds around the hotel are beautiful, including some views of the river below.

Excellent breakfast at a little cafe down the road called "Egg River Cafe". Hood River is a cool town, with some interesting river front development. Lots of breweries. Of course, this town's claim to fame is the summertime "Wind Surfing Capital".

We crossed the river and continued east on Rt.14. Always some great views of the Columbia from this vantage. Next required stop is the beautiful Maryhill Winery. What a view! We always buy a couple of bottles!

Rt 14 ends at the Columbia River crossing at Umatilla. We continued on Rt 395 to  Hermiston where we enjoyed a crappy, disgusting burger at McDonalds. 

The weather today has been great! Mostly sunny. The afternoon temperature reached the mid 70s!

Our final stop today is the famous Geiser Grand Hotel in Baker City. Excellent fish & chips dinner in the hotel dining room.

(Note on Oregon: the state has a state-wide, universal mask mandate. Everybody complies, nobody complains, there are no protests! However, the state case rates don't look very good)

Geiser Grand Dining Room

Friday October 22

Heading home today; its only about 2 hours from Baker City.  We really enjoy the Geiser Grand Hotel! The rooms are large and well equipped. The dining room has an interesting menu. Its a very peaceful place, too!

So our 8 day adventure will come to a close. We drove about 1400 miles and although we didn't go anywhere we hadn't been before, its sometimes good to revisit familiar territory. 

As far as visiting "The Coast", it is my opinion that miles and miles of sandy beaches is boring! I'd much rather be where there are rocks and places for the waves to crash ashore. That said, my favorite place to start is the area around Yachats, particularly the Fireside Motel.