Ft. Stevens State Park, near Astoria, OR:  Left this morning early—for us anyway—and headed south on the 101 to see the Oregon coast that we missed when we headed inland to Portland a couple of weeks ago.  Started out under cloudy skies, but it cleared pretty quickly to reveal a pretty blue sky.  Stopped at what is now Ecola Beach where Capt. Lewis and some of his party (including Sacajawea) traveled down the beach from Ft. Clatsop to obtain some whale blubber from a dead whale that washed up on shore.  When they got there, only a skeleton was left, but they bought 300 lbs. of blubber and some whale oil from the Indians.  This would be a welcome addition to their meager diet of mostly elk and fish.  We also stopped in the cute little town of Seaside to see the salt works that members of the Lewis and Clark party built and used to make salt.  Had lunch at a little place on the bayocean peninsula where a river (don’t remember which one) meets the Pacific.  Came back and stopped at Ft. Stevens which was used from the Civil War through WWII.  It was decommissioned in 1947 and ceded to the state and became Ft. Stevens SP.  Back to our site and relaxed.  Our last day in Oregon.  Tomorrow we leave for a National Forest campground between Mr. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens in Washington.  If all goes well, we’ll be there for 9 days.  No hook-ups.  67 today.

Surfers out there doing their thing.  Air temperature was 61.  Water temps probably in the 50s.  Brrrrr!

I read somewhere that these huge rocks are what used to be headlands.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.  This is located 1.2 miles off Tillamook Head south of Seaside.  It has a 62-foot high tower and stands 135 feet above sea level on a basalt rock islet.  Its exposure to fierce storm waves gave rise to its nickname, "Terrible Tilly".  We've now seen every lighthouse on the Oregon coast.

This stretch of the 101 which rises high above the Pacific has the most extensive rock work of the whole highway.  It's basically holding up the road.  

Salt works--just off the beach in what is now Seaside.  Some members of the Lewis & Clark party camped here from January 2, 1806, to February 17, 1806, and made salt.

Me and Sacajawea
Picture by Mike