Friday

What a fast five days. We packed up, made sure the place was put back together, and headed out for breakfast. Then we did the scenic route out of Pacific City northward to Tierra Del Mar, Netarts and Oceanside. This is a spectacular view of Netarts Spit which separates Netarts Bay from the Pacific Ocean. What a beautiful drive and such a gorgeous, warm day. On days like this, it is very hard to head back home. We went to Cape Mears lighthouse, which is a short little lighthouse that housed a large light. There are nine lighthouses along the Oregon Coast. Several are still operational, but this one isn't any more. Some photos of this lighthouse and other nifty things can be seen here.

We went into Tillamook, only a short drive away and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory, a tourist attraction that has grown and grown. After lunch we traveled from Tillamook to Portland and we noticed a large smoke plume which didn't bode well. If you visit my Flickr set, you will see that plus a couple of passing farms. That smoke turned out to be a new forest fire. Bummer. Another fire, located near Estacada, southeast of Portland, was burning quite vigorously when we left on Monday and all of Portland and surrounding areas for many, many miles was clouded with smoke. Thankfully, that fire is under control.

Thanks for taking this trip with me. It begins on Monday.