GREAT BREAKFAST

 We left Eugene early and headed north on I-5.  After googling for a good breakfast place, we stopped in Salem.  We were a little early, so we stopped at the capitol building first.  They are doing some remodeling or something there.  We walked around the building, stopping to admire some nice Sequoia trees in the gardens. 

We like stopping to visit capitols in the states we visit.  It's odd that we've never been inside Oregon's capitol - someday, I guess, but not today - they weren't open yet.

Then we drove to the 'Word of Mouth Bistro'.  Yelp said they opened at 7am, but when we got there at 7, it was filling up quickly. (Their website says they actually open at 6:45am, ah ha).   Its a great place for breakfast.  They made everything from scratch, including the breads and jam.  They even have a homemade GF bread, which we had and enjoyed. The restaurant is in an old house and full of kitschy stuff, most including little dogs.  There were dog portraits everywhere.  I managed to sketch a few.

We left, heading north through Portland and stopping in Vancouver Washington at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.  We went for a nice walk through the park and out onto the street, went under the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River (loud). Then back along the streets back into the park, which was now open.  I got my NPS Passport stamps and stickers.  Then we walked over to the actual fort.  There are people there portraying carpenters, metal smiths, and fur traders, in garb of the era.  It was fun.

And then it was straight through to home, another 3 hour drive, 165 miles.

Nice trip, if a little bit of a whirlwind.

CRESCENT CITY LIGHT HOUSE

 After dinner we drove over to see the Lighthouse.  I got out my sketchbook and made a quick sketch.  The wind was too cold, so I painted it later, back at the horrible motel.

It's an interesting place.  The lighthouse is out on a little rock, not far from the shore. But, sometimes the tide is in and the road/path out to it is covered in water, as it was when we were there.

ON VACATION

 Darrell and I left early this morning, heading south.  The ultimate goal is Pasadena California.  But, there will be lots to see and do on the way there and back.  Our original plan was to stop at Fort Vancouver on the way down, but since we left so early we decided to pass it by this time, get it on the way back, and head straight to the Oregon Caves, about 460 miles, 7+ hours of driving.

We arrived about 3pm in Cave Junction, stopping at the Visitors Center there in town, then headed up the windy road to the park.  When we go there we walked up to the Visitor Center and got another stamp in my NPS  Passport.  Neither of us was not interested in going into the cave (I'm a bit claustrophobic) so we walked around a bit.  I sat down to sketch the lodge, but discovered I'd left my sketchbook in the pickup.  So, I took a photo and made some notes and sketched the Visitors Center later.

This is the 1924 Chateau, which is closed for now, awaiting funds for much needed repairs and upgrades.  It sits atop the large stream coming down off the mountain side.

The opening for the guided cave walk.m

They let us walk a short way into the cave.  The temperature dropped significantly to about 40 degrees.  Brrr.  

We walked up the hillside on a very nice trail.  Since it was late in the day we didn't go very far and we had a ways to go yet.

So off we went, hoping to make it to Crescent City for the night.  It was another 69 miles, a bit over an hour and a half.  Since it was the beginning of Memorial Weekend the hotel prices were sky-high with most places being pretty well booked up.  We ended up in a horrible hotel called Front Street Motel, right on the main drag.  I now wish we had paid the extra $100 to stay in a nicer place.  This place was scary icky and smelly.  Yuck.

We did manage to find a good Thai restaurant for dinner though, The Kin Khao Thai Eatery.  Good food, very busy, too.