We left about 7am this morning & got the train to the airport. Luckily it wasn't very crowded & somehow we managed with all our additional bags & massive chicken box ( a much cooler chicken that the one you ditched, Jen!). When we arrived at Alamo, the lady recommended we upgrade our car. We had a small 4WD booked & she said that considering the weather we have had & the area we are covering, she thought a larger car would be better. She also said we should consider an all WD as it would automatically adjust to the conditions. We agreed to do that & went out & picked the smaller version. We couldn't even fit our bags in the boot so we had to get a massive car. It is a 2014 Chevrolet Traverse with every bit of technology possible.
We headed west for Tillamook which is on the Oregon coast. It took about 1.5hrs to get there through the Tillamook State Forest which was lovely. For a while a river flowed along side the road. We saw a man standing in the water fishing. He was wearing the waterproof pants & braces but the water must have been cold. There was still snow lying round in parts and icicles hanging off the rocks. Once we hit Tillamook we headed south.
It started off overcast & then we got some rain. The worst part was the fog. At times visibility was very poor. For the first 45mins or so after Tillamook we couldn't see the coast and we went up & down fir tree covered mountains. But then the ocean appeared. It was absolutely beautiful when we could see it. At times it was so foggy we couldn't see anything but grey. At times the coastline was similar to the Great Ocean Road with huge rocky outcrops in the water. It was very pretty having the forest on one side & the ocean on the other.
We passed through lots of towns, some tiny & some larger that would be booming in the summer months. There were lots of seafood places & resorts.
We also passed the Oregon sand dunes. They seemed to go forever & there were lots of signs for dunebuggys & sandslides. We didn't have time to stop though.
The trip could take hours if you stopped at every photo opportunity. The scenery was stunning. I'm glad we decided to come this way instead of just taking the interstate even though it added about 4hrs to the drive.
It isn't just Portland that like bridges. We passed over so many today. Beautiful ornate works of art in the middle of nowhere.
We had stopped earlier for a hot chocolate but were starving by 2pm. It is sometimes hard to find something to eat in the little towns when you aren't familiar with the names of places. We eventually saw an A&W burger place. We had seen that name in Canada so we stopped. What a funny place. We parked & went inside but you can pull up to an individual menu board, order your food & then someone brings it out on a tray which gets hung over your window. How Happy Days! How inconvenient to have your window down when it is cold outside.
We had to eventually get on the interstate to head east to Ashland. It isn't nearly as pretty but you can travel faster. We still climbed up & down some mountains & I was surprised by the amount of snow & ice still lying around. Some fields were completely covered. The temperature went up & down a bit but we had a high if 52 which is 11 degrees Celsius. We haven't had it that high for a while.
We stopped for petrol just after we took the Ashland turnoff & there was a huge amount of ice on the ground. It was also freezing.
I think there is more snow & ice lying around Ashland than there was in Leavenworth. The Main Street is covered & it is piled up on the footpaths. Our hotel seems to be quite fancy but their parking area is an outdoor slope behind the hotel. I was very thankful for the all wheel drive car after seeing other cars slipping & spinning their wheels in the car park. It was very slippery making our way down the slope to the hotel with our bags.
When we went out for dinner we had to hang on to each other or shop fronts so we didn't slip. The footpath slopes down a small hill which makes it a bit precarious. I wonder why they don't do more to clear the ice. We saw one lady slip over & there were lots of elderly people around too. Hopefully it won't be as bad tomorrow when we want to explore the town.