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Another day, another boring old run along the beach with a stick! Here, we had stopped at the magnificent Cape Perpetua to view the tidepools at Neptune Beach:
A bit further south, north of Florence, was the magnificent Heceta Head Lighthouse. Even though it was pouring rain at the time, I wasn't about to pass it up! As a was photographing, I kept hearing barking sounds. It was the sounds of sea lions relaxing on the beach beneath the lookout point I was at. There are some caves along the coast here that they like to hang out in (there's even a tourist attraction that's built an elevator down into one of the cliffs so that you can observe the sea lions inside the cave).
My stop in Florence was just for lunch, but it was another place I would have loved to spend more time at. Just south of town were miles of sand dunes along the oceanfront-- hard to see in the pouring rain, but they were there!
My base camp for the southern coast was Bandon, and it was my favorite beach town in Oregon. The first evening sunset there continued to be a wash out, so I took some shots of the storm clouds over their lighthouse instead. The next night turned out to be better, with the sun finally coming out between the clouds before it set. Also interesting along the beach north of Bandon were some wild yellow lupines--
I'd seen purple lupines in the wild before, but not yellow ones!
South of Bandon, was the quiet little town of Port Orford with spectacular large surf hitting it's beach.
From Port Orford to the California border, the Oregon coastline becomes much larger and more wild. Going north to south seemed the perfect way to experience the Oregon coast, saving the best parts of it for last.
Ah sweet happiness! After a few brief swims in the Sound and lakes up in Canada, Millie was finally back to one of her greatest life pleasures of running leash-free along a sunny, sandy Pacific Ocean beach fetching driftwood sticks! This beach was at the town of Seaside, OR which had a bustling downtown shopping/tourist area with a few art deco buildings and a nice boardwalk. 
On our drive over to Cannon Beach from Portland, we stopped at a large "log cabin" restaurant, Camp 18, that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. It turned out to be a pretty interesting place with lots of hand-carved wood, historic logging items, and excellent food! Here's a shot of their front doors (notice the handle made from an old hatchet!): 
The town of Cannon Beach was pretty, but seemed a bit on the dull side due to their strict residential zoning restrictions (not even a gas station allowed in town!).
One place we did like though, was Mo's Chowder overlooking the beach just south of Cannon rock. The beach was the perfect spot to photograph the next night when the sun peeked out from beneath the clouds for a few brief moments of our otherwise very cloudy, rainy week along the coast. 
After a few days in Cannon Beach, we started heading south down the coast. Here was the coastline from just north of Manzanita: 
The little beach town of Manzanita was a fun stop. They had some similar "weathered beach cottage" houses like Cannon Beach (this one even had Callas in the front yard!), and the downtown had some cute little shops including a doggie boutique where Millie got a number of interesting new goodies-- a traveling water bottle/dish combo, a frisbee that floats, and a new trendy looking collar and leash set.
The next stop south was the dairy town of Tillamook with it's terrific Tillamook Cheese Factory & Ice Cream Shop. We stopped for a cone and to watch the factory workers "cut the cheese"!
We spent our first full day in Oregon doing the scenic "Mt. Hood Loop" drive that starts in Portland, goes east along the historical Columbia River highway to Hood River, then goes south through the fruit orchards down to Mt. Hood, and then returns west back into Portland.
The day was mainly overcast only a few moments of sun (so no spectacular shots of the Gorge from Vista Point were to be had on this day), so I took a few shots from inside the art deco Vista House instead.
The Columbia River Gorge has 3 roads that follow it from east to west-- a 2-lane highway on the Washington side, I-84 on the Oregon side, and for 30 brief, spectacular miles, the original Columbia River highway (also on the Oregon side). It's narrow twisty road, with stone rails and bridges, travels midway up the bluffs and features stops at a half dozen gorgeous waterfalls. The longest and most spectacular example is Multnomah Falls, with it's stone bridge crossing halfway up the 620-foot falls. Mom and I ate lunch at the beautiful stone lodge at the base of the falls. Afterwards, I set out to take pictures of the Falls--- waiting, waiting, and waiting for other tourists to get off the bridge so I could get my shots!
On our way to Hood River, we stopped in the little town of Cascade Locks and I happened to spot some California poppies on a hillside that were in full bloom. In California, the poppies usually done blooming by early May, so I knew this would likely be the only place I'd see them this late in the year (so out came the photo gear again while Mom and Millie patiently waited in the car)!
Hood River was our next stop, the Windsurfing capital of the West Coast (and where my brother and all his surfing gear are headed to later this summer). You don't see many towns that have windsurfers on their road signs, but Hood River does!
The drive south to Mt. Hood was beautiful with many orchards, our first glimpse of Mt. Hood, and these lupine growing wild along the side of the road:
When we arrived to Mt. Hood, it was completely foggy at the base of the mountain. No chance of seeing the peak unless we drove up to it....so we did! As we got up to the historic Timberline Lodge, at 6000 feet, we finally were above the clouds and able to see some of the peak.
The rest of our week in Portland was cold, overcast, and rainy. I worked during the days from the hotel while Mom explored downtown Portland. We decided to splurge one night to eat at the landmark Jake's Famous Crawfish restaurant. Neither of us tried the crawfish (which actually looked quite amazing), but their desserts were "to die for" and service was superb.We left Portland just before their annual Rose Festival was to start, so decided to take in their city Rose Garden instead--a delightful park!
A bit further south, north of Florence, was the magnificent Heceta Head Lighthouse. Even though it was pouring rain at the time, I wasn't about to pass it up! As a was photographing, I kept hearing barking sounds. It was the sounds of sea lions relaxing on the beach beneath the lookout point I was at. There are some caves along the coast here that they like to hang out in (there's even a tourist attraction that's built an elevator down into one of the cliffs so that you can observe the sea lions inside the cave).
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