July 16, 2013 - Tuesday

Today we left the KOA around 7:30 and drove to old 30 in order to see some of the water falls along that route and the Vista House which is about 700 feet above the Columbia River. A millionaire in the early 1900s decided to construct this part of 30 so people could enjoy the beauty of the Columbia River. We drove by Horse Tail Falls and Multnomah Falls. Multnomah is the second highest full-year waterfall in the United States(620 feet high)(keep reading below...I'm not sure what happened to the pictures in this post and I don't have Emma Kaveney here to help me figure it out)!

. There was a beautiful gift shop and restaurant built in the early 1900s, too. The water falls were stunning. We continued to ascend up the road to The Vista House. This house has great views of The Columbia River. The view is unexplainable, but the pictures give you a pretty good idea. We did not get to go inside the Vista House because it doesn't open until 9 AM and we got there a little early.

We traveled along 84 for a little while longer, eventually getting to 101 to travel down the coast and into California. Chris and I stopped for lunch at this 60s themed restaurant; it was yummy. I forgot to pack some kitchen essentials, so we picked them up at the Dollar General. We didn't want to spend too much time, so we continued on our way. Beside stopping for gas, we only made one more stop, and that was for coffee!

Taking 101 added a couple extra hours to our trip. It was worth seeing some of the Redwoods and the Pacific Ocean, but we were in the car for about 12 hours today(stops included). The coast was beautiful. We were shocked when the temperature hovered around 56-58 the rest of the afternoon/evening. I found out that the Gold Coast(Oregon) town's temperature does not drop below 40(even in the winter). Winter is their rainy season. It rains for about 130 days out of the year and the temperature doesn't rise too much above the 60s. Chris and I agreed, although it may be named the Gold Coast, we could not live here full-time. The weather is too cold and dreary year round without true summer heat. The Pacific Ocean looked bone-chillingly cold...everyone on the beaches had sweatshirts and long pants on.

The Redwoods, from what we saw, looked enormous. We were most impressed by the size of the trunk and not how tall they were. The trunks were several feet around. We will be traveling to Humboldt State Park where Avenue of the Giants is tomorrow. Tonight we are staying in Eureka, California at the KOA.