Seaside to Coos Bay

We are so glad to have chosen to travel down the coast on Route 101 rather than the freeway Route 5. The scenery is very beautiful, with the Pacific Ocean on our right and spruce pines forming an arch overhead for some of the way.  There were lush green pastures with contented cows grazing, and an occasional warning of "Elk ahead" or "Tsunami danger zone".  Pockets of fog over the ocean made for great views.

Left Seaside township at 10 am this morning and arrived at Coos Bay at 4pm (still in Oregon).  It was an easy drive.  There were many, many cyclists travelling south, often dangerously close to traffic.  Also many caravans and RVs towing a vehicle behind.  Many parks and camping areas along the way, along with hiking tracks and off-road tracks to explore.

The temperature was 78F today and not a cloud in the sky - a glorious day.  The weather is expected to remain quite warm and dry until we leave the USA.

Whilst searching for somewhere where we could pull off to the right hand side of the road for lunch, we stumbled upon a real "find" - a very busy roadside outlet for fresh seafood and cooked seafood snacks to buy (see photo).  Delicious!  Brian ordered a crab burger, and Judy the highly valued clam chowder. Two customers thought our accent was Texan!

Tomorrow's drive takes us into California and towards San Francisco which is our final driving destination.

The fog seems to stay along the coast most of the day.

Lunch stop. Note the crab cooker in front.  As people ordered their whole crab or lobster, they would drop it in the boiling water, cook it and then into a bag being held by the customer. Not so easy when the rain, wind and sleet arrive, which they claim happens for 9 months of the year starting about now.  A slight exaggeration I think.

It is a beautiful coastline, with miles of sandy beaches and many inlets where locals fish.