Free Range Friday. Or. From Arcata to...someplace on the Oregon coast

Fair warning ~ There are food bits, but you'll have to find them!

While Elijah was heading south, I was sitting in the park/cafe/bar/park waiting for my friend to arrive from San Francisco. I can only say, sitting in a park with people that all appeared to be the age of my children, I didn't quite blend in with the students/street folk/wandering travelers. Or maybe I did.

Mr. Big. What a great dog!

Flowers in the park

Palm trees in the North

Will William McKinley

September 12th - I like it that the flags are still at half mast

I can't imagine surfing in these cold waters, but people do. A lot. Crazy surfers!

Yes, one more trash bin. How can I resist? Yes, those really are tiles, not contact paper.

And then it was hit the road time. We decided to go up the coast until we got to Newport, Oregon and that is what we did.

The elk were there en masse or en herd. Sadly, I couldn't get a good shot of the head honcho, who sported a magnificent set of antlers. As we watched, they began to bed down for the evening.
It was time to get back on the road.

A wonderful carving on the docks of Crescent City. The whole marina was destroyed by a tsunami in March last year, and to look around, you'd never know anything but a bit of work was going on. Commerical fishing is big here and they got back to work quickly. We got a seafood dinner to be supportive, of course, because that's just how we roll.

For most of the early part of the day we kept seeing these wonderful vintage cars. I'm not sure where the car show or rally was, or even if that is why there were so many around but there they were, popping up at cruising speed, looking fine.

We were pretty certain Clive Cussler would be in one of these cars. There was another one very much like this one in royal blue, but we never got close enough to yell, HEY CLIVE! This was heading down a fairly remote road, another random moment of old cool.

We drove alongside the Rogue River for awhile on a little side jaunt. The current here was pretty intense and as we stood there, two marine patrols came by, whipping through the turns with the flair of long running of this water. It was very cool to watch. 

A little one lane bridge that went to the other side of the river. I love the bridges of Oregon, and am only sorry I didn't get more photos. Apparently, one man, Conde Balcom McCullough, was the man behind the coastal bridges of Oregon and did it in two years. Yes. Two years. You can read more about him here and it's well worth a read if you have any bridge passion at all.
There are also a lot of photos of his bridges. Enjoy.

After heading down a trail to try to get to the water and then realizing it was a long way down which means a longer way up, we headed back to the parking area, which was already a few miles into the woods. One of the cooler camp grounds...again. But this spot was on our way out. There was a lake and a cabin / barn sort of thing so we went to check it out. What caught my eye though, was this. A ring that looked like something you'd train circus dogs in. Which led me to believe this was the secret hide out of circus people for the winter. Very secret. So secret I can't tell you where it is. Sorry. 

I can't quite tell you where this is either but not because it is secret. I know it is before Newport, Oregon though. And if you pull over, climb over a hill and go down a path, you can see it too.
Or just look at this.

This was one of the most unique things I saw. Appreciate that I like big machines and boats and people who know how to run both very well. This place is down another little road that looked worth investigating. The winch thing had already pulled out one boat so I ran to get my cam phone, which was almost out of juice, but in time and with enough to catch this series.  I started with this one because I was afraid it would all be done before I got back over there. It wasn't.

They had already pulled the boat clear of the water in the minute or two it took me to get to the jeep and back.

Up and over. 

Down and away. There are two of these lifts. I only saw this one in operation and I was very impressed. Simple, easy, cool. In a high wind I can imagine it could get pretty interesting.
But this day, it was just very awesome.

This is the restaurant, tackle store, museum, little market in the boat yard.
Oyster shooters a buck 95 and oh my good.
Port Orford, Oregon, the oldest town on the Oregon coast.
Funny name, great little town.

Before we got to Newport, where the sunset was clear as a bell and setting UNDER THE ARCH OF THE BRIDGE!!!!!, before we had a great dinner at Mo's before the Jeep decided to die on the road around 11 p.m. and we got a great tow truck guy to bring us to Corvalis...uh, yeah, before that,this was the foggy setting sun as we were on the road. And then the battery was dead.

This is a web photo of the Yaquina Bay bridge into Newport, OR credit unknown 

This is a photo of Mo's from the website. The claim to fabulous clam chowder is justified. If you are ever in Newport, Oregon, check out Mo's. Homemade mashed potatoes, perfectly cooked green beans, delicate fish treated delicately...I give it a high five, with the history being one that makes me grin. I think I'd have liked Mo a lot. You probably would too.

So here we are in Corvalis, waiting for Mr. Firestone to do what must be done and hoping to get to Portland where my daughter patiently awaits me. Now it's time to check out what is here to see. The tow truck driver told us some interesting stuff, like, most of the famous inventors in the US live in or were from Corvalis. Like the millionaire population. Like 35% of the student population at the college are from either China, Japan or the Middle East being the biggest foreign cultures...studying agriculture. Apparently the CIA also recruits quite a few students from OSU as well. So I want to get out and play Identify the Recruiters. Winner gets a new pair of binoculars. Not really.

The driver also told us about his heart attack five years ago that took 13 jolts to bring him back to life, 6 of which he was awake for, sort of awake, sort of dead. Hard to believe this 60 year old hardbody was really someone who had made it back from the dead...what a great guy. Long may you roll, Ric, from Charlie's Towing (if you are ever stuck on the road around here, call Charlie's!).

Have a figure it out Friday. Do something friendly.