from Portland to Arcata

I’ve been remiss about sharing our journeys with you, fair reader. So let me try to catch you up to date.

We left Portland the morning of Wednesday October 12. That morning we packed the car, did some final housecleaning of our basement apartment, got our deposit check from the landlord, ate lunch, and then headed south toward Eugene. We found that more stuff had entered our lives than we thought, and so squeezing it all into the Prius was a frustrating chore; I promised to get rid of some things once we arrived in Arcata.

It’s not a long drive to Eugene, and we arrived mid-afternoon. The first stop was Voodoo Doughnut, where I interviewed a roller derby skater who works there. Then we checked into our motel. Beth stayed in the room to get some work done, while I went to junior derby practice to get some shots of the aforementioned skater coaching the next generation.

The next day, we headed west to Florence, a crossroads town on the coast, and then we turned south. It was great seeing the Oregon coast.

We traveled through pine forests growing on top of sand dunes, and then stopped to see the Umpqua Lighthouse. Later, we drove out to Cape Arago, where we saw beautiful rocks covered with sea life. There were two kinds of sea lions, harbor seals, gulls, pelicans, and cormorants.

We then continued south over the eerily-named 7 Devils Road, which eventually led back to Highway 101. We stopped at a couple more scenic areas along the way, eventually arriving in the town of Gold Beach after dark.

We checked into our hotel on the beach. It was nice, and we especially enjoyed soaking in the hot tub to melt out the kinks of many hours in the car. The next morning, we had some continental breakfast at the hotel and then walked on the beach for a while.

After that, it was back in the car for more driving down the Oregon Coast Highway. Beth had a work deadline, so I dropped her off at the Chetco Library to finish her editing job, while I drove around looking for a barber shop to get trimmed up. Later that afternoon, we regrouped and hit the road again. We continued south on Highway 101 to Arcata, where we met our landlady and unpacked the car.

That signaled the start of our three-week stay “behind the Redwood Curtain” where we are right now. More on that later.