The Oregon Coast

Sep. 3-5, 2003

After finishing the Lewis and Clark trail, we headed back to Portland to visit with a former PhD student of mine, and then went south down the Oregon coast. Along the way we passed by the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, so we stopped to see it.

The dominant display at the museum is the "Spruce Goose", which is reported to be the largest airplane in the world. It has a wingspan of 320 feet and is powered by eight 3,000 horsepower engines. The propellers have a diameter of 17 feet. The press gave it the name of "Spruce Goose", but it is mostly made of birch, not spruce. This one-of-a-kind  plane flew once - in 1947!

Another display, at the opposite end of the technology spectrum, is the SR-71 Blackbird, which can fly as fast as 2,000 mph.

Between Florence and North Bend is the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. There is a lot of sand here!

Sea lions are a common sight on the Oregon coast. They seem to just lay around all day and make an obnoxious honking sound that carries a long way.

The lighthouse at Cape Blanco just north of Port Orford. We camped here for the night and watched a pod of whales offshore behind our campsite. But they were too far away to photograph.