Short drive today! At least by roadtrip standards. Your perspective gets a little warped after going 6 hours or more on most days. We only had a little of the Oregon coast left, and the coast for Washington would be pretty short for us, since we wouldn't be going around the Olympic peninsula. Too much added time!

We went around the cape that was outside of Tillamook, Cape Meares, and went to a small state park there. We were the only ones there, not even any staff. We went and saw the Octopus tree, a huge sitka spruce that had one big base, and many arms branching out. Obviously a very, very old tree. We also checked out the laughably small lighthouse on the point, just a small building with a light slapped on top of it. There were some cool rock formations to the south, it looked like each one was an arch, or at least had a hole worn through it by the sea. Be neat to see them froma boat! The drive to Tillamook was interesting, definitely the least traveled spot on our trip, judging by the state of the roads. But since I grew up in a rural area, it's not as if I've never seen roads like that.

One of the last places before you hit in Oregon before you leave is Cannon Beach, a pretty cool little locale. Reminded us of Morro Bay with its little shops. Even a shop called Dena's shop! Though not much cool stuff inside there. We went to Ecola state park, right outside of town. We almost laughed at the entrance to this place. It makes you think the gate is right there, but you end up going through about 3-4 miles of VERY curvy wooded roads. The gate wasn't actually manned, but we were good and paid the automatic machine the $3 to enter. The park itself was very pretty, if small. You had one main vista point (we didn't go to the other, since it seemed to go away from the coast), where you could see the rocky coast in either direction. Way out in the distance there was a lighthouse that was on a small rocky island! Probably 2 or 3 miles out to sea!

Astoria is the last city before Washington, which is most notable for the bridge. It's very long and tall, but it really caught our attention since it was very plain. Most all of the other Oregon coastal bridges had a very art deco feel to them, or even Egyptian, with concrete obelisks. Wonder what the story is there? Across the Columbia river, things were much the same, but we soon turned inland, getting a few last glimpses of the Pacific before it was gone for good! We'd see Puget sound in Seattle, but it's just not the same!

The last bit of the drive was pretty easy, since we finally got back onto the interstate. It was cool to do the entire west coast on 1 and 101, but the interstate was nice to see again, as was the extra speed you gained. The roadsigns in Washington are slightly deceptive, or at least they seemed to be to me and Dena. You think it's pointing to one road, but it really means the one after. Sly! Coming into Seattle we wanted exit 165, which first we assumed would be on the right, but then looked like it was on the left, and then it finally turned out it was in the lane NEXT to the left lane. Tricky! Seattle itself was pretty cool, certainly the tallest buildings we'd seen in a while, since San Francisco didn't go too high.

We had dinner at a Red Robin with a friend of mine off of the Pearl drummers forum, Eric. He brought a friend along and we had a good time talking about the places we had all been, and different roadtrips that had been taken. He and his band were playing a show that evening, but Dena and I were just too tired to stay out late. It was good to hang out in the time we had though. Very cool guy to meet in person!

We wrapped up the evening with some more Discovery channel, we like the show Cash Cab as well as Mythbusters. Tomorrow we get to see more of Seattle!

We headed off today for Seattle. Before doing anything we went back to Rachel's Family Dining for breakfast. I had a nummy omelet. From Rachel's we head off! More of the same during this drive. More water, more coast, and more small towns. The fishing communities around Oregon are quaint and inviting. These are towns where it would be idealic to raise children or retire to.

While driving we took a stop to see a place with what was called Octopus Tree. Friggin huge tree! That's what this was. It reminded me of Earnest Scared Stupid with its freakiness. We also stopped someplace where there were tiny shops. Another tourist trap I am sure considering how junky yet interestingly artistic everything was. There was even a store named 'Dena's'. We went to a park too at this location. The road to the entrance of this place was horridly curvy. Long too! Surprisingly so. Once we got into the park we took many pictures. There was a field trip going on apparently and we saw that all the kids were heading back to the bus. Frantic we both ran back to the car, but I had to stop and walk because of the incline. I managed to run again when I heard the engine of the bus start making it in time to get ahead of the bus. However, Keith managed to take a wrong turn and the bus was right there! Hurriedly we spun outa there fast just so the bus wouldn't be ahead of us on the long curvy road or else we would never get out of the park!

After yet more driving we finally make it into Seattle. Yet another cleaner city than Richmond. What the heck is this about? We didn't do too much when we got into the hotel. We sat about for a while before hooking up with a friend of Keiths' from the forum he's on. Nice guy! He also brought a friend along who seemed equally cool. After dinner we head back to the hotel and call it a night. Whew!