Rte 20 coast to coast - CHECK! I literally cannot describe the excitement we were feeling as we watched the mile signs tick off of Rte 20. Our final drive day was about 4 hours long. We left Bend and went through Sisters (while of course passing Sisters Saloon which TOTALLY cracked me up), through Cascade, Sweet Home, Corvallis, Eddyville, Toledo and then we entered Newport, Oregon at 3:56PM.
We arrived at the end of Rte 20 in Newport at 3:59PM (PST) on 8/2/2021 and I was READY with my camera! And I was poised and READY with my camera. You see, sometimes I miss things because I’m not ready with my camera but this time I WAS READY!!! But, alas, there was NO BLEEPIN’ SIGN to have said camera ready for! …????…!!! I made Karl cross over the main road to go onto the beach road as I thought perhaps they posted the signage there as it was obvious from our GPS and map on our truck dashboard that US Rte 20 had, in fact, ended at the juncture of US Rte 101 (The Pacific Coast Scenic Byway). But, alas, we only confirmed that there was no signage and I cursed all things Oregon for not having one. OK to be completely accurate in my reporting, I think I probably said “REALLY????!!!…ARE YOU KIDDING ME??…REALLY??...OMG - REALLY???” a lot more than I used expletives - but there were definitely a bunch of expletives mixed in during my shock and dismay and disappointment.)
Our campground, South Beach State Park, was up a few miles on Rte 101 in - yep, you guessed it...South Beach. As we drove over the bridge into South Beach and I looked out at the ocean, all my angst and disappointment disappeared because this was the Pacific Ocean and all the exclamation point I needed to know that we had, in fact, "done did it"!! It was a beautiful sight and I realized (again) that there is nothing like the ocean and the sounds and smells that it brings.
South Beach State Park was itself QUITE large (i.e., 317 campsites large) and very crowded here in the peak season. However, it was laid out nicely and you were only aware how large it was when you drove through the campground and it took you a while to get to YOUR road. But it was not perched in the middle of a city or anything and was kind of a cool place to end our first leg. As we drove towards the campground and then throughout the campground I kept commenting on all the Tsunami signs showing the emergency exit routes. During our stay I had fun during our family walks working on my acting skills with the Tsumani signs…needles to say I HAD to include a little collage for you here in the pics! But when you look at the collage you must realize how much a saint my hubby is because I was totally cracking myself up and he was a sport for taking "just one more" of my live Oscar-worthy action shots!!!!
The next morning we walked to the beach via a very cool paved trail in the campground. It almost felt like a tunnel in areas as the trees grew over the path and shielded you from the sun - causing a lot of mossy growth on the trees and brush. It was cool (in temp) and “cool” in the amazing Mother Nature experience! Once we arrived at the beach it shocked me that the dunes and entry paths were very similar to those on Cape Cod or the North Shore in Massachusetts. I often comment when we see beautiful scenery or interesting landscapes that if I were transported in time and I woke up on the side of a highway or in a field etc…that I would KNOW for a fact that I was “not in Kansas anymore” (aka Massachusetts or New England…). Well my little hypothesis was wrong here because IF I was transported in time to the dunes on THIS BEACH I would totally think I was in Massachusetts! But when we got to the ocean it was different. First of all, the air was totally misty and windy and COLD in August! AND the water was frigid! I’m used to people asking how we can swim in the water in Maine and I’ve always responded “we’re New Englanders”! But at least in Maine in August the air at the beach is warm and the water has had time to warm up (a bit) through the summer. But in Oregon's Pacific Northwest the ocean it is too cold to swim in without a wetsuit THROUGHOUT the year!! Who knew??!! At least here in Oregon the beaches were nice soft sand and easy to walk on - not to be confused with the (beyond beautiful) rocky beaches of Maine!
Before our arrival in Newport Karl had scheduled another blood donation appointment. As we drove back into town for Karl to give blood we saw a sign for the beginning of Rte 20 EAST and we were beside ourselves! We realized that we had been backwards in our thinking and of course they wouldn’t have an “END” sign like a finish line - but signage for the beginning of the longest continuous highway in the United States!! After high-fiving each other we continued on to Karl’s donation appointment with a plan to return right after and do some MAJOR LEAGUE posing! When we returned I suggested we pull into the Walgreen’s parking lot so that we could get out of the truck and get some good pics. And…to our shock and excitement there was not only a “BEGIN 20” sign but another one as you turned the corner that read “Boston, MA 3,365 MILES” !!!! I was so damn thrilled and then almost immediately disappointed in Boston for not having the same type of sign in Kenmore Square instead of their cheap-ass “END 20”!!! I later learned from an old friend (thanks Todd!) that there IS in fact a similar sign in Boston in Kenmore Square. Upon further research by my hubby, we learned that on December 8, 2016 signs went up on BOTH coasts signifying the beginning and ends of US Rte 20 (Newport, OR & Boston, MA respectively) with the mileage of 3,365 miles! Reportedly, the Boston sign is in "Kenmore Square" but from my personal experience it is NOT located on the corner of Brookline Ave & Commonwealth Ave which is where my sisTER and I located the "END 20" sign when we took Rte 20 from Sudbury into Boston for Opening Day at Fenway Park in April! I am guessing it is just around the corner, but that is research that will have to be saved for another day (perhaps Opening Day 2022)...
We were in the Newport area for a few days. Aside from many a walk on the crazy windy beaches, we also did some sightseeing and bopping around. We checked out the historic Yaquina Bay Lighthouse which, while having been built in 1871, is the only wooden Oregon lighthouse still standing. We also visited the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area which houses the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. We stopped at the Interpretive Center to learn about the area. Despite the fact that the exhibits were temporarily closed we got to speak to one of the Park Rangers about Oregon's tallest lighthouse which stands 93' tall and 162' above sea level. She gave us the option of driving out to the point where the lighthouse was situated or walking the trail out in the windy weather. We decided to tuff it out and take the walk so as to get a few steps for exercise. Well...exercise we got!! We were like cartoon characters fighting the wind and mist as we trudged along the paved path along the edge of the coastal bluff. It made me thankful that I carry a few extra pounds because I swear the wind gusts could've had this 5'10" frame flapping in the breeze like a rag doll! The views were pretty magical but we were a little saddened by the amount of mist and fog as it limited our visibility. We later asked our same friendly Park Ranger if this was a particularly foggy day (in hopes of our being able to return another day for a better view) but she confirmed that this was not a fluke and a pretty regular occurrence. I had a little boo hoo moment, but you can't fight Mother Nature!
Right on the coastal highway down the road from our campground was the South Beach Fish Market which Karl and I had immediately agreed would HAVE to be on one of our dinner menus during this chapter of our journey. After our adventure to, and workout at the lighthouses, we decided that we had indeed earned a fried seafood takeout! Oooh lala was it yummy - and that is a big thumbs up coming from me; both a fisherman's daughter AND a fisherman's sister. I had scallops and Karl had the Captain's Platter which included halibut, prawns, oysters and scallops (a combo which highlighted the difference in the coasts). Aside from being comprised of small pieces of fish (and hence a little too high on the fried-coating-to-fish ratio) it was incredibly fresh and the perfect way to both taste the Pacific's bounty and get our much needed fix of SEAFOOOOOOD!!!
The Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean...and my oh my a lot of beauty in between! Although I was struck by how much I had missed the smell of the ocean air and the sound of the waves, I really hadn't been missing it along the way of this amazing adventure like I thought I would. At first I was thinking it was because I had my doses of all the various beautiful bodies of water we had experienced, including massive lakes and gorges and rivers and streams we had driven by or walked along. But it wasn't just that...it was the farms, the cornfields, the vineyards, the grazing cattle, the mountains of various sizes and shapes and sculptures and colors...Yes, the colors - the colors of the skies, the trees, the differing soils, the differing crops, the etchings in the pastures from being grazed on or mowed or dried up or harvested...My damn photos truly couldn't do it justice but at least it helped to etch the memories into my brain. Oh, and my photos also saved my memories to my phone and my iCloud - just in case I ever need to remember that WE DONE DID IT: US Route 20 COAST TO COAST BABY!!!!
EDITOR's NOTE: As previously mentioned we are NOT trying to claim that we took Rte 20 for every inch of our travels. There were forced detours via construction, the need to veer north to spend time in South Dakota, the need to go South in Wyoming to see Karl's niece, a few miles of co-pilot error etc... But Rte 20 was our route and we lived it and loved it!!
Comments