Day 4: Oregon Coast Highway 101…

We were up and out of our hotel by 7:20am today heading towards the Oregon coast. We managed to make it about 20 minutes out of Portland when our awesome CHEVY MALIBU chariot, that I preached about yesterday, went from 65mph down to 40mph and had a reduced engine power error. This was a little scary as we were heading out of town in really bad fog. I’m thankful we were able to make it off the highway in one piece. I called National’s roadside assistance hotline and they advised me to take it to the nearest National, which was at the Portland Airport and 25 minutes away. Needless to say my anxiety was in full effect by this moment. We had appointments for the girls to do glass blowing in Lincoln City and needed to be there by 12:20PM. I am so thankful for the WAZE app. Since our car couldn’t go over 40mph we had to take all back roads to the airport.

Once at National Car Rental, we had 4 choices of vehicles. The same piece of shit I so loved yesterday, a Nissan Altima, a Hyundai, and what we ultimately chose, a Toyota Camry. Now, I know I was not a fan of the Camry yesterday, but damn our car runs really smooth. And with only 3000 miles, it still smells brand new. We swapped out all our luggage and we were off, yet again!

Due to our misfortune of the first rental car, we decided to cut out some coastal towns due to our appointment and headed straight to Lincoln City. This drive is a must and beautiful with snowcapped peaks and wineries all the way to the 101.

As we were driving we saw a sign for a covered bridge, which we had to stop and check out. It was very cool, even though we couldn’t drive over it (it was only for pedestrian traffic).

We continued on until we hit Lincoln City. We arrived with enough time to check out the beach. This time of year Lincoln City hides approximately 3000 glass floats all up and down their beaches, 7 miles to be exact. And I couldn’t help but look the whole time we were at the beach while the girls played among the tide pools. But I came up short! Nada. The views here are amazing, to see cliffs and the ocean meet.

We hung out and explored until it was time for their glass blowing class at Jennifer Sears Glassblowing. This is an absolute MUST do if you are ever in Lincoln City, Oregon. The girls both chose to make paper weights. They were given the choice of several styles and up to 3 different colors. The artist that was assisting Kiley told her that these pieces of art will last forever and that they could be handed down from generation to generation. And yes, I might have shed a tear or two while taking these photos. Sienna and Kiley loved it!!!!

After the girl’s glass blowing experience, we headed straight for lunch. Kyllo’s was recommended to us and is a waterfront fish house that sits over top the world’s shortest river, called the D River. It stretches a whole whoppin’ 440′ into the ocean. We were fortunate enough to grab a table right by the window and the view was awesome. Oh yeah and their fish tacos were also delish!

Once done with our lunch we headed down to the beach to search again for these glass floats. And yet again, we came up short.

Back in the car, we headed south. We hugged the coast line, sometimes hundreds of feet above the beach below and other times, we would see a “Tsunami Hazard Zone” sign. We made several stops along the way to take some photos.

Next stop…Depoe Bay, home to the worlds smallest harbor. Who would’ve thought that they measure these sort of things.

Back in the car and on to our next stop, Otter Rock. This stop also had a massive sea cave with signs that advised you not to venture out where these folks were. NOT SMART!!! We also noticed a person down in the cave itself. Also, not a good idea.

After some more photo ops our next stop was Seal Rock. This place is a must do. It has amazing views from above and a nice path down to a wide beach. Some great photos were taken here and probably my favorite beach so far.

And these are my favorite photos of our babies.

Back on the road we were only 15 minutes away from our home for the evening. The Overleaf Lodge. This place is absolutely amazing! Briana and I both agreed we don’t want to leave. We checked in dropped our bags off in the room, popped our bottle of Elk Cove Pinot Gris (same type of wine we had at our wedding!), and sat on our patio overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This is a place where you would want to keep coming back or even bring your grand kids. It’s simply that nice.

On to Crescent City, California home to Pelican Bay State Prison.