Three Capes Scenic Drive, Oregon

Roger here....  The weather was supposed to be great on our last day with Jay and Nancy, so we decided to traverse the forty-mile Three Capes Drive.  Scenic it was.

Our days with Jay and Nancy have typically started around 10:30 a.m.  By the time we arrive at our destinations it is lunch time.  We tend not to skip lunch :-).  

While driving through the small town of Netarts, Jay spotted a promising sign.  What a relaxing place The Schooner restaurant was.  We ate on the deck with a view of the bay.  Ahhh!  Jay and I both had what I would call Coastal Comfort Food --- macaroni 'n cheese, covered with bleu cheese and fresh crab.  I was sleepy the rest of the day.

Our next stop was Cape Meares Lighthouse State Park.  The former route to the park was closed.  Evidently a portion of the road collapsed down the hillside and the local officials decided not to repair it.  It was not a problem, however, as the alternate route worked fine.  We had to retrace a portion of the drive, but what a place to see twice.

The sea had an ephemeral quality that day.  The sun was out so the water was blue, but the reflection of the clouds in the sky added a soft, smooth, subtle tone to the vista, especially in the distance.

Here is another shot of the various shades of blue in the ocean that day.

I especially like the close up picture that Dianne took sighting down from one of the lookouts.  

A quarter-mile walk down a paved pathway brought us to the Cape Meares Lighthouse.  Since it was located on the side of the cliff at the tip of a point, the first views were only of the top portion of the structure.

Here is a view from the base of the lighthouse.  What a beauty.  

We could have taken a tour, but we had already done that at the Umpqua Lighthouse.  Our attention was diverted to the sound of squawking birds.  Dianne spotted them, lots of them, swimming in the sea below us.  She used an ap on her phone that emits bird calls to identify them as common murre, penguin-like birds of the northwest coastal areas.

A look in the other direction brought the Three Arches into view. I could only spot two of them, but how starkly beautiful they looked in the calm blue water.

Near the parking lot, I spotted the reddest butterfly I have ever seen.  We are hoping that our friends, John and Audrey, can help us identify it.  (Dianne here:  John and Audrey did indeed come to our rescue on this.  Turns out it is not a butterfly, but a cinnabar moth.)  I had to chuckle while watching Dianne stalk the butterfly moth as it flitted across the lawn.  Every time she had it in focus, it flew a few feet away, resulting in a resumption of the chase.  I must admit that she did finally get a pretty good picture.

We spent quite a bit of time taking in the spectacular scenery at Cape Meares.  One last photo before moving on.

We did complete the rest of the forty-mile drive, but the best part of the afternoon seemed to slip away from us at Cape Meares, which could easily have been the only destination.  It scores near the top of the most spectacular places I have seen.

Jay and Nancy headed back to the Portland airport the next morning for their flight to Indy.  It was great to share our time here with them.  They arrived home safely, but only after spending a night in the Denver airport due to weather delays.  Yuck.

We will be at Nehalem Bay State Park for another week, and intend to spend most of our time with the dogs at the beach.  We have already documented the dogs at the beach, ad nauseum, and we do not intend to ruin another camera in the sand, so there may not be much reporting until we move on up the coast in a few days.

The pet picture of the day shows Tequila on the beach at Nehalem Bay State Park.  We took them each morning for a romp and play to wear them out before we headed out with our friends for the day.  As my friend Sue says, "A tired dog is a good dog."

"I love it here, Mom!"