Oregon Coast + Newport, OR

After seeing how beautiful the coast was in Pacific City, we decided to take a drive to see more of the coastline.

We slowly made our way down to Newport, stopping to take in the views along the way. The roads are high above the shore, and as you drive along the tree-line roads, every so often there's a great spot to pull over and enjoy the stunning vantage points of the jagged coast. During one stop, we even spotted a whale.

We were happy to arrive in the waterfront town of Newport (the town reminded us of some coastal towns in New England). We picked up a bowl of clam chowder from a local restaurant and ate it on a bench overlooking the boats in the water. Later, as we walked down the main street, looking at the shops and enjoying the many town murals, we stopped to see the workings of a local shrimping company. That might have been the highlight of Taras's day!

-Amanda

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Pacific City, OR + Mt. Hebo, OR

After leaving the Willamette Valley, we stopped in the adorable town of McMinnville for dinner, then made our way to the coast.

The plan was to camp at the Siuslaw National Forest in Mt. Hebo, but the temperature was quickly dropping and the weather forecast was showing a chance of showers. Instead, we went to Pacific City to sleep. Pacific City is known for Haystack Rock, and the little beach town was perfectly quaint and quiet on that overcast evening.

The next morning, we headed back to Mt. Hebo. My grandfather was stationed there when he was in the service, so the town is one of many where my mom grew up (she even remembers going to Pacific City as a kid!). She did some research and learned that the Mt. Hebo base had since been closed down, and that the military housing had even been removed. We found this link to a photo stream that shows aerial pictures of the old base with comments about what it's like today - it was really interesting to read and understand what it was like then vs. now (here's another photo stream I found with someone's home photos from when they were stationed there).

We drove far up into the forest until we found the location of the old base, covered in a thick fog. Today, there is only a plaque, meadow, and some type of power tower (or not a power tower?) where the base once was. Through the fog we were able to make out what seemed to be old housing foundations.

It was so fun to able to see a piece of my family's history, and to hear some stories about my mom's childhood in Mt. Hebo!

-Amanda

 

A photo of Mt. Hebo base from my grandma's photo album:

 My mom with her brothers at Mt. Hebo:

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