We both woke up at 5:00 AM and talked about getting up then, but the need for sleep overpowered that decision so we ended up getting up at 6:30. So much for waking up with the sun! Anyway we were travelling down the road by 7:30 enjoying another gorgeous day. We stayed on the I-5 freeway to Salem, Oregon where we took Hwy 22, then 18 towards Lincoln City, so we could follow the coast highway again (like we did last April), only this time going south. The drive there was beautiful with clumps of yellow daffodils growing wild on the sides of the road and golden budding skunk cabbage in the ditches. We saw tidy homesteads surrounded by pink-blossomed trees nestled in the hills and babbling streams coursing through fields. Sadly, we also could see mountains made bald from the clear cutting of the logging industry and no visible evidence of reforestation.

Occasionally, as we drove along the coast, thick blankets of fog would come in from the ocean veiling everything with an eerie cover and then suddenly disappear. It seemed almost magical! Periodically we would stop at a roadside overlook to take in the view while we basked in the 19C weather and we shopped at a Fred Meyers store (this store makes The Great Canadian Superstore seem small) in Florence to buy salad ingredients. The sand dunes in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area were massive and we were tempted to stop there and rent dune buggies to explore them. As we continued south, the highway swung inland for a while and there were areas which easily resembled northern Ontario with the lakes surrounded by evergreens and hills.

Tonight we are parked at the Turtle Rock RV Resort by the ocean at Gold Beach on Hunter Creek. It is about 13C as I write this and though we don't have a clear view of the ocean it is within close walking distance from our site. The fog crept in from the ocean enveloping the campground before I had a chance to take any pictures of it but maybe in the morning...