2024 Pacific Northwest Adventure Episode 10: Heceta Head Lighthouse in Florence, Oregon

On September 4, 2025September 3, 2025 By LToddIn Oregon, RV Travel, Travel4 Comments

We left Tillamook on July 20, 2024, for Pacific Pines RV Park in Florence, Oregon, where the wind blew harder than we’d seen since we began our adventure at the end of June. Along the way, we stopped to stretch our legs at a turnout that overlooked the ocean.

I was taking photos, concentrating on flowers, when Jon came out of the fifth wheel and said, “Hey look. We could build a house on this lot?” Uh, no thank you. Having a home hanging over a cliff that drops into the ocean was not my ideal place to live.

We selected the Waterfront Depot in Old Town Florence, Oregon, to sample the local food offerings and couldn’t resist having the crab cakes for a starter. Luckily, they were the best crab cakes we had ever tasted. My salmon piccata served in a tasty sauce with capers and mashed potatoes and green salad on the side was equally delicious. So satisfied with our meal, we opted for a slice of the carrot cake. We always try different carrot cakes to compare them to the cakes I make. Disappointment usually sets in after one bite. Not this time. My only recommendation was to add a few more raisins.

A Bit of Public Art and the Siuslaw River Bridge

After dinner we walked outside onto the boardwalk, where we spotted the painted creature in the photo below. It is one of several sculptures painted by artists as part of the Dancing With Sea Lions public art project that began in 2016. The sculptures were displayed and then sold to businesses and individuals as a fundraiser for the Florence Events Center.

*Umi No Nami* by Ellen Huntingdon
on the West Old Town Boardwalk next to the bridge

The Siuslaw River Bridge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since August 5, 2005, opened to traffic in 1936. The Public Works Administration provided the funding.

View of Siuslaw Bridge from the Boardwalk

Several years later, a steel grid deck replaced the original deteriorating wood-plank deck. The mid portion of the bridge is a double-leaf bascule (drawbridge) that opens to 100 feet (34 m). Its latest rehabilitation occurred in 2018. I’m so glad the Art déco design has survived the bridge’s renovations throughout the years. It allowed me to imagine the vehicles and people that might have crossed the bridge ninety years ago.

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area (ODNRA)

A walk around Old Town would have been nice, had the wind not been blowing so hard. Instead, we drove out on the South Jetty portion of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area – North. One might think after a long drive and a filling dinner we’d be ready for a bit of exercise. We had walked on hills much shorter than this one when we were younger and remembered how our legs and ankles ached afterward, so we left the fun to the younger folks.

ODNRA spans the Oregon Coast from Florence to Coos Bay. We saw only a sliver of the 31,500 acres of recreational nirvana. Whether families and/or friends opt to visit the northern region or the southern region, they can count on plenty of opportunities to have fun. ODNRA offers OHV riding, hiking, water sports, camping and so much more to choose from.

Looking south across the Siuslaw River from the South Jetty

Heceta Head Lighthouse

The next day we were off to another lighthouse. The Heceta Head Lighthouse cast its first beams of light across the waters on March 30, 1894, two years after its Fresnel lens was ordered from France.

The lighthouse is named after Don Bruno de Heceta. On an expedition of the West Coast ordered by the Queen of Spain in 1775, Heceta noted the shallow waters and rocky headland. A hundred years later, mariners requested a lighthouse to help them navigate along the coast.

The three lightkeepers and their families lived a harsh and isolated existence for the first 40 years of the lighthouse. They must have rejoiced when US Route 101 opened to traffic. It’s no wonder many of them left because of the severe weather and isolation.

Two of the keepers stand out for their long stays. Olaf Hansen stayed on for 16 years. He brought a post office, a schoolhouse, and gardens to the complex. Cap and Ma Herman witnessed many changes at the lighthouse during their stay between 1925 and 1950.

Soon after the Herman’s arrival, the construction of US 101 began, and along with the highway came electricity. In the late 1930s, the US Lighthouse Services, which was disbanded, transferred the lighthouse to the US Coast Guard.

Under the Coast Guard Beach Patrol during World War II, seventy-five men with attack dogs patrolled the Heceta Head. The men lived in wooden bunkers during their deployment. After the war, two men and their families remained at Heceta.

In 1963, the Coast Guard turned over the keeper’s house to the US Forest Service, and head keeper Oswald Allick was the last keeper on the site.

Heceta Lighthouse B&B

Fancy a stay at a B&B near the lighthouse? Reserve a room at the Heceta Lighthouse B&B. The inn has three rooms with private baths and two rooms with a shared bath. The non-smoking rooms include a social hour with local wine and cheese and a seven-course breakfast in the morning.

Placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1973, the USFS turned the house into a bed-and-breakfast. Proceeds from the inn and gift shop fund the maintenance and restoration.

Mike and Carol Korgan became the first innkeepers for the Heceta Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast in 1995 as volunteers. They began an interior restoration of the inn, and when they retired, their daughter Michelle took over.

Docents use the bottom floor of the house as an interpretive center to give free tours. Our timing wasn’t quite right to take advantage of the tour, so we walked around the property and I snapped photos.

Rear of Heceta Lighthouse B&B. Guests can park in the lot.

I could see myself sitting on the porch, watching the sunset, and sipping a cup of cocoa, topped with marshmallows, of course. “Hey, Jon. Wouldn’t it be fun to stay for a night or two?”

On our way back to the RV park, we paused for a couple of photos of the scenery.

Cape Creek Bridge, carrying US Route 101 traffic since 1932

US Highway 101 and the river on the left, ODNRA, and the Pacific Ocean on the right.

Next up: Coastal views, a herd of elk, and Eureka, California.

Safe Travels

2024 Northwest Adventure Episode 9: Tillamook Creamery and Meares Cove Lightouse

On August 28, 2025 By LToddIn Oregon, Photography, RV Travel, Travel2 Comments

Our next stop on our way home was Tillamook Bay City RV Park on July 18, 2024. On WA-105 and US-101, we drove through a canyon of trees so thick I caught only a glimpse here and there of what looked like homes or commercial buildings amid the dense forest. Near the ocean, sloughs snaked their way through the wetlands. And folks tried their luck clamming in the muddy low-tide beach areas.

We pulled off the highway and found a long stretch to parallel park the rig in Seaside, Oregon. After a mile and a half walk, Dooger’s Seafood and Grill satisfied our hunger for lunch. It was too bad we had reservations farther south because I wanted to explore the town and area more.

We don’t know whether Apple Maps rerouted us inland onto Miami Foley Road for a reason, or if we made a wrong turn. It didn’t matter. Instead of sitting in traffic on US-101, we enjoyed driving through the narrow valley. Purple, yellow, white, and red wildflowers decorated the side of the road, and the green expanse of farmland acres created an idyllic landscape. The view sure beat looking at car bumpers on the highway.

We reserved the next day for exploring. On our list were the Tillamook Creamery and the Meares Cove Lighthouse.

Tillamook Creamery

In 2014, during a previous trip to the Pacific Northwest, if it hadn’t been pouring rain, we would have stopped to visit the creamery. Then, it seemed the visitor center sat farther back from US-101. We weren’t wrong. The new visitor center opened in June 2018.

For the convenience of visitors, the center is open daily from 10 am to 7 pm. Inside, visitors can take a self-guided tour or opt for a premium experience (reservations recommended). We took the self-guided tour, which took us on a journey through the cheese-making process.

Upstairs in the Farm exhibit, we learned about the care and feeding of the cows throughout their lives. A factory viewing deck allowed us to watch the cheese production in process from a catwalk level. Diagrams and descriptions on posters gave explanations of what we saw. On the other side of the deck, we watched cheese move on conveyor belts and racks from one step to another. Human factory workers performed a quality check to verify the loaves were the correct size and weight. The workers even shaved off bits of cheese, if needed, before the cheese moved to the wrapping machine.

We would have bought lunch at one of the food counters and an ice cream for dessert had it not been so crowded and taken so long to get through the lines. Instead, we wandered through the gift shop and ended up waiting a few minutes for photos with the Yum Bus, where the crowds had thinned.

Meares Cove Lighthouse

A beautiful drive along a cove and through a forest led us to the Meares Cove Lighthouse parking lot. The forest of trees wept droplets of water on us as we walked toward the lighthouse. The trees were still drying out from the heavy morning fog that hugs the coast most days. It reminded me of walking through the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.

Meares Cove Lighthouse is the shortest lighthouse along the Oregon coast. It stands only 38 feet tall atop a basalt outcropping 200 feet above the Pacific Ocean. Captain John Meares, a northwest explorer who commanded the sloop North West America in the 1780s, named the area Cape Lookout. A mistake made on maritime maps in 1857 identified another location as Cape Lookout. This caused the name change to Cape Meares, since it was easier to change the name than reprint the maps.

During the 1840s and 1850s, prospectors from the goldfields and pioneers who crossed the Coast Range settled in the area for its rich soil. In 1886, the need for a lighthouse became clear, so the Lighthouse Board requested $60,000 for construction. By the end of 1889, the lighthouse, other supporting structures, and living quarters were complete, and on January 1, 1890, the light was lit for the first time.

Two Kohler generators supplied electricity in 1934. On April 1, 1963, a DCB aero beacon, mounted atop a concrete structure, replaced the lighthouse. Concerned citizens pleaded with the Coast Guard not to dismantle the lighthouse a few months later. On April 6, 1964, the Coast Guard agreed to lease the property to Tillamook County.

As often happens with historical buildings, the lighthouse fell victim to neglect and deterioration at the hands of weather and vandalism. Hippies lived in the dwellings and made a mess, and someone, or a group of someones, stole four bull’s-eye lenses from the first-order Fresnel.

Years later, a drug raid recovered one lens. Then, a magazine published an article in 1986 that pleaded for the recovery of the other three. It took 20 years for all four lenses to be reunited.

In 1968, Oregon State Parks Department took over the lease from the county. In 1978, the state built a replacement workroom and had the tower scraped and repainted, and on Memorial Day 1980 the lighthouse opened to visitors.

Inside the lighthouse, a docent took us up the steps to see where the light fixture sits. He told a story of a pair of men in their early twenties who tore up the grassy area around the lighthouse with their vehicle in 2010. They also shot several rounds of ammo into the structure. Their bullets destroyed numerous prisms that made up the antique first-order Fresnel lens. Overall, the damage amounted to $500,000. The Fresnel lenses contain over one thousand prisms and round bull’s-eye lenses that bend the light to produce a powerful beam. They can weigh over two tons.

The judge could have sentenced the young men to seven years in prison for the offence. Instead, he sentenced them to three 16-day stints in jail to be served each year at Christmastime, plus $100,000 restitution. I hope they learned from their mistakes and became more productive citizens as they grew older.

Fifteen years later, their names and details of their crimes still pop up in a Google search. In case guilt and shame fill them with dread, I’ll not repeat their names here. Of course, it’s possible they may still laugh about what they did over a cold glass of beer.

Out on the overlook, I had fun with fog. The formation of the white cottony water droplets suspended in air pushed its way ashore and up the face of hills seemed to mimic the wave action below.

The docents recommended we take the short walk from the lighthouse to the 250- to 300-year-old Octopus Tree. Curious, we headed that way to see the attraction.

Colorful blossoms seen along the trail to Octopus Tree

The Sitka spruce tree developed a solid base that has grown to 14-15 feet across. The lack of a central trunk and the cluster of trunks around the perimeter create a curiosity to ponder.

Was the tree’s growth natural? Or, was it trained like a bonsai into its formation by Native Americans? Did they bury their dead in canoes built in the tree? No one seems to know for sure, so for now it remains a mystery.

The lighthouse is part of the Cape Meares State Scenic Viewpoint and is surrounded by the Cape Meares National Wildlife Refuge and operated by The Friends of Cape Meares Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge, Inc a 501 © 3 nonprofit organization.

Next Up: Another lighthouse and sand dunes.

Safe Travels.

2024 Northwest Adventure Episode 8: Homeward Bound

On August 14, 2025August 13, 2025 By LToddIn RV Travel, Travel, Washington1 Comment

Our first stop on the route toward home was American Sunset RV and Tent Resort in Westport, Washington, on the Point Chehalis Peninsula. We arrived around 3:00 pm on July 16, 2024, leaving plenty of daylight to explore before turning in for the night.

The Port of Grays Harbor’s Westport Marina is the heart of Washington’s seafood business. They claim to have the biggest fishing fleets on the West Coast for both charter and commercial use. That’s quite a feat for a town with a population of only 2,200 people within an area of 4.50 square miles (11.65 km²).

Westport Marina lands, on average, 130 million pounds of commercial seafood by volume, ranking it 10th in the nation. Measured by value, they come in at $72 million, or 19th in the nation. Seafood landed includes: Dungeness crab, salmon, albacore tuna, shrimp, oysters, prawns, and much more. The marina welcomes commercial vessels from 35-feet long to over 100 feet.

We walked on the Fishermen’s Boardwalk, where several families and couples held fishing poles and crab ring nets as they waited for fish to bite or crabs to crawl into the nets. Many of their buckets contained a dinner’s worth of seafood. Some children joined their parents in the fishing activities, while others stood off to the side engrossed in a separate world.

View of jetty and Point at Westport Harbor condominiums. Some units are short-term rentals.

Harbor with Westhaven Street in the background

This boat’s name reminded us of our friend Marylou.

Other amenities for visitors at the Marina include the Centennial View Tower, a public boat launch, a plaza, and restrooms. People not interested in catching dinner or who have had no luck can always purchase directly from the fishermen and fish markets.

The Town of Westport

Nearby Westport is the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe. They are descendants of the earliest known settlers on the peninsula, the Lower Chehalis, Lower Chinook, and other people who called the area home.

We had their clam chowder and split half of a Dungeness crab. Should have ordered a whole crab. Jon had to eat leftovers when we got back to the trailer.

In 1857, Thomas Barker Speake arrived with his family and other white settlers and named the place Peterson’s Point. Westport’s history, which began in 1914, is a story of economic booms and busts impacting various industries over the past century or more that include: whaling, fishing, military installations, the rise of commercial and sport fishing, harbor safety improvements by the Army Corps of Engineers, introduction of pilot boats, fishing controversies, hard times, recovery, and renewal. For a more detailed discussion, go to: Experience Westport/History of Westport Washington.

One tidbit that piqued my interest was more current event than history: the building of a second tsunami evacuation tower. Made possible through a FEMA grant with a 10% match by Westport, the tower, with an expected completion of 2026, will hold 2,000 people. Long-term plans call for the building of an additional tower. Then, plans changed. The current administration canceled many of the scheduled federal grants on April 4, 2025, including the Westport Tsunami tower.

Because $13.7 million was already “obligated,” the community gained hope the project will move forward. Then at the end of May 2025, the grantee extended the period of performance until December 2027, further raising hopes of completion. Those in charge must feel like they had climbed aboard a roller coaster that had lost its brakes.

Ocosta Elementary School was the recipient of the first tsunami tower as part of the construction of a replacement school. This tower has a dual purpose. Classrooms, a library, kitchen, and administrative spaces occupy the structure, which can hold 1,000 people, withstand a 9.2 magnitude quake, and resist tsunami waves. The tsunami that resulted from the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia on July 30, 2025, failed to reach levels requiring the use of the tower.

Westport has more to offer besides fishing and crabbing. Visitors can enjoy beach activities, wander through the history and maritime museums, or learn about growing cranberries at the cranberry farm and museum. Unfortunately, our days in town didn’t coincide with the museums’ open days. We’ll plan our trip better next time so we’re there Thursday through Sunday.

Westport Light State Park

With the museums closed, we settled on visiting the lighthouse at Westport Light State Park, even though it was also closed. The 560-acre park is day use only and includes 1,215 feet of shoreline for surfing, exploring, saltwater fishing, crabbing, and clamming. An outdoor shower and two indoor accessible showers are available for surfers and beachgoers.

Our search for the lighthouse took us on the trail from the parking lot east, then south, then west for four miles around an extremely lengthy block. We should have gone south from the parking lot, then east, and it would have only been one and a half miles.

The following photos depict the views on our trek to the lighthouse.

Although most of the way was enjoyable, parts of it were not, so we had to ask for directions. We contemplated calling an Uber. Unsure the small town had one, we persevered and made the loop. Had we gone the short distance, we would have missed out on the magnificent views and photo opportunities.

Short sleeves and bare legs as if the weather was warm. Maybe they were from Canada.

Jon and I bundled up in our winter outerwear.

Memorial plaques graced the benches we passed.

On August 9, 2025, I read on The Daily World website that someone had pried off and stolen several memorials embedded in cement and on the benches. Apparently, it’s the State Park’s responsibility, not the city’s. Either way, what a shame for the people who had them placed there to honor their loved ones.

We would have missed this deer had we taken the shorter trail

Built in 1897 and lit in 1898, Grays Harbor Lighthouse stands at 107 feet, the tallest lighthouse in Washington State. At that time, the lighthouse replaced more primitive gear to light the way for ships entering Gray’s Harbor.

The RVs next to the lighthouse belong to work campers who volunteer 20-25 hours a week, depending on the season, for a full hookup site. If interested in joining the ranks, check out the park’s website.

When the lighthouse began service in 1898, it stood 400 feet from the high tide line. Thanks to sediment from the rivers and streams that flow into the Pacific, accretion over 127 years has moved the shoreline 3,000 feet to the west.

The shape and colors of this building cried out for a photo. It sits across the street from the lighthouse and used to be a restaurant. I’m not sure what it’s used for now.

We enjoyed walking around the harbor, and visiting the lighthouse was the highlight of our walk. We got up close enough for more detailed shots of the buildings without disturbing the work campers in their RVs. No one came out, so we guessed they were off having an adventure of their own.

Next Up: We drop into Oregon and stop for a visit at the Tillamook Creamery

Safe Travels

2024 Pacific Northwest Adventure Episode 7 Tacoma Glass Museum

On July 31, 2025July 30, 2025 By LToddIn RV Travel, Travel, Washington6 Comments

On July 12, 2024, we headed back to Gig Harbor for a few days. The time had arrived for us to prepare to leave Washington and head home. We spent the weekend washing clothes, cleaning the trailer, completing other tasks, and visiting one more attraction. When I read about the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, I couldn’t imagine what it looked like. So off to Tacoma, Washington, we drove.

The cone-shaped structure houses the Glass Hot Shop. The top lights up at night. The East 21^st Street Bridge in the background carries four lanes of SR509.

It took us a while to find the place. We passed under the bridge and drove off in different directions, on this freeway and that one several times until we found the Museum of Glass and a place to park. While doing so, we wondered what hid inside the huge cone-shaped structure pointing toward the sky.

Museum of Glass

We had seen plenty of museums during this adventure. Was I ready for another one? I’m so glad we paid the entrance fee because the Museum of Glass was more than just a museum. The museum describes itself as a contemporary art museum with glass and glassmaking as its focus and so much more.

*Gathering the Light*, by Cappy Thompson, installed in the Grand Hall near the entrance.

A sign titled, A Leaf A Life A Legacy accompanied this sculpture. On the green leaves, names and quotes led me to think the artwork is a tribute to a person. Not sure of the title and don’t know the artist’s name.

We stepped into the Hot Shop on the upper level of stadium seating and thought we had stumbled into a theater where actors might appear on the stage below. A screen hung from the ceiling on the opposite side above a wall of furnaces blasting red hot. The video captured the activity on the stage, giving the audience a closeup view of the work going on down below. In the middle of the furnace wall, hung a thermostat pegged at 100 degrees.

A glass artist stood outside a furnace, holding one end of a pole that stretched inside the flame. Other people stood a few feet away, watching and talking. They all wore short-sleeved T-shirts and shorts. One woman wore a tank top. Given the heat, they may have thought beachwear more appropriate.

We watched as the artist removed the pole with a glowing glob of glass at the end. Two other folks helped to turn the poles while the artist worked to shape and form the piece of art into his vision.

When we could no longer tolerate the heat, the air-conditioned gallery cooled us off allowing us to enjoy wandering through the exhibits.

*Blue Black*, by Radcliffe Bailey. According to the placard, “The sculpture speaks to the harm done to Black bodies and psyches by the transatlantic slave trade.”

*Movement IV: Sonata in Eight Notes*, 2021, by Mildred Howard

The Museum of Glass structure, opened in 2002 at a cost of $48 million, was the first building completed on a Superfund site as part of the Thea Foss Waterway restoration. Since then, five other museums within walking distance have sprouted. We only had time to visit the one.

A Citizen Science Workshop of The Salmon School brings together the Tacoma Public School District, educators from the Museum of Glass, and the Foss Waterway Seaport to work on the Puyallup River watershed to save the salmon.

*Gibson Chandelier*, 2000 by Dale Chihuly

This museum isn’t just a place to walk around and look at the exhibits; it also offers a variety of programs:

The Hot Shop – Artists can apply for one-day and week-long residency programs at the museum, where they can experiment with new ideas and techniques.
Kids Design Glass – Children age 12 and under can submit their designs via email. If selected, an artist will create the design in glass at one of their Hot Shot presentations.
Science of Art – This is an outreach program for K-8 students enrolled in the Tacoma Public Schools or other local schools.
Virtual Science of Art – Beginning in 2020, the museum expanded access to school classrooms across the State of Washington.
Hot Shop Heroes – A program for soldiers and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
Junior Curator Academy – This virtual series, geared toward middle and high school students, consists of six 45-minute lessons led by Museum of Glass educators.
Curator High – Teens work with each department to conceive and develop an exhibition by working with each of the museum’s departments. At the end of the program, the exhibit is installed in the Grand Hall.

Chihuly Bridge of Glass

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass opened in 2002 along with the Museum of Glass. Design, building, and art installation expenses cost $12 million. The steel and concrete pedestrian bridge spans 500 feet (150 m) over a rail yard and Interstate 705 at a height of 70 feet (21 m).

The covered portion of the Bridge of Glass, *Seaform* *Pavilion*, and *Crystal Spires* in front of Union Station from afar

View of Union Station from the roof of the Museum of Glass

From atop the Museum of Glass roof, we walked up a series of ramps to the bridge. The first Chihuly installation we encountered was the Venetian Wall. On either side of the walkway, steel-and-glass walls for a length of 80 feet (24.4 m) display 109 blown glass sculptures. Natural light illuminates the sculptures during the day. When the sun goes down, fiber-optic lighting does the trick at night.

More glass creations in the *Venetian Wall*

Toward the center of the bridge rise the Crystal Towers. Each 43-foot-tall spire supports 63 crystals. Polyvitro, a polyurethane material created by Chihuly, is the material used to give the crystals their blue coloring and transparency, without the weight of glass. Although the crystal’s appearance changes during the day as the sun shines through, I suspect they are more impressive at night when lit from below and join the city’s skyline.

*Crystal Towers* by Dale Chihuly rises 43 feet above the bridge

The Seaform Pavilion is the third installation. The 49-foot (15 m) covered portion of the bridge delighted us with a colorful display of 2,364 glass sculptures inspired by marine life on the ceiling.

I worried about the safety of the artwork up there on the bridge in all kinds of weather and open 24 hours a day. Then I remembered Chihuly had created other outdoor installations, so he must have done this before. And after twenty-five years, the art still stands. Still, I kept my ears open for the tinkling sound of broken glass announcing the destruction of a piece of translucent art. The noise never came.

My camera failed to capture the feeling evoked by viewing the pieces in person. I sense a facsimile of that feeling when I look at them, except it’s not the same. We highly suggest visiting the museum when nearby. We would love to see the Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle if we ever get back to the area.

Dinner time had arrived by the time we returned to the trailer. Not wanting to cook, we chose El Pueblito for our last meal in Gig Harbor. Another fine meal to enjoy before we waved goodbye in the morning and turned the truck south toward home.

Up Next: We take our time making our way home, stopping to explore a few more attractions.

Safe Travels

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: