California/Oregon Coast and Portland - September 2002

I've been meaning to do more traveling close to home, and with my new motorcycle, I've now got the perfect excuse for a road trip.  In addition, I've recently been in contact with several long-lost friends in the Portland area, so I figured a nice ride up the California/Oregon coast was just the ticket.  Photos from the trip follow (and my travel-journal can be found here if you're curious.)

A few trip-facts:  I was on the road for about a week.  Motorcycle is a 2002 Honda CB750 (Nighthawk), just got it about a month ago.  Total miles covered was around 1500 round trip.  I rode up the coast towards Portland on Highways 1 and 101, then took I5 back down.

Click on the images for larger pictures.

  First stop was Point Arena.  Cozy little town in the beautiful Mendocino area.  Had an unbelievably tasty meal of fish and chips for dinner there...  nuttin like locally-caught fresh fish.  Here's a banner I noticed riding through town.

  Moooooo.  A serene image of cows at daybreak.

  Here's a picture of my next house.  Nice view.

  I have no idea why I look so irritated in this picture...  I wasn't really, of course... I think I was just squinting to see if my camera was set right.

  There's my baby by the water.

  A lot of the most interesting coastal areas were at points where little streams joined the ocean.  Fresh water meets salt water.  Every such cove/delta/mouth seemed to have it's own notable little peculiarities.

  If I wasn't riding along a beach, I was often riding along a river... like this one.

  Another riverside shot...  peaceful.

  This was taken near Leggett, CA.  Obligatory self half-head pic.

  Here I am riding through the cheezeball tourist-trap, god knows what possessed someone to hack a driveway through a perfectly good tree.

  This made the drive-through tree detour well worth it.  These crazy wild turkeys were all over the place, and they swarmed me as I rode in with my motorcycle.  The local ranger told me that the turkeys were just NUTS about motorcycles...  I'm guessing that the engine rumble must sound like some sweet-sexy love song to them.  The turkey in front almost stuck his head completely into the engine before I took off...  they chased me for as long as they could until I lost them.   ;-)

  Seagulls enjoying the view...  I didn't even notice the guy on the rock far in front of me until I looked at this picture later.

  Roadside photo... much of the ride was along oceanside roads like this...  so much fun.

  I tried to stitch together a couple of photos here to show this cool almost circular cove.

  Confusion Hill, another tourist-trap in the redwood forest area.  My parents took me here well over a decade ago... I remember my brother and myself clambering all over the place back then.

  Interesting rock formation off the coast.

  More beautiful coastline...  scenes like this tempted me to stop every few miles to take photos.

  Heh, I got a kick out of this receipt....  I thought it was a pretty funny order.

  Just one of the many lighthouses dotting the coast.

  Sometimes the fog would roll in thick along the coast....  cold but pretty.

  Ghostly mists... at times the fog gave the forests a mystical feel.

  Some of the best driving wasn't just along beaches and coastline... it was cruising through forests like this... check out the green canopy.

  There's several miles of huge sand dunes along the southern Oregon coast.  I rented the dune buggy pictured here and spent some time tearing up the sand... great fun!!!

  Devils Churn or some such place...  aptly named, where the waves crashed and churned in a narrow ravine.

  There's Kami with two of her little kidlets.  I've known Miss Holloway since my early teen years in Yakima, Washington.  I guess that'd actually make her my oldest friend...  we've managed to keep in touch for probably 16-17 years now.  It was the first time I've seen her in probably 15 years or so.

  Another old friend, Melissa.  Probably 8 years since I've last seen her.  It was a trip full of reunions.  This was taken at a coffee shop owned by a friend of hers in a kitschy little district in Portland.

  Here we are again, this time at Melissa's house.

  My old pal, Mark and his charming wife Julianna (who I met for the first time this trip).  Was very cool hanging out with Mark again...  found his email address through classmates.com - go figure.

  Here's another photo of us at their house...  had a very San-Fransicoish feel to it.

  Rose Test Gardens in Portland.  Lovely place...  very fragrant, even this time of year.  Lots of petals had already fallen off the roses, I bet it's even more spectacular in the spring.

  Pioneer Square I think this was...  in the middle of downtown Portland.

  Funky statue in the square.

Do feel free to write or drop any comments in my message boards.  And thanks for stopping by!

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