Leaving Long Beach this morning we stopped at the 42nd Street Cafe for breakfast. It's a really cute cafe with 14 tables, soft jazz playing, and a great menu. We had the place pretty much to ourselves and we really enjoyed it. They make their own Marionberry Conserve - delish!
We took Rte 103 S to our favorite Rte 101 N. It's partly sunny this morning with a very cold strong wind. We passed Cranberry bogs and pastures. Driving over the Willapa Hills and decending into a valley we suddenly had pelting hale showers leaving the road covered in white. With the east coast of Willapa Bay on our left and the Willapa Wildlife Refuge on our right we passed through thick and lush forest. Much of this is owned by the logging and paper companies. We noticed there is a lot of clear cutting (or harvesting) and then we can see the new trees coming up among the stumps and dead logs. Along the way there are signs that show the schedules for each section of forest... Planted 1996, Planned Harvest 2016. A road crew was trimming the spruce trees along the road and we could smell the heavy scent. It was like Christmas.
Hugging the shores of the Willapa River, is South Bend the county seat. This is home to numerous turn-of-the-century buildings. This is a fishing community with a large number of processing plants and canneries. They catch crab, oysters, and razor clams here.
The next town was a far cry from fishing. Raymond is historic and beautiful. Life size metal sillhouettes and 3-D statues of people at bus stops, animals like deer along the road, and kids riding bikes near the bike path are a theme along the highway. It was really intersting to see.
Climbing up and down hills we rolled into Cosmopolis, meaning "city of the world" which is the first town along Grays Harbor. The first lumber shipped from Grays Harbor was a cargo cut in the Cosmopolis mill in the spring of 1881. Farming, fishing and fur trade drew the first settlers into Grays Harbor. Today the towns around the harbor are mainly summer resorts and it's the gateway to Washington's scenic coastal wonders.
We crossed the Chehalis River and turned onto Rte 109N toward Copalis Beach where we will spend the next few days. Rte 109 twists, curves, and climbs over the "capes" and runs along the coastal beaches. Ken called this a "fun windy" road... I'm not so sure! Small bridges took us over small creeks and we drive through several beach communities like Ocean Shores. The campground is a short walk to the beach over dunes covered with sea grass. We have a nice view from our site.
After getting set up we went to find a market to pick up a few groceries. We stayed in and relaxed tonight. Riding through the beach communities you see some really strange signs like "Beach Access - No Water".... huh?
It was a pretty ride today.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment