Saturday, June 6, 2015

Arrived in Portland.

We had a nice restful night at South Beach State Park last night.  Theo and I went out for our usual morning walk - before the rest of the campers are awake - and decided to follow the nature trail that also serves as the "Tsunami Evacuation Route."  Now, I was curious - on the east coast, our evacuation routes are roads, but here was a trail… interesting!  My campground map said that it led to a tsunami evacuation assembly area.  Ok, we're game…   So here's the trailhead:



Kath tells me that from the moment you have an earthquake, you've got about 20 minutes before the tsunami, so NOW i get it- the trail led to an area that was on the top of a large dune.  Ok.  Then as we walked back to the camper I started thinking hmmm "what would I grab if I felt an earthquake and had to run up that dune?"  Ok, my cell phone, my wallet, some water…. and maybe that cooler full of beer!

So anyhow, there's a reason its good to be in Portland.

We got an early start and stopped at the beach section of the park on our way out.  Its a lovely wide sandy beach - a change from the rocky ones further south.  We were fortunate to have sunny skies - the fog was off shore… but we admired the fog horns.



There are signs all along the CA and OR coast warning you about the ocean threats.  You have to watch out for "sneaker waves" and they admonish you to "never turn your back on the ocean."  Pretty spooky!  I can safely turn my back on the Atlantic any time, but rarely want to...

Then we headed about 30 miles up the coast and made a right turn to head east.  Went through the mountains and then through lovely wine country.  Left the coast at 56 degrees.  Its 87 degrees here in Portland.  We had a nice stop in a county park along the way, and Theo got his moment of Zen:



No comments: