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| Iredale Wreck |
The complete article was published in Travel Awaits
There were
many stops we made during our drive down from Canada onto Mexico but these are what I cannot forget. From Washington to Oregon to California, these
small towns may not be as well-known but they should be!
1. Blaine,
Washington
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| Outdoor Sculpture Collection, Western Washington University |
Blaine
(population under 6,000), is the first US town you will encounter after crossing the US-Canada border. We drove
to the Beachwood RV Resort and immediately found a 10-minute walk through the beautiful Birch Bay State Park
that led to Birch Bay behind the general store. The bay is a popular spot for crabbing and clamming and, since we were there
in fall, the park was particularly spectacular. Big and artsy birch driftwoods adorned the beach and close
by was a whole community of vacation homes. This brought us to plenty of recreational opportunities: kayak, bike, and golf rentals plus a large
mini-golf course.
“Just 30
minutes from the campground is the city of Bellingham. Although the city is
smaller than the neighboring metropolitan areas of Seattle or Vancouver, there
are many attractions that are popular among residents and visitors alike.
Cliffside views of the San Juan Islands and the glaciers of Mt. Baker can be
seen from the city. But it was the campus of Western Washington University,
with its Outdoor Sculpture Collection, created by 36 contemporary artists, that
gave us one great afternoon.”
2. Seaside,
Oregon
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| Bridge to Nowhere, Astoria Bridge |
The next town was Seaside (population under 7,000) which grew out of the last stop of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We treated ourselves to a week at Club
Wyndham’s WorldMark Seaside, one of the state’s best waterfront locations. It just so happened that the American Kitefliers Association’s Annual Kite Festival was going on. “The beach and sky were littered with giant colorful kites dancing to
the hum of the ocean and the songs of the winds.” We strolled on the Seaside Promenade up to the famous Seaside Turnaround, shopped at the Carousel Mall and the Seaside Outlet Mall, and dined at
a boardwalk restaurant with great beach views.
A few quick
day trips completed our stay. The first was to Astoria, just 30 minutes away, which led us to the 4.1-mile-long Astoria-Megler Bridge, the longest continuous truss bridge in
North America, that photographs as a
“bridge to nowhere” from the southern approach. Next was Fort Stevens
between Astoria and Seaside, built near the end of the American Civil War which features the Iredale Wreck (headline photo) on its beachhead. And the last was the famous Cannon Beach, known for the 235-foot-high Haystack Rock,
often accessible at low tide, part of the Oregon Islands
National Wildlife Refuge together with the two rocks called The Needles.
3. Red
Bluff, California
From Seaside we took the RV to Red Bluff (population under 15,000) and parked our RV at a campground there. We stayed overnight to visit the Lassen Volcanic National Park whose dominant
feature is Lassen Peak. “At a little under 11,000 feet high, it is
the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southernmost in the Cascade
Range. The national park is one of the few areas in the world where all four
types of volcanoes — plug dome, shield, cinder cone, and strato — can be found in
one place…(and) the area is
still active with boiling mud pots, stinking fumaroles, and churning hot
springs.”
4. San
Simeon, California
Next, we took a
short detour to the town of San Simeon (population under 500), to see the Hearst Castle and the elephant seals.
The Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark (and a
California Historical Landmark) depicting the decadent lifestyle of the rich and famous. William Randolph Hearst, the publishing magnate, developed his media empire and built the
castle. He called it “a museum of the best things that I can secure.” When he died in 1951, the family gave the castle to the state of California.
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| elephant seal rookery |
The Elephant Seals Vista Point was just eight minutes away. The beach is the largest elephant seal rookery
on the West Coast, located just south of the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse. These animals are large oceangoing seals hunted to the brink of extinction
by the end of the 19th century. But numbers have since recovered, and the
northern species have chosen the Pacific Coast of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico
for mating.
5. Dana
Point, California
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| Dana Point Harbor |
From San
Simeon, we went toward San Diego, where we again treated ourselves to a week’s vacation at Diamond Resort International’s Riviera Shores,
on the Pacific Coast Highway. Dana Point
(population 34,000), has one of the few harbors along the Orange County coast
with ready access via State Route 1. Named after Richard Henry Dana, Jr., author of Two Years Before the Mast which
described the area and neighboring San Juan Capistrano as “the only romantic
spot on the coast,” Dana Point has been designated a California Historical Landmark with miles of walkways and specialty shops, tasting rooms,
and waterfront restaurants and taverns around a 2,500-boat and yacht marina.
And we did not miss visiting Mission Capistrano, founded in 1776 by the Franciscan Order.
It features “the oldest building in California still in use, Serra’s Chapel,
built-in 1782. But the Mission is perhaps best known for the annual ‘Return of
the Swallows,’ a celebration of the swallows’ migration that’s observed every
March 19 and has become a favorite subject of renowned artists. Mission
Capistrano has been immortalized in books and films more than any other mission
because of this event.”
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