The Oregon Trail

I've been having such a difficult time with the photos of this post, so I apologize for the delay.   I'm in Portland.   It's cold, gray and rainy...but it's a nice change from Phoenix.    

Coos Bay was a little disappointing.  It wasn't the seaside town I expected. It was also really cold and wet, so camping was not an option.   However, there were some pretty amazing sand dunes located here that stretched for miles up the coast.   

Also in Coos Bay was the McCullough Memorial Bridge, completed in 1936.   Another art deco gem of Oregon.

Since I arrived so early to my destination I decided to keep driving up the coast.    I got up to Florence and cut back inland towards Eugene and spent the night at a little roadside motel called the Broadway Inn.   While searching for an internet connection there I came across the funniest wireless account I'd ever seen.   Clearly this guy has issues.

Eugene was uninspiring, so in the morning I headed up to Portland and stopped in Salem along the way.   Salem is the Capitol of Oregon.   The Capitol building is once again in the art deco style and was built circa 1938.   It replaced an earlier building from 1876 that was destroyed by fire in 1935.   I am unaware of any other art deco capitol buildings in the country, so I think it's pretty unique.   I went inside because I was curious about what the dome looked like, and here is it.

There was some interesting public art on the Capitol grounds, but the most interesting to me were these column remnants from the previous structure.   I thought it was an interesting way of bridging the gap between buildings.

While in Salem I stopped at a coffeehouse, sent my resume out for a few jobs I saw in the area, and made reservations through Hotwire.com for Portland.    I ended up getting a room at the Hotel Vintage Plaza pictured below.   The very top of the hotel has a glass mansard roof, and that's where my room is.   Interestingly, the building to the left of the Vintage is The Hotel Lucia, which was where I stayed upon my first visit to Portland about 6 or 7 years ago.

After getting checked in, I immediately walked over to Jake's Grill.    I discovered it last October on a trip with my friend Loren.    They have the best happy hour prices.   Items from the menu that normally would be $12 are only $1.95!    Oyster shooters...DELICIOUS!   On the day I was there the staff was proudly walking around with a rather large Maine Lobster for the purpose of guessing it's weight.   Whoever guessed the correct weight got to eat it.    It was 5lbs, no lobster for me.

I am heading to Tillamook  tomorrow for cheese and then to then Astoria for a night or two.