A short ride today because we had a mission we chose to accept: attending a 12:15 pm showing of Mission Impossible. But before we get to the highlights of the morning’s trip, we first have to wish a very happy 4th birthday to Hobie the wonder dog!
Now back to the cycling. It was a gorgeous morning!
We stopped to visit the Heceta Head Lighthouse.
From the trail to the lighthouse, we could see the bridge we’d soon be crossing.
After the bridge, we started our day’s climb. We pulled over at the first vista point (naturally) and watched the lighthouse beacon, which can be seen 21 miles from land and is the strongest light on the Oregon coast (thanks Oregon State Parks for that tidbit!). Look (very) carefully (maybe click the fullscreen button on the bottom right of the video) and you can see the light turn on at around 10 seconds.
As we were getting back on our bikes, we were passed by a pair of other touring cyclists. We rode close-ish to them (meaning, we could see them up ahead of us) for about 3 minutes, before they turned the bend and were gone. But, then we caught up to them and passed them! (They had stopped.) We didn’t see them again for the rest of the day.
Soon afterward, Glen captured this shot of Alissa and her new (wild) canine friend watching over her.
We chose to ignore the Sea Lion Caves, a roadside attraction just south of the lighthouse. When we first saw a billboard for them, we were super interested — America’s Largest Sea Cave. How could that not be cool? But after reading about the caves online and asking our Airbnb host, it sounded like a cheesy tourist trap. We were told that it would be really neat if the site had reamined natural, but it now has a “smelly Disneyland vibe”. Instead we saw more gorgeous coast until we arrived in Florence.
We enjoyed a post-movie treat at the northernmost A&W stand along the Pacific Coast.
