The Countryside Route to Lincoln City, OR

"Well, you could take highways 99W and 18 (from Portland to Lincoln City, OR), but there's a lot of stop-and-go traffic on the two-lane highways." This was the answer I received when I asked about taking this route to our next stop.

But we wanted to see some countryside and towns rather than staying on I-5 for a longer period before heading west on highway 22 and connecting with highway 18 near Lincoln City.

And as is often the case, the roads less traveled possess surprises. We passed what we later learned was the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum is located in McMinnville.

The museum is best known as the home of the Spruce Goose, the world's largest propeller-driven airplane, built by the famed aviator Howard Hughes.

Unfortunately, we missed it.

But our consolation was the countryside of western Oregon.

We believe that these vertical columns (below) are sea stacks. Located just south of Lincoln City, these stacks are unusual but are not as spectacular as some of the others along the Oregon coast. Sea Stacks were once part of a headland, but the constant wearing of the ocean's waves eroded thinner and softer areas around a harder core, isolating it from the mainland.

We spent a few minutes just enjoying the scenes along the coast near Lincoln City.

So Here We Are…

in Silverlake, WA, awaiting two simultaneous miracles—the reopening of the Federal government which has led to the closing of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and the emergence of sunshine. Our wait was in vain.

The nearest city is Castle Rock, a humming burg of 1,982 just off I-5, which bills itself as the “Gateway to Mount St. Helens.”

Since diversions are in short supply in these parts when the National Monument is closed, we are forced to resort to dining locally.

Our first stop was at Parker’s Steakhouse & Brewery which was recommended to Chuck by a local—that is, if you consider: “It’s not bad” to be a recommendation.

When we arrived, the restaurant was virtually empty, but I suspect that given the presence of the Mt. St. Helens Motel just across the parking lot this is not the case during high tourist season.

Parker’s moved to this location from Longview, WA, a year or so ago because the kitchen space afforded more room for the brewery’s fermentation tanks. But beer was not part of our visit that day. Nor was entertainment. (The restaurant regularly features music and comedy acts.)

Some have described the interior as being similar to Denny’s or Shoney’s, although I found it to be more “upscale” than either. Still, in my notes, I wrote “clean and new, but nondescript with conflicting messages.” Just inside the doors sat this Victorian-like setee.

But the ceiling fixtures were more modern.

And, in the spirit of the upcoming holiday, atop the pastry case sat ghostly figures made of lace.

Chuck’s lunch choice was the ale (using one of their brews) battered halibut and chips.

The best thing on the plate may have been the house-battered chips (fries). The halibut also had a nice coating, but the fish underneath had been overcooked and was quite dry.

I chose the Washington oysters with mushrooms. Since I love both oysters and mushrooms, what could go wrong here? A couple of things.

I was not overly fond of the soft and rather thick breadcrumb coating on the oysters. That I might have forgiven. What I could not forgive was the over abundance of chopped garlic that obscured the taste of anything else.

Parker’s was the Number Two rated restaurant in Castle Rock on tripadvisor.com. I guess others liked it more than we did. We only give it a 2.5 Addie rating—and that may be a gift.

The next day found us back in Castle Rock for pizza at Papa Pete’s Pizza, a small “chain” with four restaurants in the area. This had been rated as the Number Three Castle Rock restaurant on tripadvisor.com, and given our experience the previous day, we weren’t sure what to expect.

We walked into a virtually empty restaurant. “Sit anywhere?” I asked the bored-looking young man behind the order counter.

“Yeah. Oh, there are some reserved tables in the back.” People make reservations to eat here?

Chuck went to the counter to place our pizza order and returned with two of the largest glasses of ice tea ever.

If you order a medium, each refill is 50¢. Refills on the large are free. But these are so big that I suspect that refills are seldom requested.

Soon our name was called, and Chuck went to retrieve our lunch.

I have to admit that the large sausage pizza was pretty good.

It had a nice thin crust, lots of mildly spicy fennel sausage, and the pizza maker honored our request for light cheese. One tripadvisor.com commenter stated that Papa Pete’s reminded him/her of Shakey’s Pizza. Not familiar with Shakey’s?

“Sherwood ‘Shakey’ Johnson opened the first Shakey's Pizza Parlor® in a remodeled grocery store on 57th and J Street in Sacramento, California in 1954. Originally established as ‘ye public house’ for pizza & beer, Johnson indulged his passion for Dixieland jazz and added live ragtime music to mix, featuring banjos and player pianos throughout his rapidly expanding franchise. As the concept caught on, the Shakey's name became synonymous with the World's Greatest Pizza™ along with light-hearted slogans such as ‘You'll have fun at Shakey's, also pizza,’ and ‘You can feed your face at any old place, but you can warm your heart at Shakey's’” (shakeys.com).

There was a Shakey’s in Iowa City back when Chuck and I were at the U of I. I really don’t remember much about the pizza. I remember sitting at long tables. I remember the ragtime music and the player piano. I remember that the first time we went there Chuck got carded—and I didn’t. Strange what one remembers.

So we had a “pretty good” sausage pizza. Could I leave well enough alone? No. I violated my pizza principle: “stick with the basics.” Papa Pete’s offers a mini pizza—about the size of a “personal” pizza, and I was intrigued by the smoked oyster version.

This may have been the vilest thing I have ever put in my mouth. I have eaten smoked oysters before but these were so smoked that it was like eating ashes. I ate two slices. I started on the third. I stopped. I threw the rest away. No way was I going to eat this cold for breakfast!

Had I stuck with the sausage, I probably would have rated Papa Pete’s at 3.5 Addies. But the smoked oysters lowered this to 2.0 Addies—and that may be another gift.

To review the role of Adler, Kitty Humbug, and the Addie rating system, read the November 14, 2011 blog.

In the Vicinity of Mount St. Helens

Our choice of an RV park in Silverlake, WA, was based on its location near Mount St. Helens. However, the recent government shutdown prevented any opportunity for "up close" views of the mountain, and overcast and foggy weather conditions made even views from the nearby highway turnouts impossible.

So we focused our attention on the sights of our nearby surroundings. The park is located on the canals of Silver Lake home to some of Washington's best bass fishing.

So even before reaching the lake, fishermen were enjoying their hobby.

Kayakers also enjoyed the calm waters of these canals,

while others enjoyed transportation on land.

We captured this view of a tree awash in the golden glow of sunset and

compared the view of this same tree in the silvery coat of fog the next morning.

We watched as the early morning fog gave way to the glow of sunrise.

Just four miles from the RV park was the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center at Silver Lake. The Center opened in 1987, and in 2007 Washington State Parks accepted ownership of the center from the U.S. Forest Service.

Visitors can explore Silver Lake via a mile-long trail, including boardwalks over wetlands. Taking this short walk was as close as we would come to viewing the site of the 1980 volcanic eruption...without actually seeing Mount St. Helens.

Of Floating Bridges and "Galloping Gertie"

Traveling on cloudy days is ideal—it’s usually cooler and there’s no sun glare no matter in what direction you’re driving.

And so it was when we left Sequim (WA), heading for Silverlake (WA). From US 101, we picked up WA 104…and soon after that sat at the side of the road for minor emergency road service.

The repairs completed, we headed across the Hood Canal on the William A. Bugge Bridge, a 7,869-foot floating bridge. It is the longest floating bridge in the world located in a saltwater tidal basin, and even though it has been around since 1961, I wish there were another word to identify the type of bridge it was, other than “floating.”

Picking up WA 3, we traveled to Port Orchard. Here we picked up WA 16 and soon reached The Narrows Strait of Puget Sound and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a pair of twin suspension bridges.

“Historically, the name ‘Tacoma Narrows Bridge’ has applied to the original bridge nicknamed ‘Galloping Gertie,’ which opened in July 1940 but collapsed because of aeroelastic flutter four months later, as well as the replacement of the original bridge which opened in 1950 and still stands today as the westbound lanes (Note: we were traveling in the eastbound lanes) of the present-day twin bridge complex” (wikipedia.org/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridges).

In Tacoma, we picked up I-5 and headed south. The Nisqually River Bridge was the third interesting bridge we crossed.

On this overcast, and now drizzly, day, we noticed little of the scenery through the clouds and rain, as we headed down I-5 to Castle Rock.

We then headed east on WA 504 to Silverlake and our next temporary home.

Here we caught some rare signs of fall. I say "rare" because compared to the hills of New England covered in color in the fall, the forests of the Northwest present a solid coat of pine green.

As we finished setting up the RV for our stay here, we were treated to this colorful sunset.

A colorful end to an overcast, gray day.