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.