The US Route 101: Along the Oregon Coast Highway

As all road trips must start with breakfast and bacon, we had pancakes and giant bacons at The Original Pancake House. We chanced upon this historic restaurant, founded back in 1953, when we filled up for gas.

I was sad to leave Portland but I was looking forward to beginning the leg of this trip along the Oregon Coast Highway, the scenic route of all scenic routes. It was a blessing that we didn’t know just how long it would take to transverse this highway all the way to our final stop in California or else we would have had some misgivings.

Our first stop was Haystack Rock on Clatsop County, Oregon. This majestic rock is the first thing you’ll see when you get down to Cannon Beach. Overcast skies, as Oregon is known to have this time of year, it made the rock all the more stand tall as we walked along the beach. A work of God indeed, formed millions of years ago from lava flow from the Grand Ronde Mountains. 

Perhaps because I was born and raised in the Philippines, an archipelago, which basically means that my birth country is actually a collection of 7,100  islands put together; I didn't always see the water, but I was keenly aware that I was always surrounded by bodies of water. Whenever I see the ocean or even a river, I am immediately filled with a calmness. It is a reminder for me that God's power keeps everything in my life in balance. In Seattle, we stayed near the Waterfront. In Portland, the Willamette River was our constant point of reference in finding our way around the city.

When we reached Cannon Beach, I knew we had finally reached the Pacific Ocean. The same ocean that connected us to home. We would continue on along the US Route 101, also called Oregon Coast Highway and Pacific Coast Highway in Oregon and California, respectively.

"I want to see lighthouses! Like those found in Batanes!" I said. Not that I have ever been there but I have seen pictures on Facebook. The hopeless romantic that I am, traveling along the coast, I was being drawn towards lighthouses, the kind you see on postcards.

"Batanes? You're hard to please," he said with a smile.

So we drove on. It was actually noon-ish by then but we wanted to cover more mileage. We ate Pringles for lunch.

Our next stop was Yaquina Head Lighthouse. I was not disappointed when we got to this beautiful lighthouse. Standing at 93 feet, it is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. It was built in 1873 and is said to be haunted. Unfortunately, origin of the ghost stories remain unverified to this day. Beside the lighthouse stands many of the haystacks that we would see all throughout the entire stretch of the coast highway. We saw many different kinds of birds sitting on these rocks. The puffins were one of the species we saw because they looked like smaller versions of penguins.

It was getting dark fast so we decided that we would find a place to sleep for the night when we got to our next stop. We drove on for another four hours and found a Quality Inn on North Bend. Our standard double occupancy room was so big you could stuff his apartment or mine in it. As soon as we checked-in and dropped off our luggages in the room, we drove around and looked for a place to eat. We decided we were having Chinese food to celebrate the miles we traveled that day. We're just ordinary people that way.