Life of Wry

We headed out after breakfast, bound for dinner in Mapleton with Lauren and Lucas. A lot of beauty, most of it wet, was had in between!

Alsea (pronounced Al-See) was basically our first stop, about 45 minutes into our drive. It wasn’t going to be a stop, except that Deb’s Cafe jumped out at us.. and, well, there was pie, and cobbler, and coffee… and a fun conversation with Deb.

We drove through the Siuslaw National Forest and a lot of rain… saw lichen-covered white oak trees…

… and about an hour later arrived in Waldport, on the beautiful — if cloudy/wet — Oregon coast. This is us posing in front of our friend Karen’s husband Steve’s family’s former beach cottage. Carrie stayed there once and knew where it was. It’s wet.

We poked around Waldport a little, looking at bridges and such, then continued south along the coast to places like Yachats. Still wet.

It’s a windy road, 101, and takes you through forested areas that border the ocean..

We passed places like Cape Perpetua and this neat place (name of which escapes)..

Passed this very cool bridge..

And views like this… (the rain has let up!)

This was a pull out that gave us a nice view of the Haceta Head lighthouse.. (the skies are clearing a bit!)

We got up close to this guy..

Really up close…

Then moved on to a place called Darlingtonia Wayside where the Darlingtonia grow..

These are amazing!

We finally got to Florence at about 2:00. Florence is a sweet town with lots of shops and restaurants, a historic bridge, a harbor, etc. Lucas and Lauren took me there the last time (first time) I visited them in June 2022. I was able to find the same gallery/shop where I’d purchased some sea glass art and bought another one. L&L’s daughter Lalita lives there, as well.

The drive to Mapleton is only about 15-20 minutes from Florence. It was a gorgeous drive along the Siuslaw River..

We got to L&L’s at about 3:00. They live right on the Siuslaw River and run a Bed and Breakfast called Lauren’s Place. We spent a couple hours talking, looking around, then had a wonderful dinner! Baked salmon in a pastry with pesto and spinach. Also sweet potatoes and a great salad, plus wines (we brought).

Carrie and I took off about 7. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get home.

Whatta great day.