Cycling the Oregon Coast: Bike and Book tour Part II
We pedaled into California yesterday, waving goodbye to the beautiful Oregon coast. The weather for the past two weeks has been glorious. (It stopped raining as soon as we crossed the Columbia River from Washington to Oregon, of course.) Every night, we have camped to the sound of the ocean at one of the many stunning Oregon state campground hiker-biker sites along this popular cycling route. We have spotted grey whales spouting offshore, watched fabulous sunsets over the jagged sea stacks along the coast, picnicked with dear friends who drove all the way over the coast range to meet us from the Willamette Valley. And eaten many ice-cream cones. The last action, a necessity given the many tough miles each day of pedaling up one steep rugged climb after another.
I have to say I don’t mind fueling our trip with ice-cream instead of gas. It’s a lot more fun, especially since we have been cycling through the land of Tillamook and Umpqua (which are famous in the Northwest for—you guessed it–ice-cream). And while a gallon of gas costs about the same as a gallon of ice cream, the latter is a lot more environmentally friendly!
Lorenz and I had wondered what we would feel about pedaling the four hundred mile Oregon coast from Astoria to Brookings since we had cycled the northern part of the coast on our very first family bicycle tour when Yvonne was three and Anya was five. Packing Yvonne into the bike trailer surrounded by a tent, toys and sleeping bags, Lorenz huffed and struggled up the steep hills as I strained to pull Anya along behind me on a Trail-a-Bike. We played in tidepools with the girls, built sandcastles, spotted sea lions and whales and toured the Tillamook factory to eat (surprise!) ice cream. We returned home with sand in our shoes and dreams of more family bicycle adventures to come. It seemed a hard act to follow!
But the Oregon coast is just too beautiful to see once. On our journey by bike with the girls, we saw the world at
kids’ (aka ground) level. Seashells, blueberry bushes (with delicious blueberries to eat), carousels and anemones were the stars of the day. This time, we looked up and out at the top of each five to eight hundred foot climb to discover that the coast was filled with dramatic cliffs, stunning sea stacks and natural arches, and miles of pristine, unspoiled sandy beaches (Oregon’s beaches are all state owned, free to the public and protected from private industry). Lorenz, the engineer, delighted in inspecting each of the many historic bridges we crossed over the sparkling rivers rushing into the ocean. And I relished moments sitting peacefully at a small local café we had just found overlooking the bay of a cute fishing village.
The one constant of course, for both kids and adults remains: ice-cream.
