Road Trip – Omaha to Seattle – Day 13 – Olympic NP -Portland, OR – September 23, 2010

Woke up at the oceanside campsite in the tent at about 5 am to some more rain, and some winds making the tent bend into me. It didn't sound too horrible though, and I was still warm, so it wasn't like the surprise I got at Glacier NP. I went back to bed, but really didn't sleep that well until I got up at about 8. Went down to beach and took in the sight, and then cooked some bacon, eggs, and toast on the stove I borrowed. It was delicious! Much better than the gas station food I've been snacking on. Anyway, it was raining, and Tom was a bit hungover from finishing a bottle and a half of wine the night before, so we headed down the road as soon as possible. We decided to head toward Oregon and get some extra time there before he flies out Sunday morning. The first area of note we reach is Aberdeen, WA, where Kurt Cobain grew up. So I did a little internet look up real quick and we went and saw his boyhood home. We needed gas and tried to go to the station that Kurt's father worked at, but it was gone. It has been about 25 years since he lived there so not a surprise a lot of things have changed.
Next stop was planned to be Astoria, OR, but we were on the 101, which goes all down the coast pretty much the whole way, so we saw some cool little beach towns we liked and pulled in to get some pictures and nature and what have you. We stopped in a little town called Seaview, and it was quite beautiful. You could drive down the beach if you desired, we did for a little bit, but as my car is questionable and the sand was a bit wet and deep, decided it wasn't the best idea. The sky was gorgeous, though, a huge wall of clouds was stacked up with a partially blue sky and about 50 seagulls just sitting about 50 yards away. I chased the birds into flight and created a really great picture, and after about 50 other pics there, we forged ahead.
Saw a really cool church on the side of the road just as the sun peeked out and got some great pics. Random remember: There are a lot of funny towns and names of things that strike you and you remember. This trip so far through Washington has had a Kitchen-Dick Road, and a town called Humptulips. Thought I should share. Anyways... After the church we arrived in the port town of Astoria, WA. This was where they shot the movie The Goonies, and I again retrieved some addresses from the internet. What did we ever do without the internet?? The drive in was beautiful, there was a huge bridge into town, and large boats in the harbor, a mess of sailboats in the marina, and the whole town just had a cool vibe. We drove to the location of Mikey's home in the Goonies and took some pictures. Evidently, the house was up for foreclosure and scheduled to be torn down, but a fan bought the house to make it her own. She has a sign in the drive to welcome fans and the internet said that she will even give free tours. We just took some pics and moved on, but it was neat. There was another group of kids there too, so we didn't feel like huge nerds, but I embrace my nerdiness, Tom kinda slinked off to the car when other people arrived.
After that we ate at The Ship Inn. A good looking fish place. I saw an old man who apparently had a #2 accident in his pants in the parking lot and knew it would be a good meal. I had a cup of clam chowder, excellent, and ordered a combination fish and chips with halibut, fresh, scallops, shrimp, cod, and an oyster. Pretty fantastic. I also had a Black Butte Porter, which is made in the middle of Oregon, and supposedly named after a real place. Black Butte is a volcanic butte with a stream running out of it and you can't tell where the source is because it is hidden under former lava flows. We then went to a thrift shop and I bought a local t-shirt for 2 bucks. Tom's idea. I may incorporate it into my travels. Cheap and good souvenirs. Stopped at a Ross clothing store for Tom to buy a hoodie, got some maps, and hit the gas station and continued down the coast until we reached Cannon Beach.
Looked ok from the 101, so we pulled in. It became the highlight of the day. We stumbled upon an awesome beach with huge rocks jutting out of the water. I began snapping photos immediately, and didn't stop for about an hour. No kidding. This place was great. It was overcast and the sky had no color at all, but the pictures were still great. There is one huge rock monolith, and several smaller varying sizes around it. As I got closer realized there were really cool rocks too. These were covered in mussels and clam and snails and things I know not the name of. Get closer and there are literally hundreds of live orange and purple and a couple red live starfish all over the beach. Just gorgeous! Words cannot describe. Probably top 10 beautiful places, and if there was a clear sky, who knows.
We thought we would leave and try and get to Tillamook before sundown, realized that was impossible, went maybe 10 miles down the road to try and get last light photos, but nothing really materialized. There was no sunset really, it was so overcast. Oh well, can't have a 100% awesome day, but we were close. We drove into Portland and got a Motel 6 in the middle of down town and got ready for the morning. Tom checked the weather, 81 and sunny with a 10% chance of precipitation in the Columbia River Gorge! We should get there in just over an hour, and I'll be able to hike in shorts! (fingers crossed) I have had a lot of rain on this trip. Should be a blessing if I see that. Got internet service and thought I would check my credit card to see how much I put on there for the trip so far to see if I needed to make a payment. Was still about 1000 away from my limit, but I thought I would check my bank account balance. I look and I am $375 overdrafted when I should have about $2000 in there! Arrgh! Looks as if someone has charged $2900 to the account in the last 5 days. The bank is closed, but I thought I'd check my other cards also in case it was some internet fraud or something and had access to multiple accounts. I check my Citi card and there has been $2500 in payments made to the card in the last 5 days. 20 minutes of being on the phone later, we decide to change my password and get ahold of the bank in the morning. I did not authorize any payments, but there was a $200 payment made and cancelled on the 14th, a $2000 payment made on the 19th, a $500 payment made on the 22nd, and a pending $400 payment made today, the 23rd. So weird, they said it was set up online, but I have never SCHEDULED a payment, I just go on and make a payment. And even if I did it by accident, they were all different amounts, weirdly spaced days of payment, one was canceled.... just strange. And if someone had access to my credit card OR bank account, why would anyone make a payment from account to another??? So strange. I changed my password, got the money refunded, and now I have to call the bank in the morning to do some more work on my savings protection and the overdraft fees. Yeah! I don't know, it's getting late and I am tired, so peace out. Until tomorrow.....