Does it always rain in Oregon?

Ever since I left Washington state and entered Oregon it seems to have been raining. I left the hotel in Florence ( my room didn’t have a great view other than trees) and made the short drive down to the old town. This is about the only original part of town that survived a massive fire in 1936. The area is dominated by craft and gift shops as well as plenty of places to eat. This is also where the fishing boats and private boats moor up. 

Fishing Boat at Florence

Florence’s other claim to fame is that it was the site where, in 1970,  the state highway division decided to get rid of a beached sperm whale by blowing it up, but it seems they used too much explosive as the explosion threw guts and chunks of dead whale over 800 ft away.

When looking up places in America you have to be careful to get the right place as there are many palces with the same name. It is worth checking you have typed the correct place into the GPS before heading off in to the unknown. This is illustrated by a sign in Florence old town that gives distances to other places called Florence in the USA. They don't seem to worry about the one in Italy!

Florences in USA

After a short trip around the shops I got back onto Highway 101 and headed down the coast. There was plenty of dramatic scenery, albeit limited by the fog and mists. After a couple of hours I took a detour to the Cape Arago State Park which overlooks the ocean and has a large colony of seals on the small islands just off shore. I braved the rain and made the short walk to the viewing area where the seals could be seen and heard.

On the way back to the Highway the GPS took me along the 7 Devils road, a great rolling, twisting road with very little traffic on it. The rest of the journey to Brookings was a mixture of roads through forest or along the coast, all very dramatic.

Dramatic Coastline Scenery. 

The rock formations along the beaches are quite surreal at times, especially those that have pines trees growing on unfeasibly small spaces.

Once at Brookings checked into the motel (Brookings Inn Resort) then went for a meal next door in the Flying Gull restaurant. Having skipped lunch I went for their seafood platter which should keep me full for a while!
Tomorrow should see me enter California and the Redwood National Park.