Well the forecast was right.

The weather channel predicted rain in the morning a brightening later in the day with more rain in the evening – and that is pretty much what happened. The sea lions/seals were in good voice in the harbour but I couldn't get close for a decent photograph.

It was raining when I left Astoria and visibility was so poor it really wasn’t worth hanging about. Once on the road refuelled the car with the help of Phil (great name for a pump attendant! Phil/fill?) then headed down Highway 101 and got my first views of the Pacific Ocean. Rain eased at times but it was falling most of the time. Stopped off at Tillamook Air Museum after a couple of hours (yes another aeroplane museum) which is housed in a WWII airship hanger,so it was all under cover.

These hangers were built in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the need to protect ships supplying Britain. There were 19 hangers in total dotted along the east and west coasts. The huge structures were made from wood, which was readily available from the Washington and Oregon forests, and avoided using metals that were needed for war time equipment and weapons. One of the bigger exhibits is one of the guppys built to ship the Saturn 5 rocket engines across the USA. The plane here carried the first space craft to leave the Solar System,  Pioneer 10, to Florida for it's launch.

Guppy that carried Pioneer 10.

A lot of the planes are privately owned and still fly on a regular basis. Planes include a Stearman trainer, Spanish built Messerschmitt ME109 (which used a RR Merlin engine!), Catalina, Corsair and many others. There was also a F14 Tomcat but this is not airworthy.  Had lunch here and then back on the road. The scenery was giving brief glimpses of what the coast has to offer but the weather remained lousy.

Had another stop at Yaquina Head light house but the wind here was pretty ferocious and any toupees would have been in serious trouble.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse.

A final quick stop at the impressive Devil’s churn, a narrow inlet gradually being made wider by the force of the Pacific waves, then on into Florence, Oregon.

Devil's Churn

The rain had eased off by now but a tiring journey of fog, heavy rain, sunshine and drizzle.