Portland to Seattle

When we left Portland for our drive to Seattle, we decided to go via the Oregon coast. We drove west, and in about one and a half hours we were in Cannon Beach. It was chilly and windy, but sunny. The Oregon beaches are really spectacular, with fine white sand, whitewater, and dramatic rock formations. This one, at Cannon Beach, is called Haystack Rock:


Even the 'plain' stretches of beach are beautiful:

We didn't have much time, so we settled for having lunch (salmon sandwiches) and vowing to return if we move to Portland.

Then we headed north into Washington and stopped by to visit an old school friend of Steve's, Tom, who lives in Longview. Tom lives in a pretty little valley where he's created his own small tree farm. This is the kind of view he sees every day:

With our side trips, it took us most of the day to reach Seattle, a trip that with good weather and traffic can take only two to three hours.