It was the time around Christmas and New year’s, I think I made it back to Canada towards the end of the second week of January. The last place I had visited and a very good way to end the photographic journey of the trip was Cannon Beach. Not too different from the other beautiful beaches in northern Oregon, but definitively a highlight, as it combined many of the great things on other Oregon beaches.
A little beachtown with the pretty wooden architecture, a bunch of rocks out in the sea and a several kilometre long beach which ended in a bunch of sand dunes on the side without the town. The circumstance that was extraordinary that day was the weather and the resulting mood in combination with the big rock out in the sea on the evening I spent there. I had walked around the beach and the dunes for quite a while before I made it to the main part of the beach with the giant rock in front around sunset time. There were too many clouds for the actual sunset but when blue hour came along after it made for a great mood and images. It seemed as if water and fog were one, there was no distinctive line separating them. When I walked back to the car the whole town was covered in a thick fog and every light looked amazing shining through it. I pretty much called taking photos after that night, it couldn’t get much better.It was the time around Christmas and New year’s, I think I made it back to Canada towards the end of the second week of January. The last place I had visited and a very good way to end the photographic journey of the trip was Cannon Beach. Not too different from the other beautiful beaches in northern Oregon, but definitively a highlight, as I combined many of the great things on other Oregon beaches. A little beachtown with the pretty wooden architecture, a bunch of rocks out in the sea and a several kilometre long beach which ended in a bunch of sand dunes on the side without the town. The circumstance that was extraordinary that day was the weather and the resulting mood in combination with the big rock out in the sea on the evening I spent there. I had walked around the beach and the dunes for quite a while before I made it to the main part of the beach with the giant rock in front around sunset time. There were too many clouds for the actual sunset but when blue hour came along after it made for a great mood and images. It seemed as if water and fog were one, there was no distinctive line separating them. When I walked back to the car the whole town was covered in a thick fog and every light looked amazing shining through it. I pretty much called taking photos after that night, it couldn’t get much better.
Sunset over a rocky beach I, Oregon, USA
The same beach, just a bit further south and a little later, the two rocks from the photo above can still be seen on the far right. Thankfully these two people on their sunset beach walk added a lively element to the photo.
Sunset over a rocky beach II, Oregon, USA
One of the best things about the west coast are its sunsets, picture perfect every time, especially in the wintertime. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the sun setting pretty much exactly between those two rocks.
It was the time around new year’s, I can’t remember exactly where I was that day, same for Christmas, just that I spent the night on some sort of residential back road, a bit further from the sea, trying to avoid fines handed out by the police.
The touristy towns and coastal parking lots all had signs stating that camping was prohibited. As it was holiday season so quite a few other people were around as well as law enforcement. If I recall correctly the treat of the day for new year’s eve was a Little Caesars pizza, hot and ready, but cold once I reached my sleeping spot. Still, I munched it in, fast food does taste good, but this is pretty much the only thing good about it. I was looking forward to be able to make my own food again, cook a healthy dinner with fresh ingredients and lots of vegetables. I had forced myself to eat car made salads for the last three months and even though they did their job in not letting me gain to much weight and keep me fresh and healthy, I have to say I was quite sick of them, the ready made sugary dressings I used, cutting my fingers with the knife because of the lack of a cutting board… It was time to live in something else than a vehicle again, It had been nine months after all. Thinking back, the lack of comfort wasn’t the issue, I had slept in some of the most remote, quiet places, the car had an acceptable single bed mattress that I bought new for 100 Canadian dollars at a thrift store. Food and nutrition were the biggest drawbacks of the lifestyle. Of course I could’ve eaten at a restaurant every day, but the quality of food in low- to mid-class restaurants was just terrible in the USA. In the hipper towns there might have been fancy vegetarian or even vegan restaurants, but considering the prices for organic produce at the supermarkets this would’ve blown the budget as I was roughly spending between 2000-2500 Euros a month already on gas, food and the occasional accommodation.
Oregon coast, Oregon, USA
I just loved the Oregon coast, the wild cliffs, big surf, big untouched beaches and the misty woods. I could imagine living in this area and climate, not too warm or cold, very wet. Compared to California Oregon seemed deserted, especially in the coastal regions. The bridge on the left is part of Highway 101, going all the way from southern Californian coast as close to Canada as it could get. A drive of a lifetime for sure.
Moody beach, Oregon, USA
I would normally consider myself the sunshine kind of weather kinda guy, coming from western Germany where everything else than sunny is just a sad grey. But in Oregon shitty weather was different, great moods, fog, humidity. I had already noticed in Vancouver that there are different types of bad weather and here I found it quite enjoyable.
I left the following day and slept somewhere close to Astoria to make it through the town and over the massive bridge crossing the Columbia river into Washington. I didn’t do much there, even though it had one last national park that I could’ve visited, Olympic national park. It might have been closed due to the winter conditions anyway but I decided against going without checking, I’ve had my fun and this might’ve been the one climb to above 2000m pushing it too far.
It was basically another mountain surrounded by smaller mountains and forests close to the ocean. But I ve had enough, drove past it, made it through the extremely dense traffic in Seattle and decided to sleep one more night in the US before attempting to re-enter Canada. The last sleeping spot in the United States was next to a lake in a parking lot that served as a lookout as well. It was the weekend so a couple of people were hanging out and drinking. After about 25-30.000 km Eddy was showing further signs of our long journey, the headlights started aching, every time I stopped for the night or anything else that took more than a couple of hours I had to take out the fuse for the headlights as they just wouldn’t turn off any more, now it was even more scary to try to start the car just to hear a dying battery instead of a full startup. Maybe taking out the fuse wasn’t enough, but It never happened, and just as always, even after the coldest nights Eddie would prove that he was build to last.
