Cannon Beach, Oregon -- AWESOME!

Tues, Aug 29
Victorian House, Built in 1888
We toured a beautiful mansion built in 1888 by a doctor in Eugene. It’s built on a hillside, and since the town water supply didn’t go that far, the doctor joined the water board, then paid to have the main water line run PASSED his house. He also provided an acre of his land on the hill to act as the city reservoir, and he paid for the pumps that could pump the water up the hill. The paper at the time said the house cost the doctor $8,000 to build!
He was only able to live in it five years, before he died. His daughter was married in the house, and lived in it over 60 years. None of her children wanted the house, so eventually, the City of Eugene acquired it and paid nearly $1M to have it restored.
It has 12 foot tall ceilings and exquisite woodwork inside. After the family sold it and before Eugene acquired it, it was used as a boarding house, so some later additions made it more practice for use as a boarding house.

Leaving Eugene, we drove to the Oregon Garden near Salem. It was spectacular and probably the model for how to operate a large natural display of plants and trees and make it easily accessible to the public. It also serves a great purpose for the city; the treated wastewater is too warm to return to the stream near town, so the city have to do something with the water.
The city constructed some “wetlands” near the gardens and pipe their wastewater into a series of 15 pools. As the water flows from the higher pools to the lower pools, it flows through plant areas. When it reaches the lowest level, it is stored in an underground reservoir for the garden’s use as irrigation, so the garden pays almost nothing for irrigating all their displays.
The site is a former horse ranch, so there are existing building that were easily modified for other purposes. With the natural slope of the lands, there is a large amphitheater, and the converted horse barn can seat 1200 for meals! They do a lot of corporate meetings there.
The latest addition is a hotel chain is building a large destination resort hotel on the edge of the property. Their goal is to provide $100/night rooms, which will include tickets to the garden.
The site is large enough, you can ride an open tram through the paved areas, with the driver narrating the different areas. Some of the gardens are managed by local nurseries, so they get a lot of advertising from their designs.
I pointed out to Chari how I wanted my burial plot to appear; she wanted me to lie down, so she could photograph me in it, but the rocks looked too uninviting; I sat in the chair instead!
Again, spectacular plants and flowers, and with the bright sunshine today, we took over 100 pictures!

On toward Portland, then left to the coast along Sunset Highway. That was appropriate as it was late afternoon. Tally and Jack left a phone message at 5:30 (mountains are a mess with cell phones!) saying they were 30 minutes out, which is about what we were.
We arrived about five minutes after they did. After lots of hugs in the parking lot, we shared a few glasses of wine, then headed to their favorite eating place, Bill’s Tavern and Grill.
The Clam Chowder was EXCELLENT. Chari and I each had Fish and Chip, again EXCELLENT.
We’d missed sunset by a few minutes, but walking back to the motel, we walked at the edge of the beach, and took some great pictures.
Jack & Tally’s dog Annie has some unique habits! While in their room before dinner, we watched as it jumped on the bed, then pawed at the bed spread to remove it, so the dog could sleep on the sheets!
Following dinner, in our room, Annie jumped on our bed, and likewise, pawed the bed spread and covers back to get to the sheets to sleep. When it was time for them to leave, Annie didn’t want to get up, so we almost had company for the night—Annie!
Temperature: Excellent
Food: Excellent
Morale: Excellent!

Wed, Aug 29
Tally came over about 8AM yelling “LOW Tide—we gotta go NOW!” So we did. Walked along the beach to Haystack Rock. It was Awesome. Lots of people; lots of dogs (Golden Retrievers are very popular here); and lots of fun!
Saw a group on horseback who were having a great time.
After a leisurely walk exploring all the ocean front, we returned to the lodge for bagels, cappuccino, and visiting. It was wonderful.

After late morning nap for Ron and Jack (the girls went shopping), it was off to window shop, eat some pizza, followed by ice cream, yada, yada.

Strange that I get unlimited phone reception ON the beach, but no service in the Motel! Chari talked to her Mom for a long time this morning, while strolling on the sand.........

This is the first motel we've stayed at that included a flier titled "Tsunami Warning Plan" in the folder! HUH? Basically, it said "run to high ground!"

Morale: Do you even need to ask??????????