We've reached the ocean for sure. I can tell because many shops here sell "global clothing". Near the ocean here, this means "brightly colored solids and prints with waving palm branches and an occasional coconut". Specifically, we're in Newport, Oregon, home of a Ripley's Believe It or Not and a Wax Works museum. It's the Gatlinburg/Niagara Falls of the West, I guess. I'm still dying to buy a clam or something from a guy next to the road selling food out of the bed of his Toyota.
This morning we saw otters playing and hunting in the pounding surf. We also saw a 50-something surfer checking out the waves near the Devil's Punchbowl. He had his board tucked into a Nike surf-cozy on the top of his mini-van. It's never too late retirees!
Yesterday we visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We watched an assembly line of near-40lb blocks of cheese get sliced and vacuum packed for the store. They also had a display showing why milk is so expensive because there are 15 different things that they need to feed the cows (in addition to grass, that is). I wonder how much our milk would be if the cows ate what they were designed to eat? Hmmm...
I'm pretty excited because I got an email reply from the College of the Redwoods Fine Furniture School and I think we're going to stop through to visit the place. This is James Krenov's school, a man I really admire for his philosophy on workmanship and craft. He believes that the wood determines what it wants to be in the hands of the patient craftsman. I would love to go to this school, but it's really expensive for out-of-staters and ridiculously cheap for residents.
My time on the Newport Library free internet is up for now so I'll end this post. I'm enjoying the road, but definitely missing the roots.
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Recalling my days of "Western" watching, one of the plants indigenous to those parts was the tumbleweed. Never did find out where they actually ended up!
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