Yachats and LaDeDa plus a slug

The drive of the day was through Florence, Oregon and north on the Coast Highway past the first stunning view of the Pacific we encountered when we moved here, Heceta Lighthouse.


I added a close-up


Then there was Yachats(pronounced "Yah-hawts") the destination of the day for was the Mushroom Festival and Salmon Bake held there annually (we were honored that this was the first year they used ceramic vs paper plates for the salmon bake). Yachats is a town located in Lincoln County Oregon. The mushroom festival and salmon bake was moved into the community center and it was kind of like the crafts festivals in some of the small New England towns we used to patronize. We ate, met some nice folks from Salem, bought some goat cheese, an Iris, a wooden spatula and that was Yachats. Their city motto was rather unique. Unlike a purposeful saying like Ferris, Texas' "Forward Ever - Backward Never" It was a rather lackadaisical "LaDeDa"


We actually spent a little more time at another great coastal stop, Cape Perpetua National Recreation Area. The Cape is just south of Yachats and was actually participating in the Mushroom Festival by giving nature walks to show how the mushrooms grow wild in the forest along the coast. The center for Cape Perpetua had this wonderful sculpture of a whale in front of the building.



The views of the forest as it drops into the sea are spactacular and the wind shaped trees are magnificant.






On the way back to the car from the center I took this picture of some stairs and started to get into the car when Sharyn (my top navigator) spotted something on the stairs. You can see it on the face of the third stair from the bottom. On closer inspection.....

..... it was a 6 inch Banana Slug, mascot of University of California Santa Cruz Yuck!!!!!


A little further south I stopped for a picture of some driftwood dragons (they looked a lot like that slug) I had seen on the way up to Yachats.


The dragons were cute but on the other side of the highway was a common but beautiful view of the coastal woods I'm glad I noticed. I love this place (Oregon Coast) and it's simple beauty. This spot is near Point Cook named after the explorer Captain James Cook.


Scrabble Score - put two more games in the contender's column and I know Scrabble queen is plotting sweet revenge in her dreams.....

Quote of the Day

"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again." ~ James Cook