Oct 7 - Oregon capitol and shoreline

We had decided that today would be a “short” day. Our plan was to drive to Salem, the capital city of Oregon and visit the state capital. Then we were going to tour a winery and come back to Portland for an early dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It started out ok until we made the first detour to see Brooks Plaza. I could not resist getting a picture since it really reminded me of Brooks. We were sort of glad we took that detour because we saw the sign designating the area as the 45th parallel (half way between the North Pole and the equator.) We got to Salem and found the capital. The tour was rather short because we were disappointed in the structure. I thought it was probably built in the 70’s when that modernistic style was popular. I was shocked to learn it was built 1932-38 timeframe. Also, there is no visible security. Specifically there is no checkpoint when you go into the capital. We “toured” on our own and saw the Senate and House chambers. The foyer had murals around the ceiling and one of them represented the Lewis and Clark expedition through Oregon. The grounds were also different with large marble carvings of pioneer figures. As you can see they have a “liberty bell” and a sculpture of beavers. From there we toured a winery near the coast but were really disappointed. They didn’t offer a tour of the actual winery; rather, they emphasized their gift shop. We decided to pass up the other wineries because they all looked like “one man operations.” We thought we would ride to the coast and take highway 101 up the coast to Portland. Turns out highway 101 north of Lincoln City only touches the coast once (that is where the sea gull was.) We did take a 20 mile detour to Cape Meares to see the lighthouse since the charm for my bracelet is of this lighthouse. That is where we also spotted the multi-trunk tree and the beautiful ferns. The shoreline here is typical of what we previously saw on the Pacific in California. We did get back to Portland for the Spaghetti Factory but it was later than we initially planned. Another great day.