While I’m traveling I do more things than I can remember or all write down, but fortunately I also take a lot of pictures. At the moment I have a few days in a hotel to relax and not do so much. So, time to update the travel blog.
I wrote my previous update at a bookstore in Bend. That afternoon I went on to discover more of the city, visited more of the many bookstores and coffee places and also visited the last Blockbuster in the world. For my Dutch friends: Blockbuster was something like Videoland where you could rent movies. It was huge back in the day, with over than 9000 stores worldwide and interestingly enough they refused to invest in Netflix when they got an offer. If they had done that, perhaps they would still be around, but now there is only one left here in Bend, Oregon. I think it’s a good cautionary tale showing the importance to keep innovating. Anyhow, it was fun to see the store with many old movies. A bit of nostalgia. I don’t have a dvd player with me, so I stick to books today and do some reading in the evening by the fireplace in the hotel lobby.
On the day of my departure from the hotel I drive to Smith Rock State Park. A friend back home had recommended to visit it and it’s beautiful indeed. It’s a state park with big red rocks and reminds me a bit of Garden of the Gods in Colorado. I don’t feel like a long hike today though and just walk around there for a while. I notice that I’m still a bit tired from traveling so much in the previous day and so I send a message to the hotel asking if I can stay another night. They give me a good price and so I drive back to Bend. When I arrive at the hotel, I find upon asking that I can even get the same room as where I stayed the previous nights. I’m very happy, it feels a bit like coming home. I relax in the evening with a movie and ice cream and wake up well rested and energized the next morning. This was just what I needed.
This time I leave Bend for good and drive west in the direction of the city of Eugene. Someone said it was a fun college town, but when I arrive I find out that it’s a very big city where it’s hard to park or finding out where to go. I stop at a Barnes and Noble, which is always fun, but decide not to stay here. I drive further to the small town of Cottage Grove where there is a Walmart to camp. I like smaller towns better. In one of the few restaurants I get a burger, fries and a beer for diner and then walk around town. There are some old bridges and houses to see. I’m surprised that one of them has a Sequoia tree planted in their backyard. What a fun idea, maybe I should do that at my parents house, haha!
I drive back to Walmart where I stay for the night and in the morning I wake up to a beautiful sunrise through a misty sky. Next to me are some Walmart trucks parked and I go in the store and notice that the people here are exceptionally friendly, even around 6am. One lady who works there tells me that’s because it’s a small town Walmart and a bit like a family store. For me it’s a happy start of the day.
With Google Maps I’ve set up the route for today, but somehow it leads me to a very small mountain road. As I keep driving, the road gets narrower and narrower. From time to time there are fallen rocks on the road and at one point there is even a big boulder in the middle of the road that I have to drive around. If I had known all this, I would have taken a different route, but since I’m already in it and there is no way to turn around I just keep going. Driving by a burned out car, several fallen trees and more rocks on the road I finally make it safely to the end of the mountain road. A fun mini adventure.
Back on the normal road I quickly arrive at Takotee falls, a pretty waterfall that’s just about a mile hiking away. I sit there for a while and read a bit until it gets busy with more people. Someone recommends me to als go to Watson falls, other waterfalls just about 10 minutes driving away. As it turns out this highway 138, North Umpqua Highway, has many waterfalls around it. I stop at a few, do some hikes and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Then I drive to Diamond Lake to have my lunch and drive further through the beautiful Oregon landscapes. When I see an ice cream store in the middle of nowhere in the forest, I have to make another stop of course. After that I continue driving all the way back to the coast. The road dips through California, but I don’t want to leave Oregon yet, so I drive a bit north again and stay in the town of Brookings. The last town at Highway 101 in Oregon. After dinner at Mc Donalds and a quick walk at the beach, I call it a day. It was a lot of driving again today and I feel that by now I have seen a lot of Oregon. Tonight I park at Fred Meyer, a different large grocery store. Someone had written a Google review saying that you can also park overnight there.
— I have cut this story up in two parts, because it had become very long. Read the second part here —
