August 1st - Day 4 - Newport to Seattle, Washington

It's quite incredible how the climate along the Pacific coast differs from that a few miles inland. Here in Newport, we woke to another foggy day with the temperature a very cool 15 degrees Celsius, whilst inland they are having a heatwave. We heard that Seattle is experiencing temperatures of over 40 degrees. The cool temperatures are due to the cold waters of the Alaskan current that flow down from Alaska all the way to southern California.

We left our hotel for a 30 mile drive up the coast to Lincoln City. We then drove north-east for about 100 miles to Portland. As we headed inland the temperature rose by 20 degrees to 35 degrees Celsius. Another very hot day in store.

One of the great things about these drives is that there is always the unexpected around the corner. Who would have thought you would fine an aeropsace museum in the middle of farm country, with a Boeing 747 parked by the road!



We drove through some flat farmland where the combine harvesters were at work, throwing up great clouds of dust as they cut the corn. We stopped at one of the farms that was selling fantastic fruit - cherries, strawberries, plums, apples, apricots, nectarines etc. etc. The fruit tasted so different to that that sold in the UK. It was a delight. Whilst at the farm shop Bob noticed this extraordinary 'double decker bus' parked in the fields. An ancient bus with a VW Caravanette roof stuck on top. Quite a sight!




At around 1pm we skirted Portland on our way to see the Columbia River Gorge. The Columbia River, which forms the boundary, between Oregon and Washington State, has carved it way through the landscape over millions of years. We had some wonderful views of the river from the art deco rotunda at Vista House, Crown Point which was built in 1918.





We then drove on to see the Multnomah waterfalls that cascade down the side of the gorge from a height of over 600ft.



At this point we parted company with Bob Thelma who had decided to drive across country to Seattle avoiding the I5 freeway. We took the fast route and arrived at our hotel in the centre of Seattle at about 6pm. A view of the city as we neared the centre.



Another 350 miles drive has brought the total to over 1500 miles. We now have two nights here in Seattle which will give us a full day tomorrow to see the city. Then, on Monday we head to Whistler and our first night in Canada.