Today we left Yachats and headed north to our last stop in Oregon, Lincoln City, population 8,000. Lincoln City is on the 45th parallel.   It is hard to believe our time in beautiful Oregon is almost over, but we will pass back through central Oregon on our way back south in late summer.

When we arrived we sat down and looked over lists of possible activities and came up with three full days of plans.  There are so many activities to choose from and it is sometimes very hard to narrow it down to a short time frame.

As might be expected the town of Lincoln City has a statue of Abraham Lincoln, where he is sitting on a horse and reading a book.  We found a geocache near the statue and also learned that Abraham Lincoln was offered the governorship of Oregon in 1849 but declined the offer.

Our first full day we drove an hour east to McMinnville to visit the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.  This museum is nestled amid lush vineyards, in fact there are over 300 wineries within a short drive of this area.  The museum is made up of four buildings; an Aviation Museum with the history of flight starting with the Wright Brothers; a Theater where they show various 3D movies; a Space Musuem, and a Waterpark.

 

The main reason we came to this museum was to see Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose, an aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company for use during WW2.  Due to a shortage of aluminium the aircraft was made entirely of wood, not spruce as the name implies, but mainly birch.  It is the largest flying boat ever built and has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history.  It was not completed before the end of the war and was only flown once, as proof by Hughes that it would fly, thus in his eyes vindicating the use of government funds to build the plane.  A full time crew of 300 maintained the plane in flying condition in a climate controlled hangar until Hughes’ death in 1971.  The plane had several owners and homes before ending up here at this museum.

They had a model Spruce Goose with a fake Howard Hughes at the wheel, as well as the real Spruce Goose.

We were able to go onboard the aircraft though the areas we were allowed to enter inside the plane were very limited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Space Museum also had displays on the Space Age including a space shuttle and a simulator where we “launched” a rocket and felt the rumble of the engines.

They also had many helicopters, a SR-71 Blackbird spy plane and Soviet MiGs, as well as an extensive firearms collection.

 

 

 

In the theater we watched a fascinating 3D movie on the invasion of Normandy at the end of WW2.   

We finished the day with a geocache on the museum grounds and Bill was very happy to find a tribute to Boy Scouts of America there.  The son of the museum’s owner was an Eagle Scout.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day we hiked the Drift Creek Falls Trail.  We had to drive an hour each way to get there, some of which was on a winding one lane road in the forest.  We had read about this trail and was eager to hike it because of the 240 foot suspension bridge one hundred feet over the canyon,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the 75 foot waterfall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a relatively easy hike but with the elevation drop usually associated with waterfalls.  The only problem with a waterfall hike is it is all downhill one way and uphill coming back.

 

 

 

 

Also while in the Lincoln City area we drove down to Cape Foulweather which was discovered by Captain James Cook in 1778.  The weather was particularly stormy the day Cook arrived with winds of 100 MPH which at the cape are not unusual, so he named the area Cape Foulweather.  This area is the first geographic location named on his voyage to the north Pacific coast.  Captain Cook’s accounts of this voyage were published and aroused world wide interest which was followed by the fur trade. The views here are stunning.  

 

 

 

 

There are many geological novelties in this area which drew our interest including the Devil’s Punchbowl which at high tide looks like a large bowl of punch with the water swirling inside.  

 

 

 

 

 

We passed through the charming little town of Depoe Bay which has the distinction of having the world’s smallest harbor.  The bridge in the picture, built in 1927, was used in the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oregon Facts:

1. There are dozens of ghost towns in Oregon.

2. In 2012 there were 905 vineyards planted on 25,440 acres in Oregon.