Oregon Coast Travel
The Oregon Coast is our state’s most recognizable travel destination. Highway 101 - a National Scenic Byway - winds 363 miles from the Washington state border in the north to the California Border in the south.
At our Oregon Coast Travel website we have a mile by mile guide to Highway 101 that covers ever mile of the journey and the cities and attractions along the way.
This list is NOT all inclusive yet - I’ll be adding more over time… also feel free to leave any travel or relevant information in the comments.
Near Astoria is Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark spent the winter after their incredible journey across the US as part of Jefferson’s expedition to explore the newly aquired Louisiana Territory. Seaside remains a popular hotspot for visits to Oregon Coast beaches.
Cannon Beach is a very popular beach destination.
Popular attractions in this area include the Tillamook lighthouse and Tillamook Cheese Factory which offer a fun and educational factory tour. The Cheese Factory is an excellent family attraction and located right off of Highway 101.
Lincoln City to Newport
Newport to Yachats
In Newport you’ll want to visit the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a world class facility that was once home to Keiko the Whale. Be sure to check out the Jellyfish exhibits where these amazing and beautiful creatures float in special lighting, and the walk through shark tank. Allow at least several hours at the Aquarium. If you are on a very tight budget and don’t have kids (who will love the aquarium!) the Mark O. Hatfield Marine Science Center is nearby and I think it still offers free tours of this Oregon Coast and sea life research facility.
Yachats to Florence
For many the central Oregon Coast offers the most spectacular scenery and the most sublime of the many great Oregon Coast Experiences. Devils Churn at Cape Perpetua is an amazing sea feature where water rushes into a narrow channel several hundred feet long. From a short hike you can stand right atop this combination of surf and a collapsed volcanic lava tube to watch the massive surges of water rush in. Above Devil’s Churn is Cape Perpetua Visitor Center which excellent hikes and interpretive exhibits.
Florence to North Bend
Florence’s “Old Town” is a very popular Oregon Coast destination for dining and shopping with charming shops and several excellent restaurants all within a few blocks of beautifully remodelled buildings that formerly were at the heart of the fishing industry here.
Coos Bay along highway 101 remains a major shipping point from Oregon but thanks to an extensive urban renewal project along the waterfront and the Mill Casino Coos Bay now offers attractive tourist features right off the highway.
Here, 101 diverges from the coast until Port Orford, so if you have time head west on the Cape Arago highway to Shore Acres State Park with some excellent coastal scenery and wonderful coastal gardens.
Port Orford to Brookings to California
Port Orford’s Battle Rock Park is right off of the Highway and the view is spectacular. There’s an excellent information center here as well with helpful staff.
Brookings is a very popular coastal destination for Oregon’s heading to the beach from Medford and inland Southern Oregon.
Vikingsholm on Emerald Bay. Lake Tahoe, California
Vikingsholm
Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay, California
Vikingsholm, Lake Tahoe
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay is one of the most scenic areas in California - some would say this is the prettiest place in the whole state. Vikingsholm is a nordic mansion built on the lake almost 100 years ago, now managed by the state park system. Inside the mansion is fully furnished with mostly original furniture and other historic artifacts, including a Steinway Rosewood Piano commissioned especially for Vikingsholm.
Mark Twain visited Lake Tahoe long before Vikingsholm - in fact I wonder if his writing may have influenced the choice to build there. Here is Twain on Tahoe in second of two chapters in “Roughing It” that talk about his trip from Nevada to the Lake.
(thanks to Horatiox for the tip!)
Google Dance 2008
The Google Dance Google Party at the Googleplex was great as usual, with excellent buffet BBQ, the most prized T-shirts in the business, and a lot more. Having trouble with Flickr uploader so I can’t put up all the photos I took yet but this really is a great event. It was fun this year to attend with my college bound son Ben and 4th one with my great pal John though I had to keep reminding Ben that Google is not your typical corporate environment, even in his chosen field of computer science. Of course he’s got four years to go and a lot’s going to happen in that time, though if the extravagance of the party and healthy conference booth attendance are any indication Google’s going to be the big player for some time.
Google Dance 2008
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
SES San Jose Exhibit Hall Opens
SES San Jose Exhibit Hall Opens
Originally uploaded by JoeDuck
The SES San Jose search conference hosts dozens of providers of internet business services who exhibit on two of the conferences four days. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft are all here as are many search optimization firm, search analytics appications, and even some consumer focused websites.
SES San Jose - Sessions and Google Party
Greg over at Search Engine Watch (which is SES’s blog and forum), has a tidy summary of sessions at the conference here. Although he’s tagged sessions with ‘advanced’ or novice content in my experience at conferences like SES you never really know if the content is “advanced” or not. Generally I find the speaker is more important than the topic, and top SEO folks like Dave Naylor, Aaron Wall, Greg Boser, and several others - regardless of the session and preferably at the bar - are going to give you better insights into search algorithm mechanics than official company representatives are allowed to do.
Here’s a great SES clickable conference map to help plan things, and don’t forget to pre-register for the Google Dance here
Deadly Chopper Crash in California
date: The Medford Mail Tribune is reporting the names of six of the firefighters who died in the Trinity Alps after the worst helicopter crash in firefighting history:
Six of the seven Grayback Forestry Inc. firefighters missing and presumed dead after a helicopter crash Tuesday in the Trinity Alps have been identified. All are from Southern Oregon:
Shawn Blazer, 30, of Medford; imgCounter += 1; aryImgs[imgCounter] = “http://images.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=MM&Date=20080807&Category=NEWS07&ArtNo=808070341&Ref=V2&MaxW=200&MaxH=180&title=1&border=0″; aryCaps[imgCounter] = “<div class=\”caption\”>Scott%20Charleson%2C%2025%2C%20of%20Phoenix </div>”; aryZooms[imgCounter] = “javascript: NewWindow(870,625,window.document.location+’&Template=photos&img=”+imgCounter+”‘)”;
Scott Charleson, 25, of Phoenix;
Matthew Hammer, 23, of Grants Pass;
Edrik Gomez, 19, of Ashland;
Bryan Rich, 29, of Medford;
David Steele, 19, of Ashland.
Grayback released the firefighters’ names and their photos this afternoon. A spokesperson said the identity of the seventh firefighter aboard the aircraft would be released after the family had been notified.
We are still waiting for news on the names of the firefighters who are missing after a chopper crash near Junction City, CA yesterday evening. Most appear to be from Southern Oregon, based in Merlin.
Local news does not have many details about the crash or those now listed as missing. They are just saying one dead, 8 missing, and four injured. Carson Helicopters was the company running the operation.
Christy Lee Cook and the Country Folks Restaurant, Selma
Here in Southern Oregon we were rooting for the “other” Cook in American Idol Christy Lee Cook, rather than American Idol winner David Cook. On the way home from California Sunday we dropped in to the Country Folks restaurant of Selma, Oregon. My wife and daughter had been there before but I hadn’t. In addition to being “Christy Lee Central” for local fans who would watch the show from there every Tuesday and Wednesday, Country Folks has simply *outstanding* home cooked food, so I really wanted to put in a plug for them.
We ordered fried chicken and an open faced turkey sandwich with stuffing, potatoes, and gravy. The chicken was excellent, but the sandwich was a country cooking work of art - a plate brimming with fresh mashed potatoes, rich gravy, juicy turkey, a scoop of dressing, and cranberry sauce on the side. After that meal I can’t imagine eating anywhere else along route 199 - Oregon’s very scenic road from I5 to the Coast past Cave Junctions (near the Oregon Caves National Monument), through the Redwoods, and on to the sea.
Local Newspaper Article about the Country Folks Restaurant
Bay Area Driving Tip: Stay off the roads..
I´m in the Bay Area several times each year, but I never get used to the traffic here, which seems to get worse each year.
A good tip I am finally starting to follow is to avoid driving before 9am and avoid driving between 3 and 7pm. Obviously that is sometimes not possible, but often you can arrange meetings and schedule around that.
I am usually driving alone here, but if you have two or more in the car you can use the carpool lanes which always seem very clear. I think in that case the hours are not as important, though you will still get gummed up when there is no car pool lane.
Web 2.0 Conference
WebGuild of Silicon Valley sponsored a great one day conference last week. I missed the event but here are some pictures courtesy of Reshma Kumar and Daya Baran, the Vice President and President of WebGuild who have really done an extraordinary job making that group one of the premier internet insider gatherings in the world.
This year Craig Newmark from Craigslist gave one of the keynotes. He’s one of the most interesting folks in the internet landscape and it would really have been fun to hear his talk. For me, the huge success of Craigslist, combined with the simple and spartan look and structure, supports the idea that the internet at a core level is about *people and information* more than anything else.
Xiamen, China
Update: I’m going to China in April but will miss SMX China. Xiamen was harder to get to than I’d originally thought given the rest of our schedule and China contacts are popping up in other places, so the new trip is Hong Kong April 1-4, Shanghai April 5-8, Beijing April 9-15, home to Oregon.
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Still planning the trip to China for SES SMX China 2008 in Xiamen, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. I am running into the internet challenge of really old information though. For example I’d heard about a really cool ocean ferry that goes from Hong Kong to Xiamen. It’s listed in my very new guidebook but some online sources say it’s not running anymore. I got hopeful with this online blurb:
Hong Kong - Xiamen 1400 0800 Weekday 7245 from China Hong Kong City Pier Xiamen - Hong Kong 1500 0900 EveryMon, Wed, Thu, Sat to China Hong Kong City Pier
Only to find the page was last updated…in 1997!
Google’s travel listings are pretty challenged in the USA so I should not be surprised that finding accurate China info could be trouble. I’m online most of the day but have to admit the best sources of general China travel information so far have probably been word of mouth and my guidebook rather than online, though I’ve been using all of them together for best results.
The plan as of now is to fly to Hong Kong and spend about 3 days, then Train to Shanghai (20 hours, sleeper) for about 2 days, then to Beijing (13 hours by train) for about 3 days, then to Xiamen for Conference (which I’m hoping will be at the Xianglu Grand Hotel because it looks simply awesome!) then back to Hong Kong for the flight home. But we are coordinating 3 schedules so we’ve still got some logistics to go.
China Visas appear to be a bit of a challenge as you can’t get them by mail. I think most travel agencies will do this for you, but we are not planning to use one so somebody may need to go to San Francisco Chinese consulate. Not a big deal as Charley lives down there and I’ll be near there later in January at the Web 2.0 Conference.
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