Washington and Oregon

Now we are migrating with the season, headed south with the birds.

Washington

We departed Whidbey Island by loading Cruisemaster onto the ferry to Port Townsend, and when the ferry landed we continued south through Washington. The weather was uncomfortably warm in the interior of the state, so we headed west toward the coast, which turned out to be overcast and chilly. Too hot, too cold. Checking the weather forecast on the web, we foresaw clouds for the next few days all the way down the coast into Oregon and California, so we made a decision to steer, not for a particular feature or attraction, but for better weather, which we found inland, east of the coastal range of mountains.

Oregon

We skirted Portland and continued south to McMinnville, a small town with an interesting aviation museum. I spent a few happy hours there, wandering around and looking at the planes, but the major thrill was the Spruce Goose, the one and only original, beautifully restored and displayed. This was the plane conceived during WWII, when supply and troop ships were being sunk on their way to Britain. This airplane was planned to be so huge that a fleet of them could replace the ships. Metal was scarce during the war, so the plane was made of birch, cut to shape, bent, and laminated with glue. The plane was so large that it had eight propellers, each driven by a 3000 horsepower engine.

Critics doubted that such a large wooden plane would ever fly, but it did make one test flight, piloted by Howard Hughes, the man who had championed it, overseen its design and construction, and personally paid for millions in cost overruns. But by that time the war had ended, and the test plane turned out to be the only one constructed. It is to the Evergreen Aviation Museum's great credit that it obtained, restored, and displays this historic airplane.

Farther south, we passed through Corvallis and Eugene and decided to hop on I-5 in search of reliable sunshine, finally finding it in Grants Pass, Medford, and Ashland. When we stopped in Medford to inquire about a public Internet connection, the Visitors Center gravely informed us that the city library was closed due to lack of funds. We could only gasp in disbelief. The excellent public libraries in Minnesota must not be taken for granted, for if the money isn't there, a library cannot remain open, and politicians whose only priority is cutting taxes are not to be trusted when it comes to libraries or bridges.