Trevor and Johanna Thorpe's Bicycle Touring Adventures: Newport to Honeyman State Park

Oregon and Northern California Bicycle Touring Trip: Day 3

Waking up in a hotel room after two hard days of riding felt pretty good this morning. We took our time getting out and about, and took full advantage of the continental breakfast at the Days Inn. Then, we headed over to the Digital Diner, where we hoped to finish our first few entries with some photo uploads. While we can write some text, uploading photos and videos on the iphone has proven too complicated so far. Digital Diner was the perfect place to do our updating: right in the heart of town and also a good spot to get our morning coffee fix. After spending way too much time updating our blog, peddled away from Newport around 11am.

Before long, we were taking advantage of a nice tailwind and we made our way through Waldport, and then into Yachats where we made a stop at Grand Central Pizza for some Garlic Knots! Moving on, we followed the coastline and the wind increasingly picked up, until we found ourselves being literally pushed up the coastal climbs until we reached the "famous" Sea Lion Caves.

The Sea Lion caves are reportedly the largest sea caves in the world, and they were spectacular in that sense, but this spot gave us more than a whiff of "tourist trap." Still, it was a welcome break at the top of the main climb of the day.

Continuing onward, we made rapid time and before long we entered the town of Florence on a long, straight road that allowed us to really push for the finish. Florence is probably the nicest town we've visited thusfar, with a small but lively "old town" area along the bay.

We had a few tempting options, but finally sat down at Restobar and enjoyed an excellent Italian meal. I also had the chance to try another ale by Rogue Brewery that goes by the name "Dead Guy Ale." It's a new favorite. After enjoying our meal thoroughly, it was time to hop back on the tandem and cross the bridge at the edge of the bay and head a few miles down the road to Honeyman State Park, our camp for the night.

Again, Oregon has impressed us with the quality of their campgrounds. Hot showers and well-kept facilities, cheap $5 hiker/biker sites, and stunning locations. Thus far we have been spending our nights with fellow cyclists, some of which we have seen frequently on the road and become friends with. The campsite was oriented around a communal firepit, which got everybody talking. There was a young couple (Jessica and Mark) from Victoria, Canada already setting up camp when we arrived, and soon after, several other familiar faces turned up, including Brent and two Canadian women we had met briefly the day before. We all huddled around the fire and devised our own methods for cooking our collective foods (smores pop-tarts, cheese and crackers, left-over pizza).