Although Rosburg is located in Southern Washington state, it's still pretty far north in the continental United States. If you drew a line straight across the country from Rosburg it would pass between Minneapolis and Chicago, which in my book are both located "up North". Due to it's coastal location it is fairly cool and damp here at this time of year, however they do not get much snow, ice and sleet.
A few days before our scheduled arrival (February 15) the entire region was hit with an exceptionally large winter storm. It was the same winter storm that dropped south and caused so many issues in Texas. The snow and ice associated with the storm caused significant power outages and numerous large trees were downed by the weight of the frozen mess.
Our arrival was delayed by one day, which simply meant we had one extra day to enjoy in Northern California. As we made our way up, we could see evidence of the storm from south of Portland to our arrival in Rosburg. In the true spirit of "neighbor helping neighbor", our Airbnb hosts shared with us that a number of local residents joined county employees with chain saws and other tools to clear roads. This made it easier for the local power company to repair lines and restore power quickly. Given the amount of debris along the side of the roads and the amount of ice and snow, this was a very impressive feat. Although we haven't seen any evidence of damage to houses or buildings, I can't imagine it didn't happen. I'm equally sure that friendly and helpful neighbors have been there to assist in any way possible. There are some mean, nasty people in the world that tend to dominate the news. It's a shame that the daily good deeds done by so many kind hearted people are pushed to the sidelines.
Since arriving, we've spent much of our time simply enjoying our cabin and it's surroundings. However, we did venture out for a days day trip to Cape Disappointment, Seaview and Long Beach. All of these areas are within close proximity to each other and about an hours, scenic drive away.
Cape Disappointment is a headland located on the north side of the Columbia River. It was named by British fur trader, John Meares, who mistook the area as a shallow bay and not the mouth of the Columbia River. In addition to naming the land mass "Cape Disappointment", he named what he though was a by "Deception Bay". Oh well, I guess the navigation tools like GPS systems and satellite photography were as developed in 1788. If it's any consolation to John, I'm sure he'd be pleased to know that the names have withstood the test of time!
In the early 1950's Cape Disappointment became a Washington State Park. The park is over 2,000 acres in size and includes forests, freshwater lakes, saltwater marshes and tidal areas. Two unique features of the park are that with an average of over 2,500 hours of fog per year it is one of the foggiest places in the US. With all that fog you need a good lighthouse for ship navigation, and Cape Disappointment has two lighthouses (Cape Disappointment Lighthouse & North Head Lighthouse). The lighthouses are built within two miles of each other, making them closer in proximity to each other than any other two lighthouses on the west coast.
Cape Disappointment State Park
The state park has over 8 miles of hiking trails, scenic overlooks, a campground, interpretive center (currently closed due to covid) and much more. Everything the park has to offer can be easily accessed from the loop drive that runs through the park. You will need a Washington State Park Discover Pass. Currently these passes are approximately $10 for a day pass or $30 for an annual pass that can be transferred between two vehicles.
Beth shared with me a close encounter that she, her mom (NaNa) and two sisters (Debbie and Cindy) had with the Columbia Bar. They were on an "old lady cruise" (their name, not mine) that had a scheduled stop in Astoria. While off the coast line the weather and sea conditions were rough enough that even from the top decks of the ship they were rocking so much that they were "eyeball to eyeball" with monster waves. I'm sure there were a lot of disappointed passengers that were looking forward to visiting Astoria, but the Captain and the Coast Guard made the wise decision to cancel trying to cross the bar in those conditions. It may not have ended with a distress call to the Coast Guard, but I'm sure it avoided a messy clean up from a lot of seasick passengers.
On our way to Cape Disappointment we experienced a little disappointment ourselves. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I steered the Silver Bullet perfectly over a sharp rock, causing a flat tire. Fortunately we were near the town of Seaview at the time. The good people at Tire Hut had the tire repaired quickly, but not so fast that we weren't able to enjoy a walk to, and on, a small portion of the wide beach.
We finished our day in the town of Long Beach, which is just a little over a mile north of Seaview. Long Beach proudly proclaims to have the "World's Longest Beach" In reality the sign should say, "World's Longest Peninsula Beach". It's a commendable 28 miles long, but far short of Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar Beach which is an impressive 93 miles in length!
If you make your way to Long Beach be sure to take in the half mile elevated boardwalk along the beach, Marsh's Free Museum which is full of an eclectic collection of "stuff" including the mysterious half man/half alligator purportedly captured in the swamps of my beloved home state of Florida. Outside Marsh's you can feast your eyes on the World's Largest Chopsticks and stroll across the street to be amazed at the World's Largest Frying Pan. As an added bonus, it's all free. Now it just can't get any better than that!
