Oregon Coast to Corvallis
Dad and I take a detour to the gorgeous Oregon coast, stopping at the Heceta Head Lighthouse and Cape Perpetua Lookout before enjoying a seafood lunch at Luna Sea Fish House in Yachats. Then it’s back inland to Corvallis and the campus of Oregon State University.
I took my first big road trip as an adult when I was 19, driving my mom from our home near San Diego straight up to Vancouver, hugging the coastline on Highway 1 and Highway 101 as much as possible. We drove the full length of the Oregon coast on our way, and I remember it being the highlight of the trip for me, because I remember it being the highlight of the trip for Mom. She loved the rugged beauty and the quaint little towns. When she recalled her memories of that trip, before she passed in 2016, they always began with our time together on the Oregon coast — cruising gorgeous roads cut through forests of redwood, cedar, fir, and spruce, giving way to dramatic views of big, craggy rocks that had long ago spilled into the shallows of an endless gray sea.
Dad and I had plenty of time to get to Corvallis for our next ballgame, so we decided to take a few hours to explore the coast. We drove west from Eugene to Highway 101, then turned north, stopping first at Heceta Beach. There we were able to get a quick look at Heceta Head Light, a lighthouse built in 1892 and named for Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta.
We continued north to Cape Perpetua, named by (to continue with the etymologies) British Captain James Cook to honor third-century Christian martyr St. Perpetua. (You can use that at your next party.) There we took a small road leading to a spectacular view of the coastline, high above the tumult of wildness below. Down there were nooks and fountains and swirling eddies with names like Devil’s Churn, Spouting Horn, and Thor’s Well. But from the viewpoint, the waves looked like lace tablecloths being gently spread, then slowly pulled away. It’s never a bad idea to get some perspective.
Luna Sea Fish House
We stopped just north of Cape Perpetua for lunch in Yachats, a town with a population of about 1,000. Mom and I stayed there on our trip, and for her it symbolized the Oregon coast: an attractive little community with a good vibe surrounded by incredible natural beauty.Dad and I stopped for lunch at Luna Sea Fish House. In addition to being a restaurant, it bills itself as the “village fishmonger." The tiny interior is dominated by a case of seafood fresh off the boat from earlier in the day, which may well have been caught by owner and fisherman Robert Anthony. We were directed to the outside patio, where Dad enjoyed the clam chowder, and I ate a fantastic plate of fish and chips.
After lunch, we got back on Highway 101, stopping a few times to take in scenes of the rocky shoreline and flowering bluffs. We turned east at Newport and went straight to Corvallis.
Corvallis
We made a quick tour of Corvallis, a city of about 60,000 along the Willamette River. Like Eugene to the south, Corvallis is dominated by the presence of its university -- Oregon State University, the city's major employer, located just west of downtown.
After some down time at the hotel, Dad and I set out for Oregon State and the site of our next game at Goss Stadium. We paused for a few minutes at Weatherford Hall, a stately campus icon built in six months in 1928 as a men’s dormitory; then passed by Reser Stadium, home of Oregon State Beavers football.