Yachats to Florence

Marianne has a forum friend who moved to Florence, Oregon a few  years ago.  The two of  them arranged to meet at a restaurant in Florence for lunch so  after a leisurely morning we drove down  the coast to meet them.

It takes longer to drive down than you would think because there are so many views along the way.

The mouth of the Yachats River.

The Devil's Churn. We actually walked down there in 2013.  It  was early September and  it was overcast. Today the weather was beautiful but you can see the photos from 2013 here.

The light house on the promontory.

Long beach near Florence.

Florence is a touristy town with plenty of shops and restaurants.

The Siuslaw River.  Some of the stumps in the foreground were for a ferry that operated across the river before the bridge was built in the 1930's.

Rochelle and Roger. We all had delicious fish tacos and of  course we talked a lot. Roger is a keen fisherman and apparently catches a lot of fish both in the river and at sea.

The river bends to  the north and enters the sea about five miles north.

There is a small fishing fleet and you can buy whole fish from them when they return to port. They gut and clean the fish for you as well.

Apparently a 9 on the Richter scale earthquake is due anytime off the coast. The Cascade plate is sliding over the Pacific plate. As well as the damage from shaking, a 40 foot high tsunami will probably occur. The orange denotes the danger area. 

Otherwise, Florence appears to be a great place to live. It only gets down into the 40's in winter and you don't need air-conditioning in summer. It has all the normal suburban shops, plenty of restaurants and even a hospital.

And you have to read this article about their attempt to blow up a whale.

The river heading north to the sea.