Redwoods 2025 – The Oregon Coast

Monday, June 23, 2025

We woke up early and went down to have breakfast at the hotel. As we walked to to the main building, I was suprrised at how cold it was. Along the coast, it rarely gets hot and at night, the temps drop downinto the 50s. Although it is summer, the highs for the day were in the 60s. That doesn’t stop vacationers from dressing as if it were summer, we walked by a family in shorts and bathing suits headed towards teh pool.

After breakfast, we decided to head North to see more of the Oregon Coast. Our Guide Along Audio or the Oregon Coastline started further north. We made stops along the way to view the coast. We had lunch in Florence, Oregon, a very picturesque old town.

As we headed north, our Guide Along tour kicked in and the tour guide started talking about how that Florence was the home of the first viral video and it happened long before the internet came about.

The story goes, in 1970, a whale washed up ashore at the beach. The people of Florence weren’t quite sure on how to take care of the problem. They decided they would blow up the whale into small pieces and then let the scavengers and seagulls take care of the cleanup.

They had invited the media from Portland to cover the event, and things didn’t go as planned. Nobody was hurt but they had miscalculated a few things and the residents along with the reporters were showered with bits and pieces of whale.

Yes, you can still find the video on YouTube, and I laughed hard the first time I watched it and even harder the second time I watched it. Just search for blowing up a whale in Florence OR.

As we headed north, we stopped just north of North Bend where we got to view an area filled with Pitcher plants. Pitcher plants are carnivorous plants that trap flies and bugs. I used to collect carnivorous plants as a child. I couldn’t believe I was looking at such a huge area filled with them.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get as far as we wanted to. Most of the time, the 101 was a single lane and there were some slow drivers. There were a lot of towns where the speed limit was 20 MPH. But, what was saw was gorgeous.