The Oregon Coast (and SW Washington) was hit by two back-to-back storms, the second of which was record-breaking.  Hurricane-force winds knocked down hundreds of trees, snapped power poles in half, ripped off roofs and caused general devastation.  We were without power, telephone, cell service, 911, etc. for five days.

Monday after work, having no way to contact my mother-in-law and check in on her, we tried to reach her house.  One route was littered with downed power and phone lines.  The other was completely blocked with downed trees.  We chose to hike down through the trees.

This is Williamsport Road.  The hike down was about 1 1/2 miles, but seemed much longer.  That's husband Chris in the yellow pants.  The wind had died down a little by this time.  Common sense said to stay at home, but we had to know that Chris' mom was alright.


We had to climb over trees, assuming we were still following the road, as it was completely obscured with trees and branches.  It was getting dark, so we had to move quickly.

Reassured Mom was ok, we headed for home.  It was too dark to return home along the same route, so we had to walk a different route home, dodging downed lines in the dark and pouring rain. 

The next day we went down to the marina to check on the boat.  Many were damaged; ours did alright.  Check out these photos by one of the boat owners who stayed near the marina during the storm:  http://redhare.org/log/index.php