TILLAMOOK, OREGON August 19, 2012

Sunday morning we got on our way by 11:00 and excited to be actually seeing new parts of Oregon. The last 2 weeks we had followed our same route as last summer but this time we were staying on 101 North and getting to see the northern coast of Oregon, new for us both!  The drive from Lincoln City to Tillamook was a meandering road through beautiful valleys of dairy farms and corn fields.

 We stayed at the Tillamook Elks Park just 4 miles south of town. It has about 20 sites and is nestled in between a dairy and the woods, very peaceful and quiet.

I had some laundry that needed doing so we loaded the car and went to find the closest laundromat. Town was closed up tight...but we did find a coin laundry right on the main road. Once things were washing we had time to take a walk around the streets to see a bit of the town.  It looked pretty dismal, clouds were overhead and almost all shops were closed. But, we did start noticing these colorful squares on buildings. We'd seen a couple on our way into town and learned that they were all part of a city wide Quilt Trail begun in 2010 to draw tourists to the area. As we walked around the streets we saw several:

 This one on City Hall

 Another on a Law Office

 and a local business

 even one on the Salvation Army building. But by then the clothes were dry and we were ready to see some of the coast.

 Driving west of town on 3rd Street we turned onto Bay Ocean Road to find the Cape Meares Lighthouse. Along the road we saw another quilt square on The Cape House, it was the most unique of all we'd seen.

 After a lovely half hour along the bay we climbed the coast for amazing views.

 This art work greeted us at the entrance to the lighthouse. It was a long walk in a forested grove before we came to

Oregon's shortest lighthouse built in 1890, decommissioned in 1963.  It stands only 38 feet tall but did the work of signaling mariners traveling along Oregon's northern coastline for many years.

 

 A short walk took us to another  interesting formation in the park, the Octopus Tree, a most unusual Sitka Spruce.

 ,

 Beautiful weathered tree trunks were everywhere.

 From this vantage point we could see down the coast to Cape Lookout

 We continued on the Bay Ocean Road winding through the forests and flowered hillsides.

 I was doing the driving and we almost missed a wonderful evening in the tiny town of Oceanside when I took a wrong turn.  But we found a pull out in the road and swung back and were so happy we did! It was after 6:00 and we were getting hungry, with one restaurant in town it wasn't hard to choose between it an the coffee house across the street.  A darling small eatery called Roseanne's. Fantastic food, and amazing views overlooking the beach. The best was the marionberry pie for dessert!

 After dinner a walk down to the beach of course. The clouds were slowly disappearing and the sun was breaking out as we looked out at Three Arches. We even had a few sprinkles before getting an awesome sunset!

 We've been seeing lots of signs about the tsunami debris but this was an interesting one at the entry to the beach.

 The beaches along this part of the coast are long with very few people. Lovely!

 Driftwood barriers make wonderful fire pit areas.

 As we walked back to the car the colors became spectacular!

A short drive home got us back to our campsite and our comfy little house.

THE CENTRAL COAST of OREGON: Florence to Lincoln City August 12-18, 2012

Trying to get out of the heat that had hit central Oregon, we chose to return to the coast for a week or so. Paul left pulling the dolly with plans that I would meet him at Exit 99 on I-5 and the Seven Feathers Casino parking lot. Though I was probably only 30 min later leaving Medford it took me the whole hour to finally catch up. We knew there were 3 good climbs north of Grants Pass and didn't want to stress the motorhome in the heat with pulling the car. Once hooked up we took turned west on highway 99 at Yoncalla passing through the little town of Drain and joining Highway 38. It's a most scenic and lovely drive along the Umpqua River. To our surprise we didn't leave the heat behind as we went west. The temps stayed above 95 for the next 2 hours until we reached the thick fog bank at  Reedsport.

Just before Reedsport we pulled off along Dean Creek where a herd of approximately 120 Roosevelt elk graze in the meadows. 

 There were 2 large groups far off in the distance.  We could see the sparring, or head butting, even if we weren't close enough to get it on camera.  The mature bull elk can weigh 700-1200 pounds and stands 5' tall at the shoulders...impressive and fun to see! All along the coast we have been seeing the sign that Elk are nearby but these were the first we actually saw.

 It was a welcome relief to see the fog bank and begin to cool down. From Reedsport we turned north onto Highway 101 for Florence. Another beautiful part of the coast with huge sand dunes poking out along the route. As we drove into Florence the fog cleared to a perfect afternoon. We checked into the Elks RV Park north of town and had a gorgeous wooded site.

 

It was a pull through so we didn't need to unhook the dolly, just the car so we could scoot back into town for music at the Traveler's Cove Cafe, a small Mexican restaurant along the water with great jazz music on Sunday evenings. We stayed 3 days just relaxing at the park, doing short hikes and reading. I loved it!

This particular park is very popular and we didn't have a reserved site so we needed to move after 3 nights... to stay any longer we would have to move again, so we decided to load up and go further up the coast to Lincoln City on Wednesday morning. The day was absolutely gorgeous and warm! We drove along the Siletz River to Chinook Bend RV Park. I loved this unique natural sculpture in the river; a fallen tree or driftwood had sprouted several evergreens and shrubs. Amazingly pretty!

We were early enough to get a river site, #11 with a peaceful river view. Paul drove the motorhome as far back on the bank as he could, with our bikes hanging out over the edge just a bit.

It was perfect to sit back and enjoy the fishermen trawling along the river all afternoon and evening.

Thursday we drove north through the slow traffic of Lincoln City and on up the 101 to the scenic Pacific City and the beginning of The Three Capes Scenic Route.  Someone had told Paul about the Pelican Pub and Brewery right along the beach which was fantastic.  Though extremely crowded at 2 in the afternoon, we found 2 seats at the bar and spent a fun hour visiting with other travelers from Florida. After a tasty lunch we walked out to spend the rest of the afternoon on the soft warm sand. Perfect!!! This is the first time we've seen cars drive onto the beach like Pismo. In the distance is Cape Kiwanda and its sandstone formations. It's also the home of the famous dory boat fishing fleet. The boats come in after fishing off the waters off Cape Kiwanda, blast their horn to alert people along the beach and slide right onto the beach. Pretty unique.

We ended up staying 4 nights at Chinook Bend RV Park since Mandy came over to get out of the sweltering heat of Portland on Friday evening.

The campground has a spacious setting with open fields all around. We took Foster for an evening walk along the river and forgot about his fear of crossing anything with movement, such as this little wooden walkway. His immediate response was to jump off the side into the creek.  Thank goodness Paul was fast enough to grab him as he landed in the reeds near the water.

Once back on his feet he scurried across to the other side to finish our walk.

It was evening time and several small boats were still fishing along the river.

Back at our campsite we started a campfire and watched the evening disappear.

Friday we moved to a different site, not quite so nice but at least we didn't have to find another campground. We could stay put for the weekend. Since the inland areas were so HOT the parks all filled up for the weekend. We went into Lincoln City Friday afternoon to see a few new sights. We drove to Regatta Park to find this huge "Grandfather Tree" a 450 year old Sitka Spruce along the nature trail.

We tried to find the trail around Spring Lake but didn't have any luck.  Mandy got into town about 6:00 and so happy to see fog and cooler temps. Portland was 100 degrees that day! We had dinner at a wonderful Indian Restaurant called Napali Kitchen. We had tickets that evening for a piano concert in town, Mandy decided to go on out to the motorhome and relax instead. 

Lincoln City has a wonderful Tourist Information Office located in an old school house  right along Highway 101. It not only houses an enthusiastic info center but truly is a Cultural Center for the city. There's an Art Gallery displaying work of local artists as well as a performance hall. Mike Strickland, a pianist and composer from nearby McMinnville was "breaking in" a new baby grand piano he helped procure for Lincoln City through the "Snowman Foundation". Yes, I've never heard of it either but what a neat organization. It connects young musicians with instruments throughout the Northwest, and in this case, the center applied for grants for a piano and the request was granted. We had a wonderful evening of music by the Mike Strickland Piano Duo.

Saturday was chilly and figgy all day.  We kept hoping for some warm sign of sun, but the clouds hung in all day.  That made Mandy happy, she was sick of the heat.  So we took her up to Pelican Pub for the afternoon to just relax and enjoy the beach.

Dinner that night was the Thai Restaurant in Lincoln City.  Wonderful food and great prices. It was misting lightly as we headed back to the campground so a little too wet for  campfire. We had been gone all afternoon and most of the evening and when we returned the park was packed!!! Amazing change from earlier in the day. Everyone from Portland must have decided to get out of the heat and come to the coast!

Mandy left early Sunday morning, hoping to beat the traffic getting back into the city, and it was time for us to try a new destination, Tillamook.

MEDFORD, MOM AND MOVING AUGUST 10-12 2012

We left the coolness of the coast and drove to the heat inland. Grants Pass and Medford were in the high 90s the whole weekend which made the interior of our motorhome even hotter. 

We got to Harry's Friday afternoon and set up our temporary camp site on his driveway. (I think we gave his neighbors a scare that we might have been the new owners moving in.) I spent the afternoon at Mom's then Harry, Mary, Paul and I went to the Craterian Theater for a wonderful performance of The Music Man that evening. Mary's 2 nieces were in the production presented by the TEEN MUSICAL THEATER OF OREGON. During intermission this Barbershop Quartet sang a few numbers for us out in the lobby. 

What an amazing evening! We had no idea, until talking later, that the performers were all local teen agers and youth from the greater Medford area. They were talented and polished performers, so professional; never missing a beat in any of the music or dance. Such a high energy production and so glad we got a chance to see it. 

Since we had Mandy's new KIA with us she took the late Greyhound bus from Portland to Medford arriving about midnight. The next day Mandy and I had a wonderful visit with Mom/Grandma. Such pretty ladies!

 Mandy was so excited with her new wheels and Paul was having a blast fixing up little details for her on it. A little spray paint,  radiator cleaning and getting the AC to work.

Paul and Harry were out there in the heat trying to figure out a couple of things that weren't quite working. Back and forth they went to car supply stores and always came back to this position.

 Saturday evening was spent in the beautiful backyard of Mary's sister, Joyce and husband, Steve. Doing the cooking was Mary's sister, Patty. We sat outside on the patio with a warm evening and enjoyed a delicious Asian dinner. What fantastic food and fun to spend time getting to now Mary's family. I'm just sad I didn't take any photos before the evening turned dark.

 Harry and Mary had been packing non stop in preparation for their move back to Green Valley, AZ. The house was 90% packed with 2 weeks left to go.  I was pretty impressed with all they had accomplished...I was having flashbacks to our move a year ago; never that much done so far ahead. 

Sunday morning we woke early, took a couple of photos since Paul still had a little more work to do on Mandy's car, by 11:30 she was on her way back to Portland after a few pointers from PK.

We decided not to hook up the car since the temp was over 100 degrees and we had 3 passes to climb just north of Grants Pass. Paul set out to get gas, I went back once again for a visit with Mom. We sat outside in the shade and she loved looking at all the trees and flowers. My next visit with Mom will be in Green Valley sometime this fall.

Our next designation was the Florence Elks RV Park to get back to the coast for the week.

HUMBOLDT STATE PARK to SMITH RIVER August 8-9, 2010

I know this photo is a little blurry but that's because it was taken as we drove the absolutely stunning Avenue of the Giants. On Wednesday morning it was practically deserted which is a wonderful way to enjoy it. We had spent the previous night at Richardson's Grove RV Park, one of our Passport America campgrounds, 50% off camping with full hookups. Nice for a late arrival and an early departure. We were on the road by 8:30 Thursday morning knowing we wanted to spend some time in the midst of these beautiful redwood giants. It's one of the main reasons we take the coast route and we never tire of the beauty. The road just meanders through grove after grove of majestic trees. 

 We stopped in the little town of Miranda to drop some mail and have a mid morning coffee then drove till we found a space for us to pull off and do a walk.

 We found the Mahan Plaque Loop Trail, one of the loveliest historic trails in the park and one we haven't done before.  The plaque commemorates the area where Laura and James Mahan learned a rail spur was being built to log the Rockefeller Forest in 1924. The story goes that, when the Mahans discovered trees being cut, Laura physically placed herself in the workers' path while James, a lawyer, got an injunction to stop the work. Shortly after, the Rockefeller Forest was purchased by the Save-the-Redwoods League, through a generous gift from John D. Rockefeller.  All I can say is, THANK YOU !

 Along the way we stopped to look at the unique features of the trees, roots and burned out hollows.

We do feel dwarfed by the shear size of these beauties...which we truly are!

 After taking a couple wrong paths in and around the trail we did get to the plaque.

 From there we joined a hike that took us to the Founders Grove, and a gigantic tree named the Dyerville Giant. That's the root base that Paul's standing beside.

 We continued our drive along the 31 mile drive and came upon Eric Bendl and his dog, Nice. He was walking very slowly along the highway rolling this large world globe. Paul stopped so I could go back and talk to him for a bit. He's been walking for over 5000 miles and has passed through 37 states to raise awareness for diabetes. He lost his Mom to the disease when she was only 54 and he's out to spread the word to get healthy with exercise to control and prevent the disease, walking can help slow the disease. His website is world guy.org.

 Once we returned to present day Highway 101, we left the sunny skies and met up with fog again. It felt good after some of the hot days we'd had earlier in the week. Paul had been on the look out for a used car for our niece, Mandy. Most of what she'd found up in Portland were real duds; salvage titles, super high miles or just ugly and expensive. Emjay's Jim had mentioned that Eureka might be a good place to check out so while Paul filled us up at Costco I got on the iPad and checked out Craig's List. As we were driving out of town I was reading the vehicles and one kinda jumped out at us...a little 2002 Kia Sportage. We pulled over, called the guy who happened to be home and within an hour we had made a great deal! But with an extra vehicle it meant that I would be driving the car and Paul would pull the SAAB behind the motorhome.

  So with all that set, we got back on the road.

 Our night's destination was a visit with dear friends from Shell Beach, Les and Rochelle Odom in Smith River. Les is a master at tile design and installation and their home is a gallery for his work. They love the Moroccan style of architecture. I took a couple of interior photos, though they show only a tiny piece of the beauty of their home. This is the entry to the living room.

 and a fountain in the entry. We had a wonderful dinner and caught up on this last year. We were still able to park our larger motorhome in their driveway so we settled in for a wonderful night right on the coast.

 In the morning the fog hung along the coast. This is their view from their back yard! So beautiful!

 We had another wonderful breakfast in the sunroom before saying our good byes and promising to be back next year, same time.

It was also our goodbye to California as we now turned east for the 3 hour drive to Medford. We caravanned along Highway 197 towards Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park and from there we joined US-199 Redwood Highway for a most spectacular drive along the Smith River, the second largest river system in California that flows freely along its entire course. The river was so crystal clear , the air a crisp bright blue with very little traffic. Turnouts were plentiful and always there just when we needed to get over to let a car or two pass. Going east is so much easier with few mountain climbs and the gorgeous river gorge to our right. We followed the river for about 25 miles before crossing the border into Oregon. I know with my Mom's move to Arizona we won't be traveling that beautiful route much more but what a lovely drive it was that morning.