Week ending Nov 27, 2014 Bandon

Thursday after posting the blog at the Bandon library we went back to the trailer. By the time we arrived back in early afternoon our rainy day had become a beautiful sunny day. We decided to walk out to the lighthouse. Joan thought the walk was about 3 miles round trip, but as it turned out it was 6 miles. By the time we got back to the trailer it was getting dark. Next time we will check the distance of our walks more carefully.

Friday was our 44 wedding anniversary. We decided to celebrate by going to the Mill Casino in Coos Bay. John had read about Charleston, a port west of Coos Bay, and the Seven Devils Road, a scenic drive back toward Bandon.  Looking at the maps, we needed to find Beach Road (we think), which connects highway 101 to Seven Devils Road.    However, as we headed up toward Coos Bay, we saw Seven Devils Road first, so figured we didn't need to go to Beach Road.   We found out why the south end of  Seven Devils Roads wasn't the preferred route.  It is an unpaved road that wanders up and down hills toward the ocean, with very sharp turns, and a section that was barely wide enough for two vehicles.  We encountered a truck at one point, and he put his tires in the ditch on the uphill side of the road to make sure we had enough room to get by.  We couldn't believe that people built several really nice houses along this road. We eventually got to Seven Devils State Wayside for some views of  the surf.  Then we continued on the good section of the road to Sunset Beach, a nice park just west of Charleston.  There is both a day use area and a campground there.  While enjoying the view of sunset beach we saw a couple just floating with a surfboard in a sheltered area, which seemed a bit odd.  Then we noticed the heads of some seals swimming near them, the first wild life we have seen in the ocean this trip.

We then headed back through Charleston to Mill Casino in Coos Bay.  Thanks to Oregon state law, they have a non-smoking room with slots, a real treat. After lunch (not a place we would recommend highly but okay), Joan took $10 and promptly lost it. John's $5 resulted in about $12 in the same time. Some people are just lucky.

We thought it was odd that Coos Bay, at about 16,000 people, is the largest place on the Oregon Coast. Although Portland is a port, it is about 100 miles from the coast up the Columbia River.

Saturday morning after watching some curling we headed into Bandon to walk through Old Town.  After browsing through a number of shops we followed the signs to the Farmers Market.  One fellow makes all sorts of salt free dip and salsa mixes. We picked up some red salsa mix and a green onion dip mix. There are some nice murals on buildings around town. As we headed back to the truck Joan went into a fish restaurant and got some clam chowder to take home for lunch. John waited outside, which was a good choice as the smell of fish inside the restaurant would have overpowered him.  We then headed back to the trailer to enjoy the rest of the sunny day and watch a bit more curling.

Sunday was football day, with both eastern and western finals.  Fortunately there was also some curling on for Joan.

Monday was a perfect day to hike, warm and sunny. We headed out to Floras Lake State Natural area to hike to Blacklock Point, which was marked on a guide as one of the two main picturesque areas south of Bandon. The trail started out nice and wide, but shortly we came to an area that was covered in water.  There was a side trail that we took to bypass the water, but after a while we started having to push through thorny bushes several times, and decided that this side trail wasn't just a bypass to get around the marsh, so we retraced our steps (hopefully) and found our way back to the main trail.  We were able to walk along the edge of the marshy area and continue along the proper trail.  Eventually we arrived at Blacklock Point. (6 mile round trip) What a spectacular area. We were really happy that we had stayed the course.

On the way back to the trailer we made a quick stop at one of the many Myrtlewood Factory stores. We were curious as to what exactly myrtle is.  It is a hardwood deciduous tree that only grows between northern California and mid-Oregon, and in Israel.

We decided that there was enough to do in the area to stay longer, so after paying for another week of campground fees we were off to Floras Lake trail.  On the way to the lake we stopped at Coquille Point Park in Bandon, the other place marked as picturesque in this area.  There is a very nice interpretive trail on the point above the beach.

 then to  Face Rock State Park, then Devils Kitchen and before going back to the highway to go to Boice Cope County Park. We did a walk past Floras Lake to the beach. This was a different type of beach, as there wasn't the offshore rocks that we have seen in most of the ther areas, and quite a coarser type of sand that didn't pack down along the shore as much as most places. Perhaps because of this, the beach was steeper and not as wide as most places we have seen, so the surf crashed harder
onto the shore.

  
We walked down the beach for a a short distance before meeting some people who had turned around ahead of us.  They told us that the tide was coming in and the area ahead had steep walls that would prevent us from getting up above the tide, so we headed back.   On the way back to the trailer we stopped at Misty Meadows for some blueberry spread, which is a jam of without added sugar, and some apricot bbq sauce.

Wednesday we drove down to Cape Blanco Lighthouse, the longest continuously operating lighthouse on the Oregon coast. The view from the parking lot across from the lighthouse was really picturesque, but the wind was blowing so hard we could hardly open the truck door, so we didn't tarry very long. 

We carried on to Port Orford to check it out, and stopped at another Mrytlewood factory.

Thursday was a rainy day.  We tried to get internet access using our phone at the park, but, perhaps because of the rain, the signal wasn't strong enough to do anything on the internet (we can usually do a bit, slowly).  We drove into town, and fortunately the wi-fi in the library is on even though the library is closed for Thanksgiving Day, so we were able to post the blog and check out a few things.

Week ending Nov 20, 2014 Oregon Beverly Beach to Bullards Beach

Friday morning we walked through the campground, checking out various sites, hunting for one that would allow us to get satellite signal. After much discussion between us we found one we thought would work. We then loaded up a TV, the satellite and a receiver to see if in fact our suspicions were true. Yes we found what the park rangers believe is one of the only sites in the park that has a line to allow us to get satellite. We then moved the trailer to the new site. John is much happier now that he will be able to watch football playoffs.

Saturday was a shopping day at Lincoln City, browsing the outlet malls. We made a quick stop at Ace hardware to replace our Damp Rid.  It is very easy to find when we are at the coast. On our way back to Beverly Beach we stopped at Boilers Bay viewpoint for lunch.

We then carried on the Otter Crest loop to Cape Foulweather. We chatted to a couple from Calgary who were on their way further south for the winter. At the Cape Foulweather visitor center we talked to a volunteer who told us he had seen seals from the viewpoint earlier in the day. But of course since we where there, the seals had gone into hiding. Our last stop before the campground was the Devil's Punchbowl.

 




Sunday we watched football and the final Nascar race of the season.

Monday was beach walking day. We walked from the campground to the Devil's Punchbowl along the beach.

The surfers were again out enjoying the rolling waves. After a stop for lunch, sitting on a log on the beach we headed back to the campground to complete the nature trail that runs through the  old growth forest next to the campground.



Tuesday was moving day. Our target was Bullards Beach State Park. The drive , although only about 120 miles took us almost 4 hours. The first viewpoint we stopped at was Cook's Chasm (Capt James Cook traveled along the coast here)  near Cape Perptua.  The rocks along the shore here are quite different than other areas we have seen so far.

We finally reach a tunnel, our GPS had been telling us to get off this road, just before the tunnel, and follow some forestry roads to get to the other side.  The tunnel is only 11 foot 6 inch and we are much taller than that. It seemed very odd, because we had seen many RV's and logging trucks on the road coming toward us.  We parked and walked up to tunnel.  It only 11 foot, 6 inches, on the shoulder edge, but about 6 inches from the edge, it is over 14 feet, plenty tall enough for us. In fact as we were looking at it, 2 large Class A motorhomes, with Alberta license plates, went through. Greta (our GPS) yelled at us as we traveled through, but once we emerged from the other side she was happy again.   A bit further down the road, we entered the Oregon Dunes area.  After looking for a pull-off for lunch for quite a while,  we pulled into the the Siltcoos River Recreation Area looking for a lunch stop with a view. No luck, so we returned to the highway, and carried on as paying to park and eat our lunch and look at trees seemed a waste.   A bit further on, we found a bit of pull-off for lunch in the little town of Gardiner.
We finally arrived at Bullards Beach State Park. Now we are pro's at the State park system and had no trouble finding a full service site from which we could get a satellite signal.

Wednesday was a drizzly kind of day, but we bit the bullet and walked through dunes to the shore. We then walked along the shore to a parking area, and then followed the path back to the trailer, all in all a bit more than 4 miles.

Thursday was a wet day, with more rain than Wednesday, so we decided to head into Bandon, a few miles from the park, to do laundry, pick up some groceries, and post the blog at the library.  As we were leaving the park, the resident pet turkey was wandering around.   Doesn't he know that Thanksgiving is only a week away here?

Week ending Nov 11, 2014 Troutdale to Beverly Beach State Park

Friday after a skype visit with John’s parents we drove the Mount Hood scenic route.  Although it was foggy when we woke up, by the time we did the drive, the day became sunny and warm. We had wonderful clear views of Mount Hood and as a bonus there were great  views of Mount Saint Helens as we came down off the mountain toward Hood River.
 

From Hood River  we went back to the RV park by the Historic Columbia river highway,  stopping at numerous waterfalls along the route.    At Multnomah Falls, we parked next to a car which had a window smashed out.  The people had been at the fall for about an hour, and came back to find that someone had stolen a purse from the car.   We lent them our whisk broom to sweep out the glass fragments.

Horsetail Falls

Multnomah Falls

After the area with the waterfalls, we got great views of the Columbia Valley from Vista House. 

Saturday we explored main street of Troutdale, stopped and picked up some homemade salsa and some lettuce at a framers market. We wandered through the Premium Outlet mall, only picking up  some vitamins at a very good price.   After going back to the trailer to have lunch and pick up the truck we went to Kmart and Burlington coat factory.  John found a jacket to his liking, Joan is still looking for a new pair of jeans. This is the final day of football, so we headed back to the trailer to watch the double header that determined which teams are in the playoffs.

Sunday started as a rainy day, as promised by the weatherman. We consoled ourselves by noting it was snowing in Alberta. We walked to the Ye Olde Pub for breakfast. It appears to be one of the few places open on a Sunday morning.   After a nice breakfast we walked back to the trailer in time to watch the 2nd last Nascar race of the season. Joan made bread and while it was baking the sun came out.

Monday we enjoyed the drive from Troutdale to the coast. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. We drove through wine country and a wonderful forest. We stopped for lunch at a viewpoint south of Licoln City.  Around 1 we arrived at Beverly  Beach State Park. After discussions with campground hosts, cleaning staff and finally a park ranger we were able to get a site long enough for us, that was full service. including cable tv. We knew that it would be impossible to get a satellite signal through all these trees.

Tuesday morning we made lunch and headed to the beach. We walked along the ocean for a couple of hours, watched some seagulls having a bath in a stream flowing into the ocean as well as some young people surfing. We assumed they are young people, because it is far too cold for us more mature types to be in the ocean at this time of year.  There are very few birds on the shore, It is much cooler here than it was at the gulf coast last winter. Lucky for us the cold front that has come down from Canada and is causing havoc everywhere else in the states  is not effecting us along the coast.  It was pretty bad along the Columbia around Portland, so our timing worked out well.
 

Wednesday,  after doing some maintenance and house work we completed the nature trail that encircles the park. The trail reminds us of many trails we have enjoyed in various rain forests.   There are many trees, called 'octopus trees' that look like the one below.   Large stumps were left when the area was logged, and some new trees germinate on top of the old stump.  They send roots down through the stump into the soil below, and after the old stump rots away, the tops of the roots are exposed, and grow bark to protect themselves. 

Later in the afternoon we went up to the welcome centre so that John could get on-line to get instructions on how to use the app he downloaded on the phone to assist him in locating the satellite signal.  We will try that app out the next time we are in a place that has fewer trees that this park. After dinner we got a text from Trever. Taylor is in the hospital with type 1 diabetes. Amazing since James was diagnosed with the same problem when we arrived back to Cochrane in August. We had a chat with Trev, he says Taylor is okay and they caught this problem earlier than they had with James.

Thursday we woke to our first rainy day. Since it was too wet to go walking we drove south down the coast to check out campgrounds and pick up groceries. We stopped at a few viewpoints to watch the surf boiling in on the shore.

 

Week ending Nov 11, 2014 Creston to Portland

 Friday after a skype visit with John’s parents we hung around the trailer, waiting for a UPS shipment from Cochrane. That whole thing was a comedy of errors.  We applied for our medical insurance for our trip south in at the end of September. They sent us email conformation and we waited for the documents. When they didn’t arrive after almost a month we called Medipac. They manually address the envelope the documents are mailed in and missed 1/2 our address. Makes a person wonder about who they hire for these jobs!!!  They corrected their mistake and mailed it out again. Finally it arrived at our UPS post box in Cochrane, so we arranged with  the fellow who runs the UPS store to courier the documents to us in Creston.  We were provided with a tracking number. We watched our poor little envelope go from Cochrane to Calgary to Richmond B.C. to Castlegar then to Cranbrook, where it was finally put on a Purolator truck to be delivered to us. Timeline for this trip, we were told originally it would arrive on Wednesday – ha! the tracking service said it would arrive by end of day Friday, but when it arrived in Cranbrook, the tracking system was updated to say it would arrive on Tuesday, 4 days later.  We figured it could have walked from Cranbrook to Creston in that time. At this point we called the courier people to see if we would run into Cranbrook and pick it up. Not possible, as it was already on the truck...lovely. The lady assured us the tracking system was wrong and we should get our documents by the end of the day.   As it turned out the lady was correct and shortly after lunch we had our documents in hand. Now we know why we pay so much to send one little envelope a couple hundred kms. Lesson learned.  Should this happen in the future we will drive back to Cochrane and pick up our mail. That silly envelope is better traveled than we are.

Saturday we packed up and headed south. Our target was Peaceful Pines RV park in Cheney Washington. After an uneventful stop at the border crossing we carried on to Bonners Ferry for the first  ‘cheap’ diesel of this winter.  We stopped and replenished our larder, one of our first stops when we cross the border is always to get fresh fruit and veg’s, as well as meat and eggs. Of course wine too, as it is much less costly in the states. We arrived early afternoon at Peaceful Pines. Not a bad little park, but in need of a refurnishing. We are only here for 2 days so not a big deal.  John was unable to get a satellite signal past the ponderosas, but they have the best cable TV we have ever seen in a RV park, so not a big deal.

Sunday dawned clear, but cold. We went to a local grocery store for a box of black box shiraz, then went for an hour  walk in town and then settled in for an afternoon of Nascar racing.

Monday morning we left heading for Agate Acres RV park at Plymouth. Plymouth is a small town located on the Columbia River. Finally a campsite without a tree in sight.  John easily found a satellite signal, and from the top of a hill we a a nice view of the river valley. We spent Tuesday exploring Umatilla, a small town just across the river in Oregon, so a short trip.  Oregon has a well stocked travel centre as you enter the state so we were able to get some travel information.   We also went out to the McNary dam and got a view of Wallula Lake created by the dam. They promised views of locks to allow shipping up and down the Columbia, but we figured the big signs saying stay out and gates with locks on them meant that the public was not welcome, despite a sign coming in that said 'Visitors Welcome'.    There was a marker on a large concrete tetrahedron that explained that 3271 of these 12 ton blocks were dropped in the river to force the flow over the spillway.  This was a unique method of starting the closure of a dam.   

We also drove through the even smaller town of Plymouth, and checked out the boat docks at Plymouth Park, operated by the Corps of Engineers.

Wednesday we departed for Troutdale, on the outskirts of Portland.  The drive down the edge of the Columbia River was really great. We got glimpses of Mount Hood,  but the white mountain didn't have enough contrast with the sky for the camera to focus on it.  We watched shipping on the river and generally enjoyed the beauty of the river. 

We arrived at Sandy Riverfront RV park early in the afternoon, got set up and checked out the park.  We spent the rest of the day looking at our travel info, and making plans. We are really pleased to see that as we get further west the temperature rises, high of 15 today and the low is 10, a much more comfortable temperature for trailering.  We also have noticed that the RV’s that are permently parked in the park are not skirted, nor do they have their water hoses wrapped. Indicates a certain lack of frost expected.

Thursday morning we awoke to a vibrant rainbow over the RV park. After getting groceries, more lock washers and a quick stop at Camping World for a hangar to put our ladder on,  we came back to the RV park. The neighbour  who is leaving tomorrow, gave us her unused laundry tokens, so we spent the afternoon  doing laundry. They have a really nice laundry room here, and who knows when we might get this lucky again.