Perfect Weather (Newport, OR)

We were happy to leave Florence, OR last week.  It rained almost the whole time we were there.  It rained so much that natural springs were popping up in the middle of the campground's dirt roads.  It would not be so bad if the campground had less dense growth and a better run-off system for the rain.  It just felt muddy and wet all the time.  The floors were a constant mess and hard to keep up with them.  They are clearing timber in the park to open it up, so it may be better by next year.

Florence

 Whenever it would stop raining, we would rush outside to get in some walks.  We spent most of our time in or around the RV park.  We weren't very enthused with getting out in the wind and rain along the coastal areas with cliffs.

Heathers in bloom

We are a lot happier in our new site in Newport.  We have had more sunshine and the roads are not as muddy in the campground.  The cats are certainly a lot happier.  They are not tracking in as much debris and the floors are staying a lot cleaner. 

you are my sunshine....my only sunshine....mine!

We had to go see the sea lions in Newport's Historic Bayfront area.  There were not as many as last fall and they were not very active, but they were still fun to see again.

 Newport's Historic Bayfront area

Sea Lions

 We also went back to Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  As you can see, the weather was absolutely gorgeous!  We walked up Communications hill to get a different view of the lighthouse and found it was a great place to view the surrounding area as well.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

 We could see for miles up and down the coast and not a single rain cloud within our view.

On another nice day, we went to Nye Beach.  We walked along the beach and then into the downtown area stopping along the way to view menus.  Some of them sounded pretty good.  Guess we will have to go back to try some of them.  We could not pass up a pastry shop though, so Dan got a big cookie and Sandy decided on a strawberry with lavender scone.

There's some interesting art work around the downtown area.  This one had our attention for a while.

We are not quite sure what it means, but it was well done with plenty of details.  The more we looked at the more we saw we missed on our first time around it.

Our only complaint with our campsite in Newport is the slow or non-existent WiFi.  In order to get online, we have to spend time in the family center or constantly reboot our own broadband connection.  

Well, by the time we post again, we will be a little farther north.  So until then...Happy Trails!

Settled For The Winter (Sutherlin, OR)

In late October and early November we spent our last three weeks on the Oregon coast in a wonderful little town and port called Florence.  We did a little new exploring, but for the most part we visited some of our old favorite sights.  We walked the downtown area several times.

We visited the Shore Acres State Park.  This place use to belong to one family.  Such a wonderful combination of a rugged shoreline with gorgeous formal gardens filled with dahlias, roses, and a reflective pond.  Here are some photos we took during our visit.  The link shows more photos and tells the history about the owner.

Some of the dahlias and roses were still blooming despite the colder weather.

We also visited the Heceta Head Lighthouse on a foggy day.  The fog gave this old lighthouse a very mysterious almost romantic feel to it.  The views were spectacular.

from the shore looking up towards the lighthouse keeper's home

Lighthouse keeper's house - now a B&B

During our walks around the RV park, we started entertaining ourselves by looking for mushrooms.  They were everywhere in all sizes and colors.

The moisture in the air was perfect for the mushrooms, but we were starting to get a little tired of it.  Time to move to Sutherlin on I-5.

Granted it is overcast 80% of the time, but it is a lot dryer here in the inland valley between the low Coastal Range to the west, and the high Cascades to the east.  We got to pick out our own site this time.  We picked one on a hillside overlooking the park and the hills.

Now, when we go for walks in the RV park, we look for deer...

and turkeys...

and jack rabbits.  The wildlife seems to be very use to humans.  They rarely run off when we stop to watch them.  We even watched one man come out of his rig yelling at the turkeys to go away.  They certainly did not panic and take off in a hurry.  More like little punks, bobbing their heads, sauntering off as if to say "okay Pops, we're leaving, but you don't scare us."

We have been spending sometime with the park's residents to get a feel for this park.  They have been very friendly and filled with information about the area.   We can't believe the holidays are already here again.  We had our Thanksgiving dinner with the Escapees in a pot luck this year.  So, that's what we have been up to for the past month.

The fall leaves were almost gone when these photos were taken and the holiday season is here once again.  

Our son, Shaun stopped in for two nights.  He is moving from Albuquerque to the Everett area.  If we decide to lease a lot with Timber Valley SKP in Sutherlin, we will be within a day's drive to his new home.  A big plus we were not planning on when we first added Sutherlin to the top of our list.

We have now been dealing with snow and freezing temps for the past week.  We will add photos of that in our next blog post. 
 

Since it might be awhile to our next post, let us say a belated Happy Thanksgiving!  Merry Christmas! and a Happy New Year!

Smells A Little Fishy (Florence, OR)

Ta-Da!  Our new shower door!  Dan did a great job installing it once we got the correct size, of course.  The door has a very strong magnet so it stays closed during travel.  But just in case, we have the cat's litter box in front of it while we are moving down the road.  No need to take a chance on breaking our new glass door.

Since our last posting, we have moved several times.  We spent four nights at Ft. Stevens State Park where we walked around the old battery and what was left of the Civil War fort.

Our next move was to Newhalem Bay State Park.  Most of our time there was spent indoors due to the two storms that were moving through the northwest.

Newhalem State Park

We braved the cold windy days a couple of times just to get a little exercise.  We liked what we saw and we hope to stop by here again sometime in the future.

Port of Garibaldi 

Back on the road again, we headed south of Tillamook to Newport.  It is so nice to have blue sky again!  We spent the afternoon walking the Historic downtown area.

Newport, OR

We followed our noses.....

and the sea lions' barking to the docks.  

roll over, dude!

Looks like we are not the only ones enjoying the sunshine.

I am smiling!

Moving on....

Draw bridge Florence, OR

We are settled in Florence for the next three weeks or until the weather turns bad.  Which ever comes first.  Right now, the forecast is for lots of sunshine...well, we know how that goes, so we will see.

Happy Trails!

A Couple of New Items

We donated one of our barrel chairs to Good Will. We replaced the chair with a 54 inch tall cat scratch post with two curved shelves. (clickable pics)  The shelves are perfect for one cat to lay or roll around in. Although, Hitch found out he could not get too rambunctious because he suddenly found himself hanging from the top shelf with Squirrel hissing and batting at his hind feet. It has been interesting to watch which one becomes King-of-the-Post. Our cats now have the choice of carpet, wood, or sisal for sharpening their claws. All three have been tested and met with approval. We hope this will replace all desire to scratch up the furniture. Riiiight. Dan secured the post to the floor so it will not tip over while we are on rough roads. Hitch actually laid in it during our last drive. He was lying in the lower shelf so he had a perfect view of the world going by the window. Yep, they’re not spoiled.

Before we left Florence, we took a scenic dune buggy ride. The dune area is about 5 miles long by 1 mile wide. Despite the cold weather, the wind, and the threat of rain, there were many off-road-vehicles (ORVs) enjoying the dunes. It is truly amazing to sit at the top of a dune and look out over all this sand. The dunes are very beautiful even on a bad day. We drove through creeks, along the beach, and through the woods.

The ride became a little more exciting when our driver took us down several steep dunes that felt like we were going straight down. At one point, the same company’s smaller/faster dune rider came zipping down a dune straight at us, cut to the right, and covered us in sand! Thanks, we needed that! He proceeded to go sideways along the same steep dune we had just come down. Those guys were having a blast!

We also thought we were both deaf in one ear afterwards. The young lady sitting directly behind us has a very good set of lungs and every animal within a 1-mile radius heard her screams. Wow! She was laughing too, so at least she was having fun. It was a lot of fun and we would suggest it to anyone visiting Florence to go for a ride. Next time, Dan wants to ride the faster dune buggy.

We stayed in Eugene at a very nice county park for a week.  Armitage Park is a nice change from being in heavily wooded campgrounds. It has wide open grassy lawns with tall trees. The lots are so large that you barely notice a neighbor moving in next door. The best part is the asphalt spaces. It is so nice to walk outside and not have to worry about getting mud all over our shoes. There are paved pathways everywhere. One goes down to the river and under a few bridges. The weather has been great with a lot more sunshine with a little bit of rain.

While in Eugene we had LineX sprayed on the lower front portion of our Bluebird, and color matched.  This freshens up the look of the front end greatly, and should resist sand and gravel better as we travel.  LineX is a very tough coating used on pickup truck beds, and high impact areas of other vehicles.  http://www.linex.com/  .  In the picture, it is raining a little and we have not put our license plate nor Bluebird BMC emblem back on yet.   

Subject to change, we think we will head south on I-5 a bit to the Sutherlin Oregon Escapees park, then head back over to the Oregon coast at Bandon.  From there we will likely head south into Northern CA to check out the Redwood forests.