Boy, did we get blessed!

Well, we’ve been at the Oregon coast five days now and have explored both north and south of our current location (the KOA in the city of Langlois).  The town south of us is Port Orford and the furthest town north we explored is Coos Bay/Charleston.  Here’s our RV in this sumptuous site surrounded by a thick forest of evergreens, ferns, and an assortment of wildflowers and shrubbery.

I won’t bore you with thousands (not really) pictures of the coastline.  Don’t tell any Oregonian I said this, but after a while, it truly does have a tendency to all look the same.  (Gasp, such heresy spoken here!!!)  I’ll just give you the highlights so far which will be easy to do because my sister, Mary, gave me a journal for our trip and I pen our exploits at the end of every day.

Let me start with an amazing little restaurant we stopped at for lunch on our way up the coast.  It was in Gold Beach and it is called “Barnacle Bistro”.  I had their fish and chips made from very fresh cod.  It was the ABSOLUTE BEST fish and chips I ever eaten, bar none!  Gary had a mushroom burger with grilled mushrooms and onions sprinkled with blue cheese.  If you ever find yourself in this part of Oregon, you simply MUST stop by this restaurant … amazing food!  Okay, now that the foodie in me is out of the way, onto the sightseeing!

Our first full day we drove north to New River and then the town of Bandon. We did a short hike to the river, but couldn’t access the beach as the river was between us and the beach.  That is one of the very different things about the coast in Oregon compared to So. Cal.  There are so many (and I mean many) creeks and rivers that flow to the ocean.  You can hardly travel a mile without crossing over a creek or river.  On the hike, we passed through this prehistoric looking forest with moss covered trees.  Here’s a picture of one of them.  It was almost like a Stephen King movie/book, it looked so eerie. 

On our way back out, I had Gary pull over so I could take a picture of these pine trees.  They reminded me of a troop of soldiers—so tall and erect and in perfect formation.  They just caught my eye and I had to have a photo!

This is a picture of Sadie and Sherwood exploring the river bank.  Those are two happy hounds.

Finally, here’s a picture of me at New River.  Behind me, across the river, you can see a dune area.  Right on the other side of that is the ocean.

To get to Bandon, we took Beach Loop Drive that went along the coast which meant we got to “lookie-lou” at all the cool houses overlooking the ocean.  The drive took us straight into Old Bandon, which is a quaint fishing village.  We also stopped at the Face Rock Creamery.  They make their own fresh cheese and you can watch the whole process. Unfortunately, there was no cheesemaking going on the day that we visited.  However, we did taste a number of cheeses and Gary bought himself a chunk of cheddar and then we each had a scoop of their yummy ice cream.

The next day we were going to just “hang out” and have a day off, but the weather turned out so gorgeous we decided to make the trek to Cape Blanco to see their “famous” lighthouse … famous because it is supposed to be the most westerly lighthouse on the west coast.  On the way to the lighthouse we stopped at historic Hughes House and did a quick walking tour.  It is an amazing, beautiful home that was built in 1898.  Here’s Gary hanging around out front so I could take a picture.

The Cape Blanco lighthouse is still an active lighthouse today, but is totally run on electricity and is “unmanned.”  We bought tickets to go up to the top, but after the first flight of spiral stairs, my acrophobia (fear of heights) kicked into high gear and I was barely able to turn around, grab the banister, and get myself back downstairs!  Sheesh!  What a waste of $2.00 (LOL!).  Gary continued on up but the top was still occupied by another party that refused to move out, so he came back down without any pictures from up top.  Here we are before the paralyzing fear assailed me. 

On our way home, we turned off on Paradise Road to access the beach to let the dogs have a good run.  The beach was totally deserted—we had it all to ourselves.  So, of course, the dogs were off-leash.  Poor Sherwood (who already has no stability because of his bad joints) got whacked by a wave that hit him from behind and he went crashing down along with the wave.  Poor baby had a really hard time getting back up and was a bit traumatized.  I made a delicious Pasta Pomodoro dish for dinner.  It was excellent and I’ll post the recipe separately.

The next day we packed a picnic lunch and headed for Coos Bay – up the coast.  We headed west to the small town of Charleston and went to Sunset Bay State Park, which happens to be the most photographed cove on the Oregon coast!  It was another PICTURE PERFECT day with clear skies and no wind.  This is a cool little cove and we had a great day sitting on our beach chairs, eating lunch, and just enjoying the gorgeous scenery.  Below is a video I took of the cove.  Hope you enjoy the beauty as much as we did.

After those two beautiful, amazing, clear, no wind days we woke up to fog and wind again.  I basically hung around and did some work for my sister and took it easy.  We also did laundry and grocery shopping.  Hoping tomorrow will be less windy.  Although I’m sorely tempted to just video-tape the trees as the wind whirls through their leaves and creates this melodious symphony of leaves upon leaves.

River Rattin’ It

Let me start with a little history about the Smith River State Recreation Area.  The Smith River is considered one of the best fishing regions in the U.S., with trophy sized steelhead trout, Chinook salmon and other game fish species. It is also the longest National Wild and Scenic River in the U.S.  Rafting is popular in the summer months and most hiking trails are accessible year-round. The region receives over 90 inches of rainfall annually, with the greatest amounts in the winter.

On Friday, we took a late afternoon drive to one of the roadside river access areas and spent a couple of hours just enjoying the amazing beauty and serenity the river had to offer.  No one was near us and the two dogs had a great time exploring although Sherwood had a difficult time with the rocks.  You may or may not know that our Brittany, Sherwood, has a birth defect and his hip socket is square instead of round.  The older he gets, the gimpier he gets.  He falls a lot, especially on uneven or slick surfaces, and the rocks at Smith River presented both of those hazards.

Here are some photos of the Smith River from our limited viewpoint.  We had river bends at both ends so our river view was cut short.

This next picture gives you a look at how clear and clean the water in the river looks.  You can see all the way to the bottom of the river, all the way to the other side.

This is Gary and me sitting on the river’s edge, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the luxury of just doing nothing!  And I pondered that today.  THIS is my life!  Not that I always want to do nothing.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  But for now, we are simply enjoying the gift we have been given to travel and enjoy God’s beautiful creation.

Finally, below is a video of the Smith River.  One of my most favorite sounds ever is the sound of a river, or creek, as it splashes over the rocks.  Truly, from my perspective, it is one of the most peaceful and tranquil sounds.  This Scripture verse that comes to mind is:   The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD is over many waters (Psalms 29:3).

One last photo of our river adventure.  Here I am trying to get my legs to not look like Caspar the friendly ghost!  That’s my hat covering my face in case you were wondering where my head is!

The next day in the early afternoon, we drove back to Crescent City to explore the coast a little more.  Our first stop was Pebble Beach … not THE Pebble Beach, but a beach in Crescent City!  Here is a short video I took as I spanned the beach.  It was rather windy which accounts for all the noise and you can barely hear me talking in the background!

Here's some trivia for you, and I bet you don't know this!  The California coast boasts 34 lighthouses from Point Loma in San Diego to St. George Reef, just past Battery Point.  I had no idea that California had so many lighthouses.    Check out the lighthouse locations at the following link:  http://www.lighthousefriends.com/ca.html.  The Oregon coast, on the other hand, has a total of 11 lighthouses.  The picture below is of Battery Point Lighthouse the second to the last one before heading into Oregon.

The park we stayed at, Hiouchi RV Park, had a church (Hiouchi Community Fellowship) that held their services in the park on a grassy area near the offices.  It was a very relaxed atmosphere … bring  your own lawn chair and feel free to pick it up whenever you feel like moving it into the shade if you’re too hot or into the sun if you’re too cold!  The land the RV park is on is owned by the Yurok Indian Tribe who is very happy to have the church on their premises.  So happy in fact that they said they could build a church building on some of the extra land in the RV park! This small, but mighty fellowship has a desire to "plant seeds of financial and spiritual restitution for the sovereign nation of the Elk Valley Rancheria".  It is the fourth point in their five points of ministry. 

The first service we attended, Gary spent time beforehand talking to Pastor Steve and after the service he had everyone pray for us to launch us on our journey.  That was very awesome and very special.  It is a small, but mighty fellowship and the people are very nice.  A number of Christians in the RV Park also attended the services making the congregation a mixture of both their local members and transient RVers (like us).  We also attended their Thursday night fellowship at a member’s home in the town of Gasquet and were just as blessed.

Monday we pack up and head into Oregon to travel up the coast and then to Portland.  We’ve been here nine days and I feel like I’m growing roots!  We really enjoyed the cooler weather and we met some wonderful people.  One couple, Ann & Marvin, who live in Durango, gave us their number so we can call them when we get there.  We hope to meet people from all over and create a network of new friends throughout the country.  How amazing is that?

The Beautiful Oregon Coast

On Wednesday this week, we did a little exploring of the southern Oregon coast.  Not too far, but far enough to experience the fog in Brookings Harbor and then see a beautiful day emerge from the mist in Gold Beach.

They say experience is the best teacher.  Maybe I need a new teacher!  Early on in our outing, the camera battery died… so sad!   Thankfully, I randomly decided I should bring my tablet in case I wanted to access the Internet, so the table became our back-up camera.

Also, fairly early on in our roaming, my foot found probably the only hole in an asphalt trail to the beach at Chetco Point.  I went crashing to my knees and the camera also went flying.  Ouchie, ouchie, ouchie!  I was so, so happy my jeans didn’t get ruined and that the camera still worked … yeah God!  Here’s a picture of my banged up knees.  Anyone want to play a violin for me?

The Oregon Coast is so amazing and beautiful.  We won’t bore you with too many photos (because in the end they all start to look the same!), but here are a few that we selected for your viewing enjoyment. 

Photo #1 - This is in Brookings Harbor, and that is NOT a rock the seagulls are sitting on.  It is the carcass of a very dead whale.  It stunk!  In addition to the carcass, there were large bleached whale bones scattered close by.  That poor whale must have gotten stuck in this small harbor area and had no way to get itself out.  Notice the fogginess of the day?  Come on, how could you not?

Photo #2 - Our next stop was at Harris Beach, one of the many very well-signed turn-outs that allow you to take beautiful photos and often walk to the beach.  Oregon is very good about providing beach access.  Also, dogs are normally allowed on the beaches as long as they are on a leash (which we didn't always do... horrors!).

Photo #3 - The picture below was taken in the Samuel H. Boardman Scenic Corridor area.  Along the corridor in this stretch of coast are a number of great places designated for photo-taking and beach access.  In this photo is Arch Rock.  It was still a little foggy here, but starting to clear up nicely.

Photo #4 - Here we pulled over on the north bank of the Rogue River in Gold Beach.  It's a bit distant in this photo, but there is a historic bridge on the 101 crossing the Rogue River.  The picture was taken from the roadside close to the rivermouth, near where it meets the ocean.

Photo #5 - This photo was taken in the Cape Sebastian Scenic Corridor.  This is VERY TYPICAL of the scenery on the Oregon Coast.  Lots of rocks in the water.  Lots of driftwood on the shore.  Beautiful sandy beaches that stretch for miles.  And, best of all, it is generally very uncrowded.

Photo #6 - Judy took this picture while climbing up the sand dunes at the Pistol River outlook.  The sand was so "soft?" that her feet literally disappeared!  When we were walking up the dunes, Gary actually fell forward because his feet sunk so deep!  P.S.  Those are the jeans that sustained the earlier trip and fall at Chetco Point.

Photo #7 - Here are Gary and the dogs at the Pistol River beach area.  We never made it close to the ocean, which was quite a long, arduous trek.  The wind was howling and the sand was blowing.  You had to keep your mouth closed or the next thing you knew, you were crunching sand in your teeth.  We were all ready to get back in the Jeep, including the dogs.

 All in all, even with the difficulties and mishaps, it was a great day.  That night, back at Hiouchi RV Resort in our home-on-wheels, we both slept very well.

 





Necessity is …

 ... the mother of invention (quote often attributed to Plato).

“So what!”  you say.  Well, I have come into my own creative, inventive mode here in RV living.  That’s right, me!  Here are a few things I “invented” out of necessity to help us overcome some annoyances:

Annoyance #1 – While traveling in the RV, one of the sliding shower doors would often slide open especially around sharp curves.  This would cause it to knock around, back-and-forth on curvy roads.  Not a major trauma, but it was bugging me.  Solution:  I bought a large plastic c-clamp (you can't imagine how happy I was when I discovered they had PLASTIC c-clamps) and now we clamp the roving shower door to the one that is fastened down and stationary.  Now, when we're on the road,  the moving door is fastened to the stationary door and the door no longer has the freedom to travel back-and-forth.  Annoying banging solved!

Annoyance #2 – While traveling in the RV, sometimes one of the closet doors in the bedroom would swing open (maybe because we have it packed with too many clothes?  I don’t know).  Anyway, when we went around sharp curves (sharp curves help you discover what isn’t really locked down!) they would sometimes swing open and bang around.  Not a big deal, but, again, annoying.  Solution:  I bought a child-proof door lock that holds both doors together when we are traveling so even if they “crack” open, at least they don’t swing wide and our shoes don’t come flying out.  Annoying swinging door solved!

Annoyance #3 – RV shelving is … well … undesirable to say the least (in our rig anyway, which is 10 years old).  We have white wire shelves in a number of the cabinets to give us more storage space.  There was, however, this one kitchen cabinet that had no shelves at all (yikes!!!) and the white wire shelf was too low to provide additional space.  Solution:  So, I had this idea that we could make our own shelf (that was not good news to Gary!).  We went to Home Depot and bought a small piece of ¼” plywood and some 12” high square dowels.  We had them cut the plywood to size and then we nailed the dowels into each corner of the plywood.  We then covered the plywood with a non-slip mat and … VOILA!  A perfect additional shelf in this one kitchen cabinet where storage space was REALLY needed!

So, you see, necessity REALLY is the mother of invention!  I have proven that as so many others have and will continue to do so.

Does Red Make You Mad?

Well, if it does, you wouldn’t do well in the redwood forests in northern California.   Yes, Virginia, the amazing redwoods are not only in the Sequoia National Forest, but they are also in abundance up north!  There are four park sections starting north and moving south:  Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, and finally Redwood National Park.  We only visited Jedediah and Del Norte.  The biggest trees are located in Redwood National Park, so nothing we saw can compare to the GINORMOUS redwoods in Sequoia! 

The forest carpet is proliferated with many varieties of large, lush, beautiful ferns.  The groves are so thick with redwoods that very little sun reaches the forest floor.  The redwoods in this area thrive on the more than 100” of rain a year and the coastal fog.  The photo below is Walker Road which is one of the many roads you can drive on in Jedediah Smith Park. 

Here’s another towering redwood reaching up to the heavens to touch the azure blue sky in Jedidiah.

We actually had a surprise at the end of Walker Road.  Suddenly, we were confronted by the Smith River … through the Redwoods to rivers edge (below)!  We were not expecting that and weren’t really prepared to hang around too long because it was rather warm, there was very little shade at river’s edge, and we had no swimsuits or shorts with us.  It was a beautiful sight to behold though, and the dogs enjoyed splashing around on the shoreline.  More to come on the Smith River, but that’s for another blog!

Finally, here I am in Jedidiah with the dogs in tow.  In this photo you can see all that lush fern growth covering the forest floor behind me.  Oh yeah, and it’s a great pic of the dogs’ butts, too, don’t you think?

The next day we cruised up the coast on the Redwood Highway to explore part of Del Norte Coast Redwoods Park.  Jedidiah is about 10 miles inland and thus not foggy when we visited.  However, heading towards the coast we started to chill off and feel the cooling effects of the fog.   I really wanted to catch the fog in the trees and below is one of my attempts to capture the beauty of the fog weaving its way through the redwoods.

We took a detour and drove partway on a “coastal trail” (off the 101/Redwood Highway).  We were able to stop and walk a short distance to the beach.  Here’s Gary on the trail with the two dogs … oh dear, another butt picture of them!

A lot of this land is Indian Reservation, and the trail took us past one of their “sacred sites” that included a number of wood structures (see one below).

Here’s a photo of the beach after our very short walk.  I really love all the different natural elements in this photo—the multi-colored wildflowers, stark looking pine tree, moss-covered rock, bleached driftwood scattered across the sandy beach, and the lush grassy area bordering the lagoon.

Finally, just to show you that the dogs have a good side to them, here are pictures of them exploring this new territory.  Sherwood is first then Sadie second.  Personally, I think the one of Sadie is exquisite with her sitting in the grass surrounded by purple, pink, yellow and orange wildflowers.

 Next adventure … Smith River National Recreation Area/Six Rivers National Forest!

 

Times of Refreshing ... NOT!

Question of the week: “What can you do that is refreshing when you’re in the middle of a heat wave that is registering over 105 degrees?”  We thought … maybe we should go to Lake Shasta and have a picnic and swim at one of their day use areas.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Unfortunately, it wasn’t so simple.  Here are some things I learned about Lake Shasta today:

1. The water level at the lake is very low right now.
2. The low water level greatly impacts the usability of the day use areas (which, by the way, are few and far between and were missing a key element for a hot day … shade!).
3. Since the lake was manmade from a dam, the shoreline is rocky and at a steep angle, making the opportunity to simply stop by the side of the road and take a dip virtually impossible.
4. Dogs are not allowed in the water (this is definitely not working for me).
5. The lakes in this area (Shasta, Trinity, and Whiskeytown) are all really about watercraft—boating, jet skiing, houseboating—not about taking a dip to cool off.

Oh yeah, I had one last “revelation” today:  Every day of our RVing life isn’t going to be filled with fun and adventure.  Some days are going to be a bust.  Some days will be filled with amazing scenery.  Some days may be downright boring.  And some days will be a blast.  I think somewhere in my head as I was looking at the map of all the lakes in this area I had this “fun times at the lake” dreamy notion with swimming, relaxing, the dogs cooling off, etc.  It just didn’t happen that way today, so get over it, Judy!

It was still somewhat of an adventure, though.  We were hot, road-weary, and hungry.  With no shady day use area, we decided to sneak into this campground (see campground sign below) and eat our picnic lunch at one of their open campsites.  We felt like poachers, stealing what didn’t belong to us.  We didn’t care.  We ate quickly, used their bathroom facilities, and then said, “Adios.”

With still time in the day, we drove to Whiskeytown Lake.  Yup, we drove a lot of miles with no cooling off!  Here’s a photo of the lake taken from the side of the road.  We thought there really was a town called Whiskeytown, but we sure didn’t see one.  Wikipedia has this to say about that “town”:  Although once a bustling mining town, there are very few people living in Whiskeytown as of today. The entire town of Whiskeytown was flooded to make way for Whiskeytown Lake in 1962. Hah! No wonder we didn’t see a town!    

Then, it was back to the air conditioned RV and their swimming pool to cool off and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, where the temperature is still 105 degrees at 4:30 p.m.

Today, Friday, we are getting everything cleaned up and put back together so we can escape the heat and travel to the coast early (i.e., 5:30 a.m.!!!) to explore the Northern California Redwoods.

Stay cool, my friends!

 

Burney Falls and Mount Shasta

What a way to start off July!  We took the road (Highway 44) to the town of Burney Falls to see the falls that Teddy Roosevelt once described as the “eighth wonder of the world”.  Burney Falls is a 129-foot fall that was named after pioneer settler Samuel Burney who lived in the area in the 1850s. The McArthurs were pioneer settlers who arrived in the late 1800s. Descendants who bought the property gave it to the state as a gift in the 1920s, saving it from development.  It is a beautiful sight to behold.  We spent just a little time there, took pictures, ate our picnic lunch, and then headed off to our next stop, Mount Shasta.

Mount Shasta is still considered an active volcano, located at the southern end of the Cascade Range and at 14,179 feet is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California.  As you can see, it is a very photogenic mountain!

We drove up Everitt Memorial Highway to the final overlook at 8,000 feet.  This is the last starting point to climb to the top of Mount Shasta.  From this vantage point it really doesn’t look as imposing as it does in the other picture from further away where it seems to majestically arise above its surroundings.  We had someone take our picture, and on that very table, Gary left his camera (my old camera).  By the time we figured it out, we were half-way down the mountain and decided to kiss it goodbye!

Everitt Memorial Highway had these trees on the side of the road that fascinated both of us.  They just didn't look real because they were so perfectly shaped.  They reminded me of the fake trees I have for my Christmas village.  So straight, so perfect, so fake looking.  Aren’t they just too cool?

This was our final stop at Lake Siskiyou on the way back to Red Bluff.

And then we were blessed with such a beautiful sunset with temps in the high 90's at 9:00 p.m.