They recommended and we followed up by having a good supper at the
When we arrived back at the trailer a young couple from Canada had parked next to us and it was instant friendship. Come to find out we were almost in their back door three years ago when we stayed in a Washington county park close to the border. Dieter works for NAPA stores and travels all over British Columbia, so we picked their brains
with maps all over the place. September gave us several detail maps of the area we will be traveling. They said the roads were already clear and the parks should be open, so we may be entering Canada ahead of our predicted schedule.
But first we needed to revisit the Oregon coast. It was one of our favorite places when we visited before so it is a must this year too. Besides we met Jack & Renee Helmsteadt’s there too. Renee’ we were thinking of you and wishing you were here all the way.
Saturday, April 30 we piddled all morning and visited again with Deiter and September before they left. We wish they could lead us through BC.
After they left we piddled some more then headed into Grants Pass to the Fred Meyer’s store. We roamed the store for about two hours looking at all possibilities, then headed back to the trailer to post Letter 5 to the blog. All in all this was a restful day.
Sunday, May 1, my how time flies when you’re having a good time, May already. We attended church at the
Gold Hill United Methodist Church and they were the most welcoming membership we have met. If we lived there we would have to belong to that church. This was communion Sunday and we were impressed as the 81 year old pastor knelt in front of each of us as he gave the bread.
After church we drove into Medford to find some of our favorite stores, the Dollar Tree, Big Lots and to visit
Jerry & David’s. This is their headquarters and we found they are known for their pears. We wondered if we had seen their orchards the day before. We found their pears were $5 each. We hope they are good. They had lots of other goodies we tasted.
On our way back to the trailer we stopped at Del Rio Winery, no not in Texas. We tasted six wines and sent two bottles to our daughter Angie. We hope she likes it as much as we did.
Monday, May 2, we drove back into Grants Pass to take a tour of Fire Mountain Gems. Our guide was so jovial and told us all the scoop about the two men that started Fire Mountain. It has grown and grown, such that now they are in two extra large buildings and their catalogs are inches thick with over 100,000 offerings. Olivia found out about this company when our church craft group decided to refurbish old jewelry. They bought “findings” to use to string and repair the old pieces. The owners like to help out their charities and also buy exotic gems when they are hunting for more items to sell. We saw
eight horses carved of one gem that comes in many colors. Grants Pass held a fund raiser like many cities do, by painting statues of an animal. We have seen Mustangs, Buffalo, Longhorns, etc. Well Grants Pass did bears. Fire Mountain covered these 
bears with beads. Not big ones. The dark brown for the fur was seed beads. When time came for the bears to be auctioned, the owners bought them back.
We packed up the trailer and headed back into California, for a short time, to access the Oregon coast. We found our home at Panther Tale Forest Camp on the Smith River where someone had been busy making
making creative piles of rocks. These were just a few. We were careful to leave them for others to see. Fred built a fire and Olivia said, 
“Now this is camping.”
Tuesday, May 3 we drove into
Crescent City to see the sights and scout out a restaurant for an early dinner after we explored the Redwood trees to the south.
Our destination was to see the Mystery Trees in this area of Redwood forests. We explored the unusual redwoods, adapting in fantastic ways in order to be among the “Oldest Living Things on the Planet.” These trees have been seen in Ripley’s “Believe it or Not.” The
Family Tree was amazing as it hosts twelve more trees. See how many you can find! They grow out of the moss covered limbs of the mother tree. We can see at least six.
After wandering in the woods we caught a
forest gondola to silently glide us through the forest canopy to the
top of the mountain seeing extraordinary specimens of Coastal Redwoods, Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir, and the 
Pacific from another elevation. On the downhill we followed the Trail of Tall Tales devoted to the folklore of Paul Bunyan and his unique adventures depicted in giant redwood carvings. Back at the parking lot 
Fred offered to fight Paul, but Babe the blue ox talked him out of it.
In Crescent City we stopped at the Chart Room for fish and chips while we watched sea lions and seals basking in the sun on the piers.
Taking a scenic road back toward the campground, we found ourselves in the middle of another
Redwood forest. This time we were on a seven mile long, very narrow one way with two way traffic road. Sometimes we wondered how we were going to get around the trees.
Look close at how the road wanders through these trees.
Back on the highway we stopped for a
post card view of the Smith River. The Smith River is the only significantly large river California without a dam.
Back at the trailer Fred started another campfire and Olivia went searching for someone to share our fire. She found Marcy & Daren from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. They turned out to be fast friends like all other RVer’s we meet. They had just come south via the Oregon Coast, so we picked their brains and found they knew of several Forest Camps with electricity. Now, those of you who do not camp, this is a rarity. Olivia marked up the Oregon map in a hurry.
Wednesday, May 4, we moved again as it seems we will be doing a lot of this trip. This time traveling into Oregon for our second time on this trip. Our first trip three years ago we spent six weeks here. It is so beautiful we wish for that much time again, but Alaska calls.
After traveling about fifty miles into Oregon, we stopped at Cape Blanco, which was discovered by Spanish explorer Martin de Aguilar in 1603. Cape Blanco State Park is located at the westernmost point in Oregon. We parked in the woods at the top of the point and headed back into
Port Orford, the only open-water port on the Oregon coast and one of 
six “dolly” ports in the world where recreational and commercial fishing boats are hoisted into and out of the water daily. We headed for another fish dinner at the
Crazy Norwegian. We had visited here before and weren’t disappointed for the repeat.
We prowled the coast for pictures we missed when we had the trailer in tow.
Humbug Mountain was the first with a view of 
Humbug bay our next, then a combination of the
the two from another elevation.
Which view do you like best? We had a hard time deciding so we inserted all three. We wondered what the semicircle of lighter water was coming from the beach. Any ideas?
Back in Port Orford, we stopped at their
Battle Rock Park where in 1851 a battle between an advance party of nine settlers and local native Indians took place. Guess who won the land?
Returning to Cape Blanco we explored the park and found access down the hill through a dense forest to the
beach and a lot of huge driftwood. Those logs are from extra large trees, maybe even giant redwoods.
On the way to the beach the forest opened just enough to see wild
Scottish Gorsc on the hill side. In fact this bright yellow bush is brightening the hills and roadsides all over the place.
Thursday May 5, we moved again, this time up the coast about 125 miles. Last time we were here we moved 25-30 miles each time. We did make a few stops to see some of the outstanding sights. South of Bandon we turned off to drive the Beach Loop Drive and stopped at
Face Rock State Scenic viewpoint. The tide was out and walkers and joggers were on the beach around the
seastacks and Gorsc was growing on the bluff.
Continuing up the coast we drove through Coos Bay and on to Umpqua Lighthouse State Park where we camped with Rene and Jack three years ago. On through Winchester Bay, Gardiner, Honeyman State Park and Florence. On north to
to Heceta Lighthouse viewpoint where we also saw Gorsc growing up the bluff above us. We passed Cape Perpetua and decided we would drive back to see the rest of the sights without the trailer. We stopped for the night in a small Forest Service camp with freshly hot topped sites within view of Tillicum Beach. Thanks Marcy for recommended this campground.
Friday, May 6, yesterday was cloudy all day and it started raining. Not bad rain, just messy. This was a good day to do research and settling estate records. Olivia worked for a couple of hours from the computer before we drove into Yachats (pronounced YAH-hots, a Chinook Indian word, meaning Dark Waters at the Foot of the Mountains) and their library. The librarian was so nice to help us get forms and emails printed, via an email to the library computer. This was new to her and she learned how to do it. We ended up being there twice that day. After printing an oath from Ellis County Olivia found a very friendly notary at city hall. She had been to a conference in Dallas and enjoyed Sam Moon, so the two had lots to talk about while taking care of business. Then off to the post office to mail the “oath,” back to Waxahachie. Settling an estate is not fun anywhere but especially not while traveling, but the staff in Yachats helped to make it bearable.
This tiny seaside village, population 670 is a unique alternative to the hustle of city life and offers some of the most dramatic surf action in the world. It offers a mild climate ranging from 40 to 70 degrees with today hitting in the middle with 50 all day. Does this sound good to you? Go to www.yachtats.org to see and learn more. They list 23 lodges and bed & breakfasts including the Heceta Light Keeper’s house seen in one of our prior pictures. In addition 26 Beach and Village rentals and six campgrounds are included. Of course they will feed you at many restaurants. This spot really was friendly, cozy and very laid back. In fact, we found many small towns along the Oregon Coast that could claim this description.
While at the library Fred found the Mavericks were playing that night so we scouted a place for him to watch at the Adobe Resort, right on the water where Olivia could watch the waves. They had a balcony with a TV in their bar area that was not occupied, so we had a private room from which to watch.
Our spot at Tillicum Beach Forest camp north of Yachats was so nice we could sit on our potty and watch the waves. Don’t laugh to hard!
Saturday, May 7, Fred and Blaire’s birthday, but it ended up being a day of maintenance for us. Olivia cut Fred’s hair, then we cleaned house for a couple of hours. Next we gathered our dirty clothes and headed to Waldport to a Laundromat. While we were doing laundry Fred visited with a commercial fisherman, who told him in the winter the Pacific was always gray.
While in town we stopped at their little grocery store and stocked up on fresh fruit, veggies, and found they had a fantastic sale on whole tenderloin. The butcher even offered to slice it for us. This was like the stores in Texas in the old days.
Driving along the coast of Oregon, state parks are every few miles. Some have campgrounds and some are parking spaces with access to the beach or to a special view. In between are stretches of beach, forest, little cottages, guest houses, beach houses, and quaint motels. Some are lived in but many are for rent for overnighters or vacationers. NO big new style hotels. This coast would be a great place to spend a vacation or the summer.
The sun came out among the clouds and we welcomed the dryer weather. We left a message for Blaire and called Nella to wish them both a Happy Birthday. As the sun was setting it looked like it would be a pretty sunset, but
it was an unusual one.
Sunday, May 8 from our trailer we watched a man cut down a tree. Sure enough it fell right where he wanted away from all harm. We don’t think we were in any danger of it falling our way, or even if it would have reached us, but it was nice when it fell the other direction.
The hosts in this campground have been extremely nice to answer questions about the area and explaining about the tree. We believe they are the nicest ones we have run across.
We drove north to Newport where we watched families on the beach looking at
at tidal pools before heading to church in
Toledo. This was a repeat church from our first trip to Oregon and believe it or not, some remembered us. It is a small membership church and the pastor is from the Central Texas Conference UMC. That could be why she remembered us.
On their entrance wall each family had decorated the
face of a cross and when I told them about the Covenant Class cross collection they gave me a blank one to take home to them. How about it guys? Some were very simple and others were elaborate. It showed the family personality and talent. Look at the carved one on the bottom left and the one in center bottom that was just stained.
Olivia navigated us the wrong direction leaving Toledo and we went upstream instead of down and a 20 mile detour or “shortcut.” Fred says this is a rare navigation mistake. Olivia navigates near flawlessly. The last few miles turned to a black gravel. It was a beautiful valley drive into the hills of Oregon, that sometimes reminded us of the hills of Tennessee. Cars were parked on the gravel road because the few houses didn’t have driveways. Some had a swinging bridge as their entry to their home. When the road neared the river the trees were covered with moss and had an eerie appearance.
Back into Newport we connected online to find out about the Mavericks playoff game scheduled for this date. Sure enough they were already playing and it was the 3rd quarter. Oops! Hurriedly we found a restaurant with a TV in the bar, so we saddled up and watched the game. A young man from Michigan was sitting next to Olivia and we struck up a conversation. He came from the Copper Penisula where we were last summer. He is a contract person who educates new car dealers and mechanics on the new features of cars. He has been in Oregon for five months. He was very outgoing and entertaining.
We stopped at all the pull outs and beach access points going back to the trailer. At
Seal Rock we enjoyed a 
young family playing in the water. The oldest child was a little boy and with his father they ran, jumped, stomped, skipped and played in the water. The little girl was not quite as happy about the water and when she bent over to put her hands on the beach shook her hands like they were dirty. Both were delightful. They were really enjoying Mother’s day.
Monday, May 9 we moved north about 30 miles to Beverly Beach State Park which was also a repeat from our previous trip. It is in a little valley leading to the beach with eight loops of camp spots with full hook ups, just electric, tents sites, or YURTS. The trees and forest are awesome. This area was felled many years ago and the trees grew back
with the roots reaching to the ground. This amazed us before and again this year.
As Olivia registered Fred visited with a local man. He said in this part of Oregon sunshine is measured in minutes in the winter. In the spring it is measures in hours, finally in the summer they might have days of sunshine. We have found sunshine to be somewhat elusive on this trip.
After setting up we went back into Newport to find a few items and ended up going to Fred Meyers and Wal-Mart. After shopping we headed north past the campground to see God’s beauty along this section of the coast. My-Oh-My how beautiful it is. We have seen some beautiful coast lines, but Oregon tops them all.
Our first stop waswas Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area which is a narrow, coastal headland extending one mile into the Pacific Ocean. Formed by ancient lava flows, Yaquina Head’s hard basalt cliffs and coves have endured the pounding ocean surf for 14 million years. From a view point we looked down the 100 steps to the tidal pools,
where we had walked three years ago.
Just offshore is one of the largest common murre colonies on the coast and they were preparing to lay eggs upon one of the large rocks. They are black and white, like penguins and they incubate their eggs on top of their feet.
Captain Cook moored at the mouth of the Yaquina River, March 7, 1778 and wrote, “On the 6th at noon…we saw two seals and several whales, and at day break the next morning, the long looked for coast of New Albion was seen. At the northern extreme, the land formed a point, which I called
Cape Foulweather, from the very bad weather that we, soon after, met with.” It was hard for us to imagine bad weather like he described as this day was beautiful and so were the waves. We were told wind can reach 100 mph during storms. This point is 500 feet above the water and Olivia stated, “This is like a place in a movie where the good and bad guys fight and one ends up falling in the water.”
The
gift shop on the north side is a real cliffhanger, also 500’ above the water, called The Lookout Observatory.
We passed through Depoe Bay to Boiler Bay for another good view point with a
waterfall that seemed to come out of the moss. From another direction we watched a
fisherman and the waves. Look for him to the right of the big wave on a rock outcropping. He has on a gray shirt and is sitting down.
A big wave approached from the left.
It kept coming,
but just then he stood up to catch a fish.
The wave surrounded him. We watched as he tried to land the fish, but it was evident that he had caught a “rock” fish.
The old highway 101 is now a one-way, southbound, scenic drive with spectacular views between Otter Crest and Rocky Creek. It runs below the current one and is very narrow and winding, but allows tourist to see all the beauty. It was getting late when we ended at
Rocky Creek, but the waves still attracted us.
Tuesday, May 10 we moved north through Lincoln City and across the 45th Parallel and past the D River which connects Devils Lake and the Pacific Ocean and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s shortest river at 120 feet. On to Netarts, OR which is on the Thee Capes Scenic Route west of Tillamook.
We found a home at a Passport America RV park with full hookups, cable TV, and free Wi-Fi for only $13.13. The only drawback is it isn’t very glamorous like the state and national parks, but with the proximity to all the beauty in the area, we are ok with it. Besides we were in a holding pattern waiting for the Hensley’s to arrive in Seattle where the prices are much steeper and locations rare in that area.
We drove into Tillamook where we tasted cheese and wine at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, Debbie Dee’s Sausage Factory for sausage, and the Tillamook Cheese Factory for cheese tastings and ice cream. Who needs supper? Did you know you can buy Tillamook cheese in Waxahachie at the HEB store?
Wednesday, May 11, Rain, Rain, go away, but we caught up on TV and the computer, making plans and finding future campgrounds. Driving back into Tillamook we stocked up on staples at Safeway. Oregon has certainly benefitted from our dollars as they do not have a sales tax. We tried to squeeze everything we could into the trailer that we will need in Canada and Alaska.
Thursday, May 12, we drove into Tillamook again for a few more staples then took the beautiful Three Capes Scenic Drive starting with the north end
Cape Meares. The view to the east included a bay with huge rocks for nesting birds. To the west was 
Three Arches Rocks National Wildlife Refuge home to the largest concentration of tufted puffins along the coast. Look hard and you can see one arch in the largest rock. Later we saw the arch in the middle one.
Looking down the long sloping path, we saw the
top of the Cape Meares lighthouse, the shortest lighthouse at 38’ and we thought of Blaire as she attempted to climb it. We didn’t walk down the long path this time.
Further south we stopped at Cape Lookout State Park and Sand Lake Recreation Area, where we found three Forest Camp Grounds. The Sand beach CG had lots of nice paved spots with no hookups. The East & West Dunes campgrounds were well marked sites on paved parking lots. Since there is lots of sand in this area it is perfect for ATV activity.
This day turned out to be beautiful and we hope our future ones do too. We move into Washington State tomorrow, cutting off the remainder of the coast, and hope to see Mt St. Helen’s and Mt Rainier before going into Seattle.
We love hearing from you and what is happening in your life so email us at:
Olivia@bobheck.com or Fredharrington@yahoo.com
