California, Oregon & Washington Coasts March & April 2009

Saturday, March 21, 2009 Russian River Resort, Cloverdale
We no longer will be taking vacations. We now go on trips. And we go on lots of trips.
We met Julie for lunch at Mary’s Pizza in Windsor. She just celebrated her 60th birthday so a party was in order. We had a quick slide show in the RV before we parted ways. I wanted Julie to see the progress of Cynthia Court.
We spent the first night at our favorite spot, Russian River Resort in Cloverdale. Dave and Betty, our favorite rangers were there. Hattie totally recognized the place right as we turned into the park. She jumped up, and couldn’t wait to go outside. She gladly accepted a cookie from Dave and couldn’t wait to get to the river. So, we went to the river first thing.
Carl made left over corned beef for dinner. I was able to Skype Heidi from the clubhouse and later on, Chris. Chris is in Singapore visiting his sister and Tim. Wish I was there.

Sunday, March 22, 2009 At Rivers Edge, Brookings, Oregon
We wanted to get an early start so we showered in the restrooms so we wouldn’t have to dump. Our early is not the same as other people’s early. We left the park at around 10:30 and drove straight through to Brookings, Oregon, arriving at 5:15. Our thought was to stop at Klamath, but our park was closed for the season. The park we settled in is a “Enjoy America” park, it’s ½ price from their regular price. And there are all sorts of restrictions. Half price for us is just fine. The park is very nice and we are at the river’s edge. Before we even hooked up, we took Hattie for a walk and swim. She was so good during the long trip. Chado is always good.
We found a launching ramp for Hattie to swim. She was shivering, but kept going back for more. After her swim, Carl fixed left over pork loin and rice and I WiFi’d. I’m trying to upload a video of Cynthia Court on Facebook, but one of us is having problems.

Monday, March 23, 2009 At Rivers Edge, Brookings, Oregon
We decided to stay here one more day and pay retail, but it’s a nice park. We took Hattie to the rocky beach area for a swim. And was the water ever cold. Then Carl and I went to Brookings to find the post office and a Fred Meyers. I had to mail Heidi her bag-o-magazines. Ouch! Fred Meyers hasn’t changed since the last time we were in the area, but oh well.
I felt lousy when we got back. I think we didn’t stay home long enough between our “trips”, and I wished I was in Singapore seeing my kids. Hopefully, I can sleep it off. We’ll see on Tuesday.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009 Bullards Beach State Park, Bandon, Oregon
We awoke to a much warmer day. We decided to make our next stop Bandon. On the way to Bandon, we stopped at a beach along the coast. Hattie had a wonderful time chasing after sticks and balls in the ocean. And then we had PGJ sandwiches for lunch. We stopped at Old Town Bandon to check out the shops before heading to the campground. We bought some candy at the Cranberry candy store and a quest item, a myrtle wood napkin holder in the shape of a shell. Cute.
We settled in at the campground, spot #C26 and went for a walk to the marina where Hattie went swimming and then running in the mud.
Carl made raviolis and salad for dinner. We had those candies for dessert

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 Neskowin Creek, Neskowin Oregon
Well, this is Oregon. I tried to sleep in until it stopped raining, but I was getting bed sores, so I got my lazy ass out of bed at 9:30. Hattie came in every once in a while to bug me, but saw I was unbugable and left. What to do, what to do. I keep reminding myself we came for the severe weather, and that’s what we got.
Once I gathered myself, we headed out to our next spot, Neskowin Creek. It was a mud bath. This was a sleep and run park. It did have cute bunnies all over the place. Must be getting ready for Easter.

Thursday, March 27, 2009 Pacific Holiday RV, Long Beach, WA
Maggie called confirming our ron-day-vue on Sunday. I can’t wait. We leisurely drove up the Oregon Coast stopping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Why, oh why? We did buy some smoked salmon for us and for Sunday and chocolate milk in these cute containers that look like gallons but are quarts, for Nils and Finn and some Kookaburra licorice for Alan. He just loves that song.
We stopped for lunch off the road, PBJ, now a family favorite.
We had reservations at Columbia Shores RV in Chinook, WA. We drove up and as it says in the brochure, a “fisherman’s campground”. Well, it wasn’t all that great. The manager was busy so he said he’d check us in in the morning.
We drove to the nearby town of Long Beach to check out a couple of parks. The first one was Pacific Holiday. It was great! Just a hop skip and a jump from the ocean, so we cancelled our reservations at Columbia shores and made new reservations at Pacific Holiday, for two nights.
We went back to park #1, picked up the RV and settled in at park #2. And then took Hattie to the beach. It’s a “long” beach, hence the name and is the type you can drive on.

When we got back to the RV, we broke out the smoked salmon. It was almost as good as Carl’s.
I worked on my video’s from vacations past. Still learning.

Friday, March 27, 2009 Pacific Holiday RV, Long Beach, Wa
The sound of rain didn’t wake me this morning. That’s because it was drizzle. Drizzle doesn’t bank on the roof of the RV!
I was on my last pair of undies, so it was laundry or go to Fred Meyers. There are washer and dryers in the clubhouse and WiFi, so after breakfast, I set out. It took much longer than I ever imagined. Oh well.
With clean laundry in hand, I headed back to the RV where Hattie was anxiously awaiting my arrival. She knew we would go to the beach. We had a great time. Although it was still drizzling when we started, the weather broke and it was just cloudy and damp. Hattie found some kind of a carcass that she rolled in, uncontrollable non-stop, rolling. My fear was she would bring the stink home. Lucky for us, the carcass must have been buried where she could smell it but it didn’t rub off on her. Good thing. We would have tied her up outside, day and night until she quit stinking.
After our ordeal, Carl and I headed to Long Beach for lunch and to check out the lighthouses. We stopped at Stormin’ Norman’s. It was the usual type of shop, with a cute name. We didn’t buy anything. We had lunch at the restaurant next door, fish and chips for me and clam chowder and salad for Carl. It was OK. I think I would have liked a Filet-o-fish from MickyD’s.
Our first lighthouse was North Head Lighthouse. It looked like a lighthouse. Then Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. It was too muddy to walk to, thus the name “Disappointment” Lighthouse. Then we headed back to the RV stopping at Sid’s Market. Dang, things were expensive there, so we limited our spending.
The RV park is filling up. This weekend is razor clam season, one weekend a year.

Saturday, March 28, 2009 Pacific Holiday RV, Long Beach, Wa
We again awoke to the sound of rain. Hattie bugged me out of bed so I took her out to go potty. Although it was raining, it wasn’t cold. Still in my jammies, we grabbed Carl and went to the beach to check out the clam diggers. Carl had already gone to the beach earlier, oh well. It wasn’t as impressive as I was hoping, no one jumping with joy as they caught one, so we threw a stick for a while to Hattie then went back.
We decided to stay at this park for two more days so we went up to the kiosk to check in. No prob.
We checked out the area. Our first stop was Oysterville. We found a little shop, but it was the usual candle/souvenir shop. The clerk directed us to the Willaby Oysterville Sea Farm where we bought some oysters (pre-shucked) to bring to the picnic tomorrow. Then we stopped at Okie’s Thriftway Market in Ocean Park. Besides groceries, I was looking for some animal balloons and wanted to check out Jacks. We did. And they did! And they had the under counter mount lid vice. I was in heaven.
The rain hasn’t slowed down much and the wind is blowin’. I went to the clubhouse and checked my email and Facebook. Then I worked on my slideshow videos. Carl does most of the cooking these days. I still do the dishes, so I’m still a valuable asset in this partnership.

Sunday, March 29, 2009 Pacific Holiday RV, Long Beach, Wa
It howled last night. The RV was rocking so much Carl brought in the slides. I thought the wind would rip the covers right off.
We got up extra early this morning ‘cause we were meeting Maggie, David, Seth, Molly and the boys at a park in Chehalis, around 2.5 hours away. We packed up tons of stuff in the car, blankets, rain gear, electric heater, just in case it was real cold. We even packed up Hattie.
We had the best time. Nils and Finn are wonderful kids and they like me Hattie was a joy at the park. Since the park was pretty deserted, we left her off leash, but she always stayed close to us.
I gave Maggie and Molly each one of the lid vices. Looks like we’ll be headed back to Jack’s tomorrow.

Monday, March 30, 2009 Fort Stevens, Oregon State Park
After breakfast, we headed to Jack’s for the lid vices. I bought the last two. Whew! We also picked up a few other things. The weather is very nice today, cold but sunny.
We left the park at noon and headed to Fort Stevens. It’s a real nice, Oregon State Park. We settled into space 264 then took off to see the sites. We visited the Peter Iredale shipwreck where Hattie got attacked/chased by a collie in the parking lot. The collie was off leash, charged Hattie, Hattie backed up and her head slipped out of her collar and she bolted. Luckily, she ran to the car and the collie’s owner caught it, with Carl’s help. After all that, we headed to see the shipwreck.Very interesting. We walked the beach tossing a stick to Hattie all the way.
Our next stop was South Jetty observation deck. It was a rock wall made between the mouth of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 Fort Stevens, Oregon State Park
It poured last night. This morning was just the cloudy leftovers. We both showered in the camp showers. We don’t have a dump at our site, so we must conserve water. The showers are very nice and clean, in the Oregon tradition.
After breakfast, we headed to Astoria to check it out. We stopped at the Maritime Museum. It was too expensive so we skipped it. We stopped at the Astoria Column. The murals on the column illustrate events of Astoria’s history from 1792 to 1818. We stopped for lunch and gas and groceries while in the area.
We went back to the park and picked up Hattie and went to the wild life viewing bunker, quite windy, but had a great beach for Hattie to run. Our next stop was the Fort Stevens Historic Military site, but it was closed. We’ll try again tomorrow. Next stop was the Battery Russell. Surprisingly, Hattie seemed to enjoy the walk in an old dark building with lots of rooms. Humm?
We went back to the South Jetty Observation Deck ‘cause it was so windy and Carl wanted to check it out. I stayed in the car.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009 Fort Stevens, Oregon State Park
We decided to stay one more day. It’s still raining and we decided to drive down to Cannon Beach and other stops going South. We drove through Seaside, a town much like Long Beach, then on to Cannon Beach, a more up-scaled area. We stopped at the visitor’s center then at a coffee/gift shop so I could check my emails and have a cup of coffee. We didn’t peruse the gift shops in the area since the rain wouldn’t let up and I really didn’t want anything. We went back to the RV, picked up Hattie and headed to Fort Clatsop to tour the Lewis and Clark exhibition. Dogs were allowed so that was good, since Hattie had been in the RV all day.

Thursday, April 2, 2009 Edgewater RV Park, Sweet Home, Oregon
We woke to scattered shower, so we left. We had an uneventful drive to Sweet Home Oregon arriving at our destination at 4:30. This is a new park right by a lake. There wasn’t anybody in the office, so we just parked the RV. A while later the manager came up to check on us and give us the WiFi code, whew. We had refrigerator cleanout for dinner. And there are still scattered showers.
I worked on my videos. I’m getting pretty good at it.

Friday, April 3, 2009 Edgewater RV Park, Sweet Home, Oregon
Again, the pitter-patter of rain rocked us to sleep last night. It is a little less rainy today so we decided to stay another day and check out the covered bridges in the area. First stop was the Chamber of Commerce for a map of the bridges. Well, the map wasn’t to scale and we could only find two, but they were very nice.
We took Hattie and stopped at a river along the route for a quick swim. She needed it.
We stopped at Safeway on our way back to the park. I am going to make some brownies. I can smell them already.

Saturday, April 4, 2009 Valley of the Rogue State Park, Rogue River, Oregon
We woke to (drum roll please) SUNSHINE! It was spectacular. We hurried out and headed to the Rogue River. We were able to get a good spot at the State Park.
We had a snack outside, a first for this trip then took Chado outside for a brushing. We brushed him until he got mad.
We’re close to the river, the only drawback is the river is bordered with thick blackberry vines. We asked the camp host if there was a beach anywhere on the river, and he didn’t know. Well, we found one. We tossed sticks to Hattie. The current looked pretty strong, so we didn’t throw it out very far. We then went back to the RV and took a nap outside on the new RV mat. Nice.
We drove into town, City of Rogue River, to check it out. Not too much going on.

Sunday, April 05, 2009 Valley of the Rogue State Park, Rogue River, Oregon
We should have gone home today but since the weather was nice, we decided to stay one more day. Tomorrow for sure. Carl wanted to check our RV campgrounds in the area for future trips, WGAF, and I thought that was boring, so we went back to the campground. I wanted to see some of the sights so I headed out on my own to Jacksonville. I read about it in one of the magazines. Anyhoo, it was an old town, lots of shops. It was a nice outing. Carl and Hattie went swimming on the river. There is a lot of things to see in this area, Ashland, Crater Lake, to name a few, but I think we’ve been away from home too long to appreciate anything in the area.

The End