FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, AUGUST 29 & 30

 

FRIDAY,  AUGUST 29:

     After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal pancakes, sausage, and fresh peaches, we pulled out.  There will be lots of traffic in this loop this afternoon and evening, with folks coming in for the long Labor Day weekend – the last hurrah of the summer for most of these campers.

     Left around 11:30, and didn’t get to Florence til 4:30.  That’s how long it took to drive under 200 miles!  But for the most part, we didn’t mind.  Even though foggy most of the way, was still a lovely drive down  Hwy 101.   In fact, the fog made it quintessential Oregon coast.  Drove through several quaint and cute beach villages, beautiful stretches of coastal forest, and periodic views of the rocky coast.

     Our RV park, selected without the benefit of reviews, is very nice.  Clean, and sites have some shrubbery between them.  We reserved for 3 nites; may stay a 4^th – we’ll see. 

     Fixed a simple margheretti  pizza and salad which, with some red wine, hit the spot. 

     Have a good WiFi signal here, so was able to get caught up on internet functions.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30:  

      Woke up to a steady rain.  Kept up til mid-afternoon; then, in late afternoon, the clouds parted and blue sky broke through.  We used the day to hang out, research some next stops, read, and rest. 

      Highlight was dinner!  Bill went to the nearby market and picked up some fresh caught scallops and shrimp.  After seasoning and olive oil, threw them on the grill, heated some buttered bread, re-cycled grilled veggies from a couple of nights ago, and had the most delicious dinner!!  One of the best of this trip!

     We both walked Pappy after dinner.  Very, very quiet here – no one’s out.  Quite a contrast to our last day, with kids out riding bikes, campfires going, a backdrop of campfire conversations.  I guess the latter is “camping”; the former is “RV’ing.”  Both have their merits, and  we’ve enjoyed both.         

 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28

THURSDAY,  AUGUST 28:

     Awoke to a morning like yesterday’s – cool, overcast, misty.  After breakfast, we went grocery shopping, and by the time we got out around 1:00, was warm and sunny. 

     So after we put away the groceries, we got on our bikes and pedaled on some of the wonderful bike trails that are here in the State park.  There’s an extensive network of intertwining and criss-crossing bike trails here . . . which explains why you see so many campsites with bikes.  The trails are wonderful – all paved, wide, through beautiful old growth forests, or along water.

                                                                      

Wish we had something like this back home!

     Our destination was the South Jetty at the spit at the end of this peninsula.  This is the same South Jetty which we saw yesterday from the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.  In fact, it was fun to look across the water and be barely able to see that same lighthouse from where we now stood, blinking its signature pattern of white light, 13 second wait, red light, 13 second wait, white light . . .

        They have a great  viewing platform there, right above the jetty rocks. 

                                                

 

 

 The waves coming in don’t look big at all, until you see them break on the rocks beneath you with a huge roar and sending spray in every direction.   

                                                               

              

We’d love to be up here watching during a storm!  Needless to say, more beautiful view, more photo ops.

     Biked a little further on to a beach on the Columbia.  Just relaxed here sitting on a log on the beach and took in the sights, sounds, and scents.

 

                   Biked on “home,” stopping at a lovely lake right near the campground which we hadn’t been to.  A few fishermen out there, and a handful of other folks just enjoying the beach and the setting and the perfect weather.     

 

                                                       

                  

         Grilled some marinated tuna for dinner, along with skewered zucchini, red pepper, & onion.  A nice salad and fresh warm bread rounded out the meal.  Very delicious, I must say. 

     Enjoyed another campfire.  We’ll be sorry to leave this place.  We loved the friendly, family atmosphere, and the physical surroundings were just lovely.  It’s right up there with Mt. Kidd.  Kudos to Oregon for establishing and maintaining such a special place! 

                                                                                        

 

 

                                                      

 

            

 

                           

 

 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27:

     The clouds we saw last night brought a very chilly, overcast, even misty, morning.  We rode our bikes around a while before breakfast, more or less to just get going before we were hungry.  We didn’t think that the Ranger Station would be open yet, but it was, so inquired re availability of another 2 nights.  Put is in another loop, which we biked over to and surveyed.  Bill thought it would be a pretty easy back-in.

     After coming back for breakfast, we closed up and drove over to the new site.  Same ole story with a back-in . . . not nearly as easy as Bill thought it would be.  We’re seeing ever more clearly why we see the majority of folks our age who do a lot of RV travelling opting for a Class A, rather than a 5^th Wheel.  They’re just tired of the backing up hassles and stress.  Something for us to think about . . 

     After we got in and settled, we sat down at the picnic table with the Good Sam Trailer Life Directory (2012 edition) and a couple of maps and discussed where would be good options for stopping after this.  We realized that, with it being the Labor Day weekend when we leave here, we won’t be able to just drive down the coast and stop when we feel like it for the night.  In fact, we were concerned that we wouldn’t even be able to find a place to reserve at this late date.  So we were prepared with several different scenarios.  But we got our first choice – 3 nights at  a private RV park in Florence – and a pull-thru!  PTL!!  (Since we have no WiFi access here, I couldn’t bring up any reviews, but we’re trusting that the campground will be fine.)

     So, with that worry taken off our minds, and the sun now breaking out, we were free to enjoy the rest of the day.  We decided to drive back up to Ilwaco and Cape Disappointment, where we toured the Lewis& Clark museum but had no views of the mouth of the Columbia flowing into the Pacific because of the heavy fog.  We reasoned that the views should be OK this afternoon. 

     Far more than OK – they were fabulous!  After driving over the Astoria bridge                                              

  

 

 and driving the 15 miles or so west on the Washington side to Cape Disappointment, we first walked up to the ridge just outside the Visitors Center where we had wonderful expansive views of the river meeting the ocean, the resulting Columbia Bar, the jetties built to stabilize the shifting sand bars, and the surrounding landscapes.  Stunningly beautiful.  What a magnificent sight Lewis & Clark had of their first real views of the Pacific!

 

          Then we took a short but steep hike to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, with equally gorgeous views.  Again, we just can’t get over the deep beautiful blue of the water here . . . rivals some of Hawaiian waters’ deep coloration.    

 

                                                 

 

                                                       Looking back from lighthouse to Visitors Center:

 

               It was clear enough that we could see across to Astoria and the bridge.                                                                

                

The Coast Guard has a manned lookout station up here by the lighthouse now. 

 

            Then drove a few miles back down the road to the North Head Lighthouse.  This lighthouse was built to guide in ships coming from the north, where they couldn’t see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse hidden by the point of the Cape.  (Both lighthouses still operate, but have been automated since the 1950’s or 60’s.)     

                                                                      

 Since this lighthouse is located northwest of Cape Disappointment, the waters it overlooks aren’t fed by the Columbia; they’re purely the Pacific.  Lovely views of the overlapping imprints of the breakers.                                  

                                                                       

        

       Drove back home, and started a fire for dinner.  Bill grilled burgers, and grilled them perfectly.  They tasted so good!

     After dinner, we started a campfire.  The first we’ve had since Mt. Kidd.  Savored a glass of red wine as we warmed ourselves by the fire.  Contemplated our abundant blessings in being able to take these long trips and see and experience so much.             

 

 

 

 

 

 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26

TUESDAY, AUGUST 26:

     Pulled out of the campground around 10 or 10:30.  Took the Washington side of the Columbia (Hwy 4) to Astoria, crossed over the bridge (3^rd time now – we’re getting to know that place!), and headed west to Oregon’s north-westernmost tip.  We thought that this would be a perfect place to start our journey down the Oregon coast.  There’s another Lewis & Clark historical site we thought would be nice to see, as well as a terrific State Park which had marvelous reviews.  

     So when we arrived at the peninsula, we went first to Fort Clatsop, the L&C historic site.  Actually, it’s part of a collection of about a dozen national and state sites which, collectively, make up Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, our nation’s newest national park.  The site with the excellent Visitors Center/museum which we saw up by Ilwaco on the Long Beach peninsula in Washington is another of the sites. 

      The Fort Clatsop site is the place where Lewis & Clark and the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-06.  After their jubilant arrival at what they thought was the Pacific (“Ocian (sic) in view!  O!  the joy,”  wrote Clark in his journal), but was actually the Columbia river estuary, the expedition spent 10 days at a campsite on the northern bank of the Columbia. From here, they explored the surrounding area on foot, including Cape Disappointment 12 miles west (that’s the area around Ilwaco), where they actually stood looking out on what they had “been so long anxious to see.”   They also spent that time looking for a good site for a winter encampment.  It was here that they took their famous “vote,” polling every member of the expedition, including Sacagewa and Clark’s black slave as to which of 3 areas each favored.  What was chosen was this site on the southern bank of the river, probably because of reports they’d heard that there was plentiful game here.   

     They built a small and simple fort and named it after the local native tribe, the Clatsop.  It would be their home for the next 3 months.  During that time, local Clatsop and Chinook natives came almost daily to visit and to trade.  Clark’s journals noted that they were very shrewd traders, having had a long history of trading with the “tall ships” which came in from the sea, and wealthy, that they were masterful canoe builders, had few enemies ,were talkative, inquisitive, and intelligent, and that they treated Lewis & Clark with “extrodeanary (sic) friendship.”   When they departed, L&C left the fort and its furnishings to the Clatsop leader, Coboway.    

                                                    

      Throughout that winter, Captains Lewis & Clark maintained a strict military routine:  a sentinel was constantly posted, and at sundown each day the fort was cleared of visitors and the gates locked.  Of the 106 days the explorers spent at the fort, it rained every day but 12.  (Ask any Portlander – some things haven’t changed!)  The men suffered colds, the flu, rheumatism, & other ailments that the Captains treated.  Their clothing rotted.  Not exactly the romantic notion some of us had about their cozy winter in log cabins!

      Due to the rain, most of the men stayed inside for a good deal of the time, engaged in a variety of tasks – from servicing their weapons to preparing elk hide clothing for the trip home to making elk fat candles for light.  Lewis & Clark caught up on their journal writing, and Clark, who had been trained as a cartographer, spent a lot of time refining and updating maps of the country through which they’d travelled for the past 18 months, territory previously a blank unknown to white men.  Again, just an astonishing accomplishment – and the fact that only one person died (and he from what was most likely an appendicitis attack, which couldn’t have been helped even if he’d been in Philadelphia or Virginia) is utterly amazing.

       Before they began their homeward journey in March 1806, Clark astutely drafted a letter documenting the corps’ arrival here and the accomplishment of their mission.  He gave several copies to the natives, and I believe left some at the fort.   Who can blame him??  If the men met a bad end on the 4,000 mile journey home, or if they survived but their journals were lost, what evidence would ever exist of the momentous challenge they’d undertaken and met?!

 

             After our visit here, we drove to our campground.  It’s within Fort Stevens State Park, the largest state park in Oregon.  This state park is actually part of the Lewis & Clark National Historical Park I mentioned earlier.  There’s a lot to do here   – historical sites, biking and hiking trails, beaches.  We could only get reservations for 1 night, but we’re hoping that something will open up for another night or two by tomorrow.                                                           

      Another tight back-in.  This is getting stressful!  But once in, the stress was forgotten in this lovely setting.  Big sites, nice big shade trees, laid out naturally.  I can see why virtually all of the reviewers of this campground loved it! 

                                                        

      Only negative (besides the challenging back-in site is no WiFi.  We’re one of the very few big rigs we saw here as we drove around.  Nearly all are small-to-medium size – lots of pop-up’s, etc.   Thus, we’re deducing that most of the folks here are relatively local family-type campers, not long-distance travelers.  Plus, a good many fishermen.  Bill heard that the salmon are in the prime of their run around here right now, and that they’ve never been bigger. 

     After dinner (leftovers from Saturday’s pizza and yesterday’s clam chowder), we took a very short drive to a nearby beach where there are the remains of a shipwreck.  It was an English sailing ship that ran aground during a storm in 1906.  

                                                   

Walked on the beach some.  It was low tide, and we could see a huge intertidal area – by far the largest I’ve ever seen.  But very flat, and no tidepools or other interesting features.  Chilly!  And we could see clouds coming in. Made for a soft sun setting. 

                                                     

 

                                                           

    Pitch black here by 9:00.

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

MONDAY, AUGUST 25

MONDAY, AUGUST 25: 

     Our last day here.  Our last day with Lynn.  (John is back to work.)  Another warm, beautiful day.  Lynn drove us to Mt. Hood. 

     We walked around the lobby of historic Timberline Lodge for a while, and watched a film.  This is another project which was built during the 1930’s as part of the PWA.   Pres. Roosevelt came to dedicate it at the same time he dedicated the Bonneville Dam. The lodge of course was built from local hewn logs and elegantly rustic. 


                                                                      

A local woman was hired as Interior Decorator, and she pretty much left the local carpenters, blacksmiths, and more refined craftspeople alone to see what they would come up with.  So the iron stair railings are elegantly turned in one piece; there are newel posts carved with faces of bears and other wild animals; the tables & chairs in the dining areas are semi-rustic, etc.  The entire lobby, in fact, is dedicated to holding and displaying artistic creations from that period in American history. 

 

Oh, yes, another thing the Lodge is well known for:   parts of the horror film The Shining, with Jack Nicholson, were filmed here.

      Then we went outside to purchase lift tickets for the tram which operates year-round.  Even though there were fluffy clouds, the sky was a brilliant blue, and clear, and we had wonderful close-up views of Mt. Hood, at 11,000+ feet, the highest peak in Oregon.

                                                      

 

                                                                             

We could even see Mt. Jefferson to the south, nearly 50 miles away.

 

              Rode about 1 mile (total length) up the slope, from 6,000 feet at Lodge level to 7,000 feet.       

                                                             

 

 Was of course cooler and windier there than back down at the Lodge, with more low-lying clouds, but still very comfortable.  Fun to see the mountain up even closer.  

                                               

 

 

                                                                

          

    

 

And awesome views!
                                                      

                                                    Mt. Jefferson as seen from Mt. Hood:

 

Watched some skiiers/snow boarders fly past.  The mountain has a small glacier on it, so hard-core skiiers can sky on that in the middle of summer!

                                                                

       After a  while, took the lift back down and went into the Lodge to have a late lunch/early dinner.  Lynn & I both had their award-winning clam chowder (mine in a bread bowl) and a arugula watermelon salad.  Had a seat with a view right out our window of the mountain.

     And back home.  Was a lovely way to end our stay here.  It’s always so hard for me to say good-bye, especially to Lynn, since we’ve become quite close in the past several years.  Of our immediate family, all we really have is each other, not only with that familial bond, but also as a repository of our family history.  Like a lot of siblings who have a healthy relationship, we can ask each other as a reality check, “Is this the way you remember it growing up?”  And in a dysfunctional family like ours, that resource is invaluable!  I’m grateful beyond words that we’ve developed the adult relationship we have now. 

      We vowed not to make it so long before our next visit . . .