Back to the Ocean

Back on the highway again. This time we backtracked from Eugene following highway 126 to Florance and then highway 101 north to our destination at Nehalem Bay State Park. It was a long drive, but the weather was great and we enjoyed all the coastal views.

At the park we set up the rig and headed directly down to the beach. Over the next couple days we rode our bikes, walked the beach, and relaxed. 

On Tuesday morning Linda and I loaded up and drove home. We were going to spend a night on the road, but as we got closer to the Tri-Cities we decided to "run for the barn" and drive all the way home.

After the Coast - Chicken Bowls

 Chicken Bowls!!!!  (I'll get back to this later.)

We got up semi-early and drove down the coast through Bandon and on to the West Coast Game Park Safari to visit the animals. Baby goats have always entertained Linda. Al Dee and Diane went to great lengths to find Oregon baby goats for her to enjoy. 

Linda and the Baby Goats!

According to Wikipedia "The West Coast Game Park Safari is a walk-through safari park in Bandon, Oregon, United States. It opened in 1968, and includes snow leopards, African lions, Bengal tigers, emu, capybara, and cougars. The park is a petting zoo and captive breeding program, including endangered species such as the snow leopard." 

In real life, we were able to see lions, emu, and other various animals, but most were sleeping or hiding out of the sun. There was a show-and-tell that introduced several smaller critters to the park visitors. Diane and Linda were able to hold/pet several different animals such as a serval cat, brown skunk, ferret, red fox, and an opossum. Everyone enjoyed the park and Linda got a good dose of baby goats.

In Bandon, we went to the Face Rock Creamery and enjoyed a very nice lunch. We all had a good laugh about Linda and me being Lactose intolerant. We didn't bring our little Lactose pills, but it was more than worth it to enjoy that delicious meal. Al Dee's choice of a creamery for lunch gave us a lot of good subject matter to tease him about.

The goats got a bit aggressive.

We then loaded into the rigs and drove to Eugene and set up in our usual spot in the Sollinger's driveway.

That evening we ate pizza, but Diane started giving hints to heighten the anticipation for our dinner the next night, Chicken Bowls!

Chicken Bowls became the main focus as we moved along in our visit. The anticipation was staggering.

The night before the Bowls, I talked Al Dee into taking me out to photograph the stars. We spent a couple of hours out taking shots of the sky. Al Dee did his best to keep me on track, learning the basics of night photography. I was Luke, Al Dee was Yoda. It was a great time and I learned an amazing amount of valuable information. 

I could hardly sleep that evening. I had visions of the Milky Way splashed across the night sky with Chicken Bowls floating amongst the constellations. 

Capybara, a very large rodent.

On our final day, Diane outdid herself by providing us with the most amazing Chicken Bowl dinner we have ever eaten. All hail the queen of Chicken Bowls!

The next day we left the family in Eugene and headed back to the coast to finish up our adventure.

Diane and a ferret. Note both have masks on.

Al Dee's mid-life crisis toy.

Stars

Al Dee has been taking star photos for many years, and I wanted to pick his brain about the techniques involved in capturing images at night. I brought my night photo equipment (camera, tripod) with us and at about 9:00 pm I hounded Al Dee into going out and taking some shots. We had a great time and I actually captured three good images of the night. Click on the photos and enlarge them or they will look like I took photos of black.

Cars on the road at night.

Looking at the Milky Way.

Big Dipper

Costal Visit with the Family

 Walking around the campground after our 334-mile drive not only gave us an opportunity to wind down before we settled in for dinner but it provided a look into the history of the area. 

Wyeth Campground (Exit 51) was a CCP Camp built-in 1933 from a former Forest Service seed kiln. This history gives the area an old-school look with tight curbed turns leading to large sites with no camping amenities. It cost us $10 for the night which gave us a flat site in a quiet area.

We left Post Falls at 9:30 arrived at 3:30 pm. The drive was easy and the only thing to report was that we ran into smoke from forest fires as soon as we left Tri-Cities.

For lunch, we bought a Subway at The Dalles. Early to bed lead us to an early morning departure, our sights on Sunset Beach State Park 274 miles west.

Arriving in the early afternoon, we set the rig up and unloaded our bikes. Linda led the way and we rode south out of the campground to several of the overlooks. The sun was out and amazing. It was worth everything to watch Linda smile and enjoy the ocean she loves so much.

As we returned from our ride we ran smack dab into Kenyon, our nephew, in his truck. It was great to see him. In the next hour, the entire Sollinger family had arrived. We loaded up and drove to the ocean where we enjoyed watching the seals and the surf.

We had dinner, sat and talked, and then drifted off to bed.

Misc Photos:

Sunset Beach on the Oregon Coast.

Cape Arago Lighthouse Viewpoint

Seals on a beach just offshore.

More seals on the beach. (Zoomed in.)

My camera is amazing! Massive zoom.

Breakfast with the family!

A Good Getaway

 Back in May of this year, Linda jumped online and found that there were very few open camp spots available up the St. Joe in the Huckleberry campground. She looked at our calendar and noted that we would be returning from river trips, but there was a mid-week where we could squeeze a camp out into the timeline.

Between May and the present, many things have changed, forest fires are everywhere and the super hot weather makes going camping a true “Roll of the Dice.” Our river trips did not work out and we were unable to get on the water. Camping looked to be our only possibility to get away from our duties around home.

On Monday, with everything loaded, we left home for the mid-week getaway. Linda needed to be able to return to Cd’A quickly, if something happened with her parents, so she drove the Kia while I followed in the camper. 

Darren and Marcy Upchurch were also camping up at Huckleberry this week so we rendezvous with them when we arrived. 

Tuesday morning I got up and took a bike ride up Spring Creek road which splits off the St. Joe River Road just upriver from the campground. The road is very well maintained and has a good riding surface. The major problem is that it gains elevation very quickly. Elevation gain is no longer a problem for me on my Trek. I put it in “sport” mode and spin my way up to the ridge tops. It is tiring, but it does not wind me like riding without the assist would do. 

View from the ridge above the campground.

Spring Creek Road connects to many other logging roads and at the top of one prominent ridge, it connects with Huckleberry Mountain Road. I took this side road and followed it as it descended back down to our campsite.  The total mileage on this ride was about ten miles, and that was about my limit for that up and downhill adventure.

The next day we drove to the Lines Creek Historical Trail and hiked the loop. We have hiked this trail before, but we were able to get off track and ended up hiking much longer than needed. It was a fun hike on a very nice day.

Back in camp, I took another bike ride. I rode upriver to the green bridge and crossed over. Then I road back downriver to just across from our camp spot. The ride was about six miles.

Looking downriver from Spring Creek road.

Beaver cuts.