Monday, November 23, 2009

We woke up to sunshine this morning but it didn’t last much past 10 a.m., however, the good news is that it didn’t rain during the day so we aren’t complaining. The temperature reached a high of 11C (53F) so it was quite pleasant.

We went to Mos for lunch, this is a restaurant right on the beach, we got a window seat so had a beautiful view while enjoying our lunch. We both had a clam fritter sandwich with a cup of crab chowder, very good. I had read about Mos on Ellie’s blog – Justravellin, so thanks to her for a nice place to eat.

Mos has a little store as well as the restaurant and they had really nice jackets on sale for $20 and the even better part is that Oregon has no sales tax. We both bought a jacket, they are bright yellow, and wore them when we walked the beach after lunch. They are really good wind breakers so we were nice and warm walking the beach in the wind.

The restaurant was in between Haystack Rock, a rock that rises 245’ out of the ocean and The Needles, which are rocks off shore in the shape of needles. I took some pictures, which I will post, but it was quite hazy and overcast so not that great for picture taking. Hopefully we will get a brighter day here and better pictures.

The beach here is much cleaner than Long Beach on Vancouver Island was, there the beach was covered in kelp etc. and here there is very little of that. There were a couple of large, dead, jellyfish but that was about it, not even very many sea shells. Of course the wind was blowing pretty hard which made my eyes water so maybe I just missed the sea shells – LOL!

The Haystack


Beach Front Cottages & the Haystack

John & The Haystack (Note the New Yellow Jacket!(

The Needles

Looking West From Beach

Cannon Beach


We then went to Seaside, a town 8 miles north of Cannon Beach, and drove around the town. It is off season so all these places are pretty quiet now but I imagine they would be a zoo in the summer. In Seaside we saw a store, Crocs, so stopped and checked it out as Kel wants me to buy her a pair of crocs if I can find them at a good price. Well, they were Canadian prices, no bargains there, so we left empty handed.

We came back and stopped at the Information Centre and picked up some maps and the brochure, Oregon Coast that is a mile-by-mile guide to Highway 101 - I am sure it will come in real handy in the next few weeks. I also picked up a brochure on Oregon lighthouses and hope we will be able to see them all. We could just see Tillamook Rock Lighthouse today, it stands 133 feet above sea level with a 62’ high tower on a basalt rock islet. It has been nicknamed “Terrible Tilly” because of its exposure to storm waves and was built in 1881 and replaced by a whistling buoy in 1957. It is the only privately owned Oregon coast lighthouse on the National Register of Historic Places and was once used as a Our columbarium ( storage for ashes of deceased people) – go figure!!!
Our Home at Cannon Beach


John is doing some fish on the barbecue for dinner and we are looking forward to a quiet evening. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

The wind howled all night and it poured rain so I didn’t sleep well worrying about traveling today, but thankfully the wind had died down by morning and the rain stopped so that John didn’t get wet hooking us up.

One Last Look at the Olympia Mountains


We were on the road about 9:30 and had a good drive with a mix of weather, some rain, but not hard, some sun and a lot of overcast sky. Actually, the sun didn’t really come out and stay out until about Astoria OR and then it was at a point where it made it hard to see so we were glad to get to Cannon Beach.

Crossing the Hood Canal


Pretty Skyline


On the way here we saw a lot of downed trees, and some spots where the hydro crews were still working on lines that trees had taken down. There was a lot of debris on the road – small branches etc., it appears that last nights wind did a lot of damage both in Washington and Oregon. Thankfully, we had no problems in Sequim other than the wind blew our stool around and blew the remote for the thermometer off it under the trailer. As you can see from the pictures there was also lots of flooded land from all the rain that we have had.




The park here seems nice and is well treed, I think it will be hard to tell if the sun is out or not! At this point the park isn’t really busy but apparently they are full for Thanksgiving, glad we got a spot here as there were only 2 sites available for a week. We can hear the waves crashing in so aren’t far from the ocean – tomorrow we will explore the town.

John had pretty well finished setting up when I noticed him talking to a couple so I stopped my vacuuming and went out, it was a couple from Calgary, Mike & Tanyia, who are just starting out with their new 27’ Airstream International. We chatted for a while and they came in and had a look at our trailer then invited us to come look at theirs – it is a very nice trailer and they had a couple of changes made at the factory to give them more storage room and had the furniture done in the leather.

These mushrooms are growing on the lot next door, I don’t know what kind they are but they are pretty.

Dinner is over and I have some pictures to download so will do that if I can keep my eyes open, it has been a long day with little sleep last.

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Well, there was nothing to write about yesterday so I didn’t do my blog. It was a nice day with lots of sun and pleasant temperatures, both John & I managed to spend some time outside enjoying the weather. We also paid up here until Sunday, and hopefully we will be out of here then and on to the Oregon coast.

John went out and got propane – he paid $4 less to have both the #20 barbecue tank and the #30 trailer tank filled here than he paid for the #30 trailer tank in Parksville, B.C.!!! While he was doing that I did some laundry and some walking to enjoy the nice weather.

My phone arrived late in the afternoon so I spent the rest of my day getting it set up and in putting phone numbers etc. It is a LG Chocolate Touch and is a 3G phone, Verizon has a deal where you get a new phone every two years and the price is anywhere from free to whatever, depending on the phone. I lucked out and got this phone for free and it is capable of tethering or using broadband for internet so should be handy if we get to a spot with no wi-fi.

Today was another nice, sunny day but cool with a high of about 9C (48F). It was interesting looking at the sky – all blue sky over Sequim but in any direction you looked in the distance it was dark and rainy looking, guess this is why they call it the “banana belt” of Washington.

Our excitement for today was a trip to Wal Mart to pick up a couple of things before we head out tomorrow. Yes, we are biting the bullet and heading out, I have called Cannon Beach RV Resort (thanks Alison & Bob!) and made a reservation for a week. And wouldn’t you know it, the wind has come up and it is very windy now, sure hope it calms down by morning!

I was talking to a woman at the office yesterday and she said they had come back from the Oregon Coast on Tuesday and were coming up Highway 101 and were stopped because of a landslide. She said they had to do a detour of about 120 miles so recommended we don’t go that way. We will take her recommendation and go the other way and hopefully won’t run into any problems from all the wind and rain.

Dinner is over and I am looking forward to checking out some blogs then picking up my book. The wind has come up and it sounds really windy out there, sure hope it calms down by morning!!!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Well, what can I say, today was a very wet, rainy day so we didn’t do much. I did some vacuuming and dusting and that was the extent of my household duties. On the weather last night the forecast for the next few days was RAIN and WINDY, the weather guy said he has never seen so many storms piled up ready to come into shore in his whole time broadcasting – boy, do we know how to pick the year to do the west coast!!! Looking at the weather networks on my iPod they are forecasting high winds, rain and flooding all along the coast where we want to go so I think we will stay put for at least a couple more days. Thankfully this is a nice park with good wi-fi – LOL!

Late this afternoon we went to Safeway and got a cooked chicken for dinner – it was very good and there is enough for another meal – all for $5.99. On the way out I stopped at the office to renew for a couple more days but the lady was just closing up early due to the wet weather and lack of business so asked if I could come back tomorrow and she would leave a note that we were renewing – no problem. I told her I was having a package delivered here tomorrow and there was no problem with that – I bought a new phone (free) as my 2 year contract was up with Verizon and it will be delivered tomorrow.

The rain has stopped and the temperature has risen – it is currently 11 C (52F), the warmest it has been pretty well all week. Hopefully this is a sign of better weather!!!

Not an exciting day but a pleasant one nonetheless. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Today was partly sunny this morning, then it clouded over and stayed cloudy for the rest of the day but it didn’t rain until about dinner time so we can’t complain. The highs the last week or so have only been about 7-8C (mid 40’s F) but as long as it keeps above freezing and doesn’t snow I will try not to complain!

Our Site at GilGal Oasis RV Park

This morning I decided that my shaggy look had to go so headed out to get my hair cut. I lucked out and walked into a shop where they could take me right away; so while I was getting sheared John headed over to Wal Mart. We needed an extension for our sewer hose so he picked that up and also bought his Christmas present – glad he knows what he wants as I can never figure it out, so now I have something for him and will put it away until Christmas.

We decided to take the scenic drive through Sequim and along the coast – it was very pretty and there were certainly a lot of beautiful homes with great views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Actually Sequim is at the end of the strait and basically looks out to the islands between Vancouver Island and the Washington mainland south of Vancouver.

We found a little restaurant right on the coast called The 3 Crabs so stopped and had lunch there – we had clam chowder and bread – very good. While eating we looked out at the Dungeness Lighthouse that is situated on a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a 5.5 mile spit.


The waitress said the lighthouse is still operated manually and local people take turns going out for 6 weeks at a time to look after it. There are no cars allowed on the spit but there is one car that is allowed to take the people to and from the lighthouse.

After lunch we followed a scenic route, it was a very pretty drive and at one point there was an area that was full of deer, one just leisurely pranced across the road in front of us.



We also drove down to the John Wayne marina, apparently John Wayne donated the land to the town for it. We got home about 4:30, just as it was starting to spit rain a bit and the wind was really picking up, me thinks it will be a very windy evening!

I keep trying to get pictures of the mountains but they are either hazy or there are all kinds of wires in the way so this one isn't great but I will keep trying.


I think John was really glad that we had decided to do pulled pork in the slow cooker as it would have been difficult to keep the barbecue lit with the wind.

Dinner is now over, the dishes are done and John is settled in to watch his favourite TV program, The Tudors. I will finish this and then read for a while. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Amazingly, we woke up to sunshine this morning – what a surprise. It was beautiful all morning, clouded over and rained around noon, cleared off for the afternoon and then clouded over and rained again about 6 – quite the weather!! Oh well, we were happy to see the sun today so aren’t complaining.

This afternoon we went out and did a bit of shopping – a stop at Wal Mart, the grocery store and a RV parts store, real exciting. We also stopped at a pizza place and got a slice for lunch – yummy.

I went over late this afternoon and paid for another couple of days here. The weather forecast for the next number of days is rain and for a few days high winds, especially along the coast, so we thought we would just stay put for a few days. The two women in the office gave me some good tips and said even though they are from Washington not to waste our time along the Washington coast, the Oregon coast is the place to be for views etc. They also recommended a better route from here to Olympia than Hwy. 101 so I was glad I got the chance to talk to them.

John has talked to a couple of people in the park and they are here for the winter, it seems like Sequim is the “banana belt” of Washington and is a pretty moderate place to spend the winter. Certainly the prices here are much better than in B.C., I didn’t mind doing groceries here at all today!

It wasn’t a real exciting day but we enjoyed it. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Wow, did it rain today – it literally poured buckets all day but fortunately we didn’t get the wind that was forecast. The other fortunate part was that the rain let up for a bit while John was hooking up this morning so he didn’t get soaked, just damp.

We were out of the park about 8:15 and the drive to the ferry dock was good, not as much traffic as we had thought there would be at that time of the morning. By the time we got there it was pouring and from then on for the rest of the day it never let up.

A Customs lady came to each vehicle waiting on the dock and took down the car and truck licence plate numbers, the number of passengers and looked at our passports, then John had to go to their office to have the passports scanned, and for the first time ever, they stamped our passports – neat.

The ferry trip to Port Angeles was fine, there was a good swell so we did a fair bit of rolling but it didn’t bother us. I didn’t even take my camera with me on the ferry as I figured with the rain I wouldn’t be able to get any good pictures and of course it was impossible to see the Washington coast, let alone Mt. Olympia. we On the way out of the harbour we went right past our park and our site was still vacant but I doubt that lasted for long.

We had to go through Customs when we got off the ferry, not a problem but when we said our destination was Arizona he wanted to know why we came this way and then asked if we had visited with friends – go figure.

We drove about 20 km to Sequim (pronounced S’Kwim) and are now at the GilGal Oasis RV Park, where we have booked in for two nights. It is a nice park with cement pads – really great in this weather. John did get soaked unhooking but at least it was only once today and not twice. The park is both Good Sam and Passport America so we got the PA rate for one night and the Good Sam for the 2nd night - the total was $41 for two nights.

They have WiFi but it is through the cable TV so John is trying to get the Airport Express working, otherwise I will have to take my computer into the bedroom where the cable comes in to get on the internet, so hopefully he will get the Airport working.

I have made a pasta casserole for dinner and will be heading for bed quite early tonight as I didn’t sleep well last night and am really tired.

Listening to the weather forecast I think we got off the island just in time, they have had torrential storms around Courtenay and Comox with roads flooded out and closed and houses flooded. There are hundreds of homes in Port Alberni without hydro and one of the RV parks in Parksville is flooded. Victoria has been lucky so far but they are forecasting high winds and heavy rain there for late today and tomorrow – just hope we don’t get it here!

And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Saturday, November 14 & Sunday, November 15, 2009

Saturday was an overcast day but it didn’t rain, so that was good.

We went to the Royal British Columbia Museum and it was wonderful, we really enjoyed our afternoon there. The displays are very well done and most interesting - they have a Natural History Gallery, Modern History Gallery and First Peoples Gallery so there was a lot to see. They currently have a silver display, Silver of the Stars, and there are a lot of neat contemporary silverworks designed for celebrities – there were some real funky teapots and ones that if they hadn’t said teapot I would never have known what they were!

After touring the museum we went to the Imax Theatre and saw Africa: The Serengeti, a really great film about the migration of 1.5 million animals as they travel over 500 miles across the Serengeti plains in Tanzania and Kenya.

It was dark when we came out so we drove around downtown Victoria a bit, they have started putting up their Christmas lights and the parliament buildings are really pretty outlined in all white lights and the trees have mini coloured lights on them.

We came home and had dinner then spent a quiet evening watching TV.

It rained during the night but today, Sunday, was overcast all day with only a couple of short, light sprinkles of rain. John saw Denis stop at his trailer so went down to have a look at it, he is remodeling a 25’ Airstream, and then John asked Denis if he would like to see our trailer. Denis said yes, and his wife would also like to see it so he went home and got Patricia and they came over and toured our trailer.

A couple of weeks ago they bought a 2003 Mountain Air 5th wheel so asked us over to see it, what a beautiful trailer it is. They plan on living in it here during the winter and then using the Airstream to tour during the summer. We had a nice visit with them – enjoyed meeting them.

This afternoon we went to Canadian Tire and bought deer whistles for the truck, we had a pair but they had broken off so we wanted to replace them. I don’t know if they really do any good but for $10 it is worth it if they work. We made a quick stop at Wal Mart then came home for a while, then we went to Swiss Chalet for dinner - figured this would be our last chance for almost 6 months!

I will be off to bed shortly as we will have to be up about 6:30 tomorrow morning to get hooked up and get to the ferry before 9 a.m. And so ends another great gift of a couple of days and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Today is the day all kinds of motorcyclists head to Dover, Ontario – this is a ritual for every Friday the 13th and we hear that thousand of them go on that date. A couple of years ago when we were heading through Eastern Ontario we saw hundreds of motorcycles heading west and realized that they were all probably heading for Dover as Friday the 13th was coming up. I understand today is supposed to be a gorgeous day in Ontario so I imagine there will be a real good turnout.

We listened to rain off and on all night but about 9 this morning the sun came out and it has been a gorgeous day.

John had to take the truck back to Mr. Dodge, he left at 12:45 and got home after 4:30 – so much for doing anything today. I guess he waited quite a while before they got around to looking at it but they couldn’t find anything wrong, so after checking it all out, oiling a few things and taking it for a drive he was presented with an invoice for $32.18, I would say that isn’t too bad to give us peace of mind.

I figured I might as well do some laundry while he was gone and did a good cleaning, then just read until he got home. The laundry here takes tokens and I needed two more so after I got the loads in the washer I walked up to the office to get a couple more tokens then went across the street and checked out the restaurant. It was busy so I presume the food is good but it is kind of pricey so doubt we will go there. On the way back I stopped and talked to Denis for a few minutes, he is the fellow with the 25’ 1993 Airstream that he is remodeling inside.

It is again time to think about diner – where do the days go! And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

We woke up to cloudy skies this morning but by noon the sun was shining brightly – gotta love it!

We have a chunking noise in the truck so John headed off to Mr. Dodge this morning to have them take a look at it and try to figure out what it is. The service manager took it for a drive and agreed that there was a noise, but he didn’t think it was anything serious, but made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon to put it up on the hoist and take a look.

When John got back we had lunch then decided to drive up to Sooke on the west coast. We took the scenic route and drove along Ocean Blvd. a strip of land between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and an inlet. It was a pretty drive and we stopped for a bit to take pictures and enjoy the view. We could see over to the Esquimalt Naval Base and Fort Rodd Hill Lighthouse,



and then looking across the other way we could see a couple of buildings from Royal Roads College (it used to be Royal Roads Military College).



And a Couple More Views



There were a lot of swans in the inland water but they were further up from where we stopped so I didn’t get any pictures.

It was a pretty drive to Sooke but unfortunately there was no place to stop and take pictures, hence no pictures of that drive.

On the way home we stopped at a London Drugs to check it out, they sell everything from soup to nuts but the only things we bought were a can of nuts that were on sale and freezer bags that were a good price.

On the way out of the park this afternoon we stopped at the office so I could get some tokens for doing laundry - $2/load and you have to have the tokens. While there I chatted with the girl on the desk for a bit about the park in the winter and she told me most people wanting a RV site book their spot a year in advance and the winter rate is $220.50/week) or either $472.50 or $525.00/month (taxes Included), depending on the site. There are no hydro meters here so the monthly rate includes hydro. The summer rate is a nightly rate – no weekly or monthly deals and the rate depends on the site. There is a water house for sale so I asked her about the price of one of those – they start at a mere $1M+. Did I mention that you have to have money to live in this province!!!!

When we got home I called to my sister, who has just got back from a cruise, and by the time I got off the phone it was time to start dinner.

Another quiet evening is in store. And so ends another great gift of a day and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.