Thursday, December 17, 2009

Today wasn’t a sunny day but it didn’t rain, so that is a good day here on the Oregon Coast! We saw a high of 12C (55F) on the truck thermometer today but I think it actually got a couple of degrees warmer and I missed it.

View from Port Orford Lookout

Port Orford Dock


We decided to take a drive south to Gold Beach today and it was a pretty drive, but foggy, so not a good day for pictures. We stopped at a restaurant/seafood outlet in the harbour at Gold Beach for lunch – we both had a half sandwich with a cup of clam chowder – very good. The seafood outlet had Dungeness crab for $3.95/lb so if we can’t find it for anywhere near that price in Port Orford we will return here. We wandered through a store, then drove through a couple of RV parks before deciding to keep heading south to Brookings.

Derelict Boat in Rogue River at Gold Beach

Patterson Bridge Over Rogue River - Gold Beach

Oregon Coast


Brookings was a very busy place and quite pretty, there are a lot of carved bears along the sidewalk on the main drag – next time I will get some pictures! We checked out a few RV parks and watched some wind surfers, then stopped at Fred Meyer before heading home.

By the time we came back the fog was pretty well dissipated but it was getting too dark for pictures. We both think this is the prettiest part of the coast for any distance – lots of huge rocks sticking up out of the water and a lot of crashing waves – fascinating.

We have had a nice dinner of barbecued pork chops, baked potato and veggie and are now ready for a quiet evening of TV and reading.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Today was a very quiet day here on the Oregon coast. The weather was damp and dreary – not a day to want to go exploring so we had a stay at home day.

We met Charlie, a former air controller, who has lived here for about 16 years and I think I heard he was 81, although you would never know it to look at him and talk to him – a very nice man and interesting to talk to.

I walked around the park a couple of times for exercise and that was about it. The rest of the day I spent getting caught up on some of my files etc. John also had a quiet day and tonight we enjoyed our Dungeness crab for dinner – yum!

It was 3 months ago today that we headed out from Sarnia on this trip – where does the time go!!

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Today was very overcast with intermittent showers when we were getting ready to leave but at least it wasn’t a steady downpour. We headed out about 11:45 and stopped at the Crab Shop to buy another Dungeness crab for tomorrow night.

Tuesday seems to be a good travel day with little traffic so our 121 km (75 miles) trip was pretty quiet. There were wind alerts out but we didn’t experience any wind at Winchester Bay and just before Bandon, about 30 km from our destination, I said to John that it was nice that it wasn’t windy as predicted, no sooner were the words out of my mouth than wham, we hit the wind and boy was it blowing!!

We arrived at Port Orford RV Village about 1:30, it is a nice small park and we got an end pull thru site so have no one on our curbside and the site next to us on the roadside is empty so we aren’t the least bit crowded. The park is pretty well full but it appears that it is mainly fishermen who must come for the weekend or whatever as there certainly aren’t many people here now. The price for a month is $295.00, can’t beat that, so we have taken this site for a month. Now we know where we will be for Christmas and New Year’s and they have a Christmas dinner and a New Year’s Eve do so there will be festivities going on.

One of the travel journals I follow is Gordon & Juanita and they are here at this park for the winter. I met them both briefly, it’s nice to meet someone whose journal you have been following as I feel like I already know them.

After getting set up we drove into Port Orford, which is the oldest town on the Oregon coast, it is not a huge place but there is a grocery store. We went down to the dock and the waves were really crashing in but between the wind and rain I didn’t get out and take any pictures so these are the two I took out of the truck with the wind and rain blowing in on me.


The dock here is the only open-water port on the Oregon coast and is one of six “dolly ports” in the world where all the boats are hoisted into and out of the water daily. Of course with the wind yesterday I don’t imagine there were any boats out but it will be interesting watching them hoist them in and out.

We drove south a bit then came home, the coast looks beautiful along here so it will be fun exploring it. There is also Cape Blanco with its lighthouse to check out and apparently it is a great place to watch the ocean.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Today has been a wet, cloudy and cool day with a high of about 6C (42F), a good indoor type day.

It was pretty laid back for us, we went into Reedsport this morning to pick up a couple of things I forgot to get yesterday, then we came home and had lunch after which John got us hooked up ready for another travel day tomorrow. It wasn’t raining when he started but by the time he finished he was soaked, but as he said, he would rather do it in the wet today at 42F then in the wet tomorrow in the mid 30’s.

I have just messed around not doing anything particular, just enjoying being warm and dry on a damp, cool day!

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Today started out overcast but turned into a beautiful mild, sunny day – can’t ask for anything better than this considering we are on the Oregon coast and not in the sunny, warm south.

We decided this morning to head north to the sea lion caves as they were supposed to be open yesterday after being closed all week for their annual elevator maintenance. Well, I guess if I had been smart I would have checked their web page but didn’t, so it was only when we got there we learned that the elevator still wasn’t working – darn, and the fellow said it would be at least Wednesday before it is back in business.

We drove a mile north from there to the Hecta Head Lighthouse parking lot but decided to just enjoy it from a distance rather than hiking up to the lighthouse, then we headed south. We stopped a small viewing area between the lighthouse and sea lions caves and lo and behold there were hundreds of sea lions on the beach and up on the rocks, so even though we couldn’t get into the caves and see them up close and personal we did see lot of them on the beach. Even from the viewing area the smell was pretty strong and the noise from them was very loud so I can only imagine what it would be like in the cave!
Sea Lions


Hecta Head Lighthouse


We then headed south, about as far as we had headed north, to Coos Bay for a quick stop at Wal Mart then on to Shore Acres State Park to enjoy their holiday lights. This is a walk through display with over 275,000 lights, most of them being L.E.D’s. The cost to enjoy this stunning display was $3 for parking and the displays were gorgeous, and included some animated ones - it reminded us of the displays at Waterloo park and Niagara Falls only here there was no snow and it was cold but not freezing!
Holiday Lights at Shore Acres









When we got back John barbecued burgers for a quick dinner and now it is catch up time for my bog.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Yesterday was a plain yucky day – not a nice day for touring or doing any outdoor activities. It was a pretty quiet day for us here on the Oregon coast, I did laundry and that was about the height of my excitement for the day! We didn’t leave the park, just had a quiet at home day.

Today was much nicer, by noon the sun had come out and the temperatures were in the mid 40’sF (8-9C), it was actually very pleasant outside.

We decided to visit the Umpqua Discovery Centre in Reedsport, it is a way of discovering the natural and cultural history of the Oregon Coast. The discovery centre is very well done and the murals that decorate the whole display are awesome. We watched a couple of videos – one on the sand dunes, and one on bats that were most informative. I hate bats but certainly learned what a lot of good they do so shouldn’t be so disgusted by them!
Milliner's Shop at the Discovery Centre (My Grandmother was a Milliner so I am intrigued by these displays)

A Mural at the Discovery Centre

Another Mural at the Discovery Centre - This Lady's Eyes Followed Us As We Moved

After the Discovery Centre we drove up to the Drew River elk viewing area in the hopes of seeing some elk – well, we certainly weren’t disappointed. We saw quite a herd of them up close so were happy about that.
Elk


This Was the Only Guy With Antlers



On the way to the Umpqua Discovery Centre we stopped and bought a Dungeness crab for dinner – it was caught fresh today and cooked and the fellow cleaned it for us and packed it in ice so it was nice and cold all day – all for $3.99/lb. We also bought a large can of their canned salmon so it will be interesting to see what that tastes like.
Tonight's Dinner

Before returning home we again visited the Umpqua Lighthouse and enjoyed its wonderful night show! Somehow, I don’t think this is something you could ever get tired of seeing. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and you can see the colours the light throws on the trees).


Dinner is over and the Dungeness crab was absolutely succulent, we really enjoyed it and will definitely be buying a few more to enjoy while we are here.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice day tomorrow.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Today was another gorgeous, sunny day but still quite cool with a high of about 6C (42F) and tonight is supposed to go down to around -4C (24F) – still way too cold for my liking. The good thing is that this is supposed to be the last really cold night and the days are to start warming up a bit - the bad part is that it is supposed to rain for the next few days – charming!!

Today we drove north to Florence and went to Fred Meyer - we actually walked out without buying anything, but then we visited at their fuel stop and filled up with diesel so we did help the economy. We also had to get propane, with this cold weather we have been going through a lot of propane to keep warm so hopefully it will warm up soon and we can start using the heat pump again.

We drove around Old Town in Florence but nothing caught our eye to stop at and it was just too chilly to walk around as it was all shaded in there.

When we got home I walked around the park to get some exercise and fresh air and took this picture of the marina.

Later I went out and took another picture of the marina with the sunset on it – very pretty.

Tonight we went across the bay to a restaurant at the marina, we had fish and chips which was tonight’s special and they were good, but still not as good as the Erie Belle. When we arrived there was only one fellow eating at the bar, it turns out he owns the fish market next door so between him and the gal who owns the restaurant we had a great chat and they gave us lots of hints for things to see. We told Steve we would see him either tomorrow or Saturday as we want to buy a Dungeness Crab for dinner.

On the way to dinner as well as after we drove out to the Umpqua Lighthouse as a couple we talked to at Canon Beach said the light at night was beautiful with the red and white rays and they were right. The red and white from the light did a beautiful light show on the trees and the lighthouse itself looked lovely in the dark.


And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice, and hopefully warmer, day tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Today was another nice sunny day but the temperatures were still unseasonably cold for this area – we saw a high of about 44F (6C) but as soon as the sun starts to go down it gets really cold!

Today we went to Coos Bay to Wal Mart, this is the first Wal Mart Super Store we have seen since crossing over from B.C. in mid November so we spent some time browsing and buying shares – LOL! John and I also got haircuts so hopefully we will be in good shape now until the new year.

The area from here to Coos Bay is all sand dunes and ATVing on the dunes is the highlight for this area, of course there aren’t any out at this time of year with the cold temperatures, but I imagine this place is just a-hopping in nicer weather. The drive from here to Coos Bay wasn’t very scenic as it was pretty well inland away from the ocean.

On the way back we stopped at the Umpqua Lighthouse lookout and got our first view of the lighthouse,

then we drove down to it to get pictures up close and personal. There is a platform across from the lighthouse that is apparently a great spot for whale watching but we didn’t see any whales today.

Coast Guard Lookout

The lighthouse is on a 65’ tall tower and stands at the entrance to Winchester Bay at the mouth of the Umpqua River, its red and white lights can be seen 20 miles out to sea.

We toured around Winchester Bay when we got back and stopped at the General Store/Post Office to mail a couple of cards. It was a really old general store and it was fun to browse around, we were surprised by the variety of goods they sold in there – they even had some yummy looking fresh baked brownies but I shut my eyes and kept moving – boy was I proud of my willpower!

We had bought a cooked chicken at Wal Mart for dinner – you can’t go wrong for $4.99 and it was delicious. While we were eating the camp host knocked on the door to say they had another water leak so they were turning off the water. John had put some water in the tank this morning but went out and put some more in so we will be good for a while.

Tonight is another quiet evening of TV and a good book if the TV gets boring.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice, and hopefully warmer, day tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Boy, was it C-C-C-COOOLD last night – a low of -8C (17F)! We certainly hadn’t bargained for weather this cold along the Oregon Coast, guess the only good thing is that it is dry, therefore, now snow! John was really glad that he had hooked up the trailer last night as it wasn’t quite as cold then as this morning.

It was about 11 a.m. when we got on the road this morning for our drive to Winchester Bay – a drive of 170km (106 miles). It was a good drive with stunning views, have I said how much we love the Oregon Coast and its scenic coast line!
Seal Rock

Waves Crashing at Bray's Point

We stopped at the viewpoint for the Hecta Head Lighthouse and could hear all the sea lions roaring and lo and behold there were hundreds of them on the beach below us. There are caves here where you can see them in their natural habitat so that is on our agenda for when we are in this area and visit the Hecta Head Lighthouse. We stopped at other viewpoints to enjoy the views and take pictures and arrived at Winchester Bay RV Resort shortly after 2 p.m.
Hecta Head Lighthouse


Sea Lions on the Beach

This is a beautiful park with paved sites and it is situated between a marina and the ocean – wonderful views. Now that it is dark it is nice to look out at the marina with all the lights etc. The park isn’t really busy so we had our choice of sites so are on an end site with a view of the marina and as we have no near neighbours we could leave the blinds open and enjoy the view while eating dinner.
Winchester Bay Marina

Our Site at Winchester Bay RV Resort

Tonights Sunset


And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice, but hopefully warmer, day tomorrow.

Monday, December 6, 2009

Well, our last day here in Lincoln City OR has been a very cold one – I think the high today was just 0C (32F) and the temperature now is a frigid -5C (23F) – brrrrr!!!!

We went out for a bit this afternoon, we drove down to the Siletz River and walked for a bit but it was just too cold to stay out for too long. When we left I didn’t take my camera, hence no pictures today. There were a few hardy souls fishing along the shore and one small boat out in the river - I can only think that they were all freezing and I just couldn’t see the icicles hanging off them! We also stopped at the beach in Lincoln City – there was no one walking there today but we could see one fishing boat out bobbing around on the water, I have to believe that it would be REALLY COLD out there.

When we got back John decided to hook up the trailer as although it was cold we figured it was still warmer than it would be in the morning. While he was doing that I kept warm inside and chatted on Skype with my brother in Australia, he said it was 30C there and I replied that it was the same here but only in farenheit. He said it was very hot and humid so I’m not sure which weather I would like to have but somehow the cold is winning out as you can always keep warm but sometimes with the heat and humidity it is impossible to get cool!!!

It wasn’t an exciting day but it was also not a day for doing a lot of ourdoor stuff, hopefully it will warm up in the next couple of days. We have had nights this cold in New Mexico but I don’t think we have had days as cold as this since we have been on the road – guess there is a first for everything.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice, but hopefully warmer, day tomorrow.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Yesterday was a very quiet day with nothing worth writing about so I didn’t bother with my blog. We had a stay at home day which we enjoyed, I did some cleaning and then just vegged for the day.

I woke up during the night to hear the wind howling and it had gotten quite cold, almost down to freezing – I guess the predicted cold front has arrived. Today was very windy and cold, I don’t like this weather but I guess we had better get used to it as it appears that it will be around for a few days! It sounds like there will be bad weather all over the country for the next while so I guess we are just getting our share of it – as long as it doesn’t snow I won’t complain too loudly!

Today we went to Newport to visit the aquarium and on the way we stopped at Cape Foulweather. We had passed the cape the other day but didn’t stop as the parking area was full, today there were very few cars there so it was easy to find a parking spot. We walked out to the lookout but it was too cold to linger. We could hear sea lions but couldn’t see them, the cliffs are straight down so the sea lions must have been right at the bottom out of sight. We were quite surprised with all the wind that the ocean wasn’t wilder but I guess it wasn’t blowing in the right direction to create the huge waves.

The aquarium was very good and we quite enjoyed it, we spent a couple of hours there. The only problem was that we didn’t realize part of it was outside and hadn’t worn our warm coats in as we thought they would be too hot so it was quite cool doing the outdoor displays – needless to say we didn’t spent as much time at them as we might have had we been dressed warmer. Today’s pictures are all from there so hope you won’t be bored with fishy pictures!












On the way home we stopped at Fred Meyer and Wal Mart to pick up a couple of things then stopped for dinner. When we got home it was only 6C (44F) in the trailer so the furnace was put on real fast, fortunately it warms up quickly so we weren’t really uncomfortable for more than a couple of minutes. After about a half hour we were able to turn off the furnace and are keeping cosy and warm with the little electric heater and the Wave propane heater. John is just heading out to disconnect the hose for the night, we could leave the tap dripping a bit but it is probably just as easy to disconnect it.

We are watching a TV program with Christmas music, very nice.

And so ends another great gift of a day here on the Oregon Coast and we look forward to another nice, but cold, day tomorrow.