Kayaking on Beaver Creek

When they learned we were going to be in the Newport area, every Oregon kayaker we've met along the coast told us we had to paddle Beaver Creek. We did just that today. Beaver Creek is a placid little waterway about 5 miles south of our campground off Highway 101 at a state day use area called Ono Beach. Although the creek (I assume) empties into the ocean a little way below the boat launch, it is unaffected by the tides--don't ask me why--and can be paddled anytime without having to worry about current or enough water. It's a very popular paddle, suitable for beginners because it's shallow and practically no current to speak of--it would be almost impossible to get into any kind of trouble. They offer two-hour kayak tours of the creek for only $15 and they supply the kayaks; we went on our own. Because of its popularity, we expected to see lots of people on the water, but didn't. We had the creek to ourselves, except for two little groups going upstream as we were almost back to the start. We paddled upstream without much effort for over an hour, past beaver trails, water lilies, and partially submerged logs with wildflowers gardens growing on them above the waterline. We saw an osprey on its nest and a Great Blue Heron. We paddled under a couple of little footbridges and kept winding our way upstream until the creek grew even shallower and barely wide enough to turn around. Paddling back took a little longer, even though it was downstream, because we were tired and there was a some wind in the more exposed areas blowing upstream from the ocean, as it always seems to here, but it wasn't really a problem.

After our paddle, we came back to camp for a very late lunch--the last of our Tillamook crabcakes as well as the last of our Tillamook Mudslide ice cream--and spent the rest of afternoon and evening just hanging out. Steve is reading another Michael Connelly mystery and I worked on some hand quilting. The plan for tomorrow, depending on weather, is to get the bikes out and explore some of the bike trails around the park and into town.

Oregon Coast Aquarium

Yesterday was supposed to be a kayaking day, but it was cool and cloudy, with a thunderstorm expected, so we opted for the aquarium instead. What a wonderful place! It is supposedly ranked second to the famous aquarium in Monterey. I've never been to the Monterey one, so this one is first in my book! There are both indoor and outdoors displays, and it reminds me of Hogle Zoo at home in that different areas of the buildings and the grounds house different "zones" as well as different species. Indoors, there's a coastal zone, an open ocean zone, a tidal zone, and an invertabrate zone, to name a few. Outdoors, there's an aviary with water and shore birds, a sea otter pool, and a sea lion and harbor seal pool. The outdoor pools all have both above and below ground viewing areas so you can see the animals doing all kinds of different things. One indoor exhibit was called "Oddballs" and featured creatures with unusual adaptations for defense, hunting, breeding, etc. Each tank housed, not only sea creatures, but beautiful art glass blown at a local gallery that was fashioned into shapes resembling coral, seaweed, etc. It was stunning. The seahorse and fish photos show some of the glass, and no, the seahorse photo should not be turned. He (or she?) was hanging on that way. Each area of the aquarium had many volunteers ready and able to provide interesting information about the animals. They were so knowledgeable and accommodating. In the tide pool area, where you can reach in and gently touch urchins, anemones, and others, I watched a volunteer gently scoop up sea cucumber into a pyrex dish so a wheelchair-bound woman who couldn't reach down into the pool could touch it. We watched volunteers hand feed the sea otters. They (the otters, not the volunteers!) are huge--much larger than river otters--50 to 70 pounds, and of course, very cute. The three they have here have been either orphaned or injured and were not able to be rehabilitated back into the wild. One of them, misnamed Hunter, was picked up again after being released because he was unable to hunt for food. He would hang around the piers, begging for food, and was even jumping into peoples' kayaks! Wouldn't that be a surprise!

Hatfield Marine Science Museum. And Beer

We spent yesterday at the Hatfield Marine Science Museum in Newport, only about two miles from the campground. It is one of the research centers for Oregon State University, and is an amazing place, full of very well-done and interesting displays, many of them hands-on and/or interactive. We watched them feed their new octopus, petted anemones and urchins in their tide pool display, and watched a Coast Guard guy jump from a little orange helicoptor for a simulated practice rescue in the bay. Yesterday happened to be their annual "Seafest," so there was live music, food vendors, and even more hands-on stuff out in the courtyard. You could throw a life preserver to save a man overboard (a target, not a live person), practice casting with fishing rods, shake fins with a life-sized model of a newborn grey whale, and more. They offer a guided, mile-long estuary walk daily at 11 a.m. which I will definitely do while we're here.

The vendor lines were food were long, so we asked someone about lunch, and she recommended the Rogue Brewery, which was close by. You have to walk through the brewery, past stainless steel brewing vats a couple of stories high, to climb the stairs to the restaurant upstairs. They make something like 30 different beers and ales from pale to dark, and many of their beers have won international competitions. Steve chose a glass of their Dead Guy ale, which is their most popular, and loved it. I'm not a beer drinker, so I can't comment. I can, however, comment on their Wild Coho Salmon Sandwich, served on their homemade beer bread--awesome!!! They give brewery tours every day at 3 p.m., so we may be going back. Steve wants to try the Shakespeare Stout and the Cheddar Soup made with their ale. I want to try the Kobe Beef Chili with more of that great bread.

Thursday night and Friday morning

Late yesterday afternoon, this vehicle pulled in right across the "street" from us. It's a German version, called a Frankia" of our rig, also made with a Mercedes diesel engine. It's the same length as ours--24 feet--but is a Class A rather than a Class C, a novelty for us because they don't make A's that small in the USA. It's owned by a very nice British couple named Howard and Sue, from Hampshire. They bought it in Germany, took it home to England (19% sales tax there!), and had it shipped to the USA in November. They are touring all over North America, including Canada and Baja, and will be here 11 months total. We toured and admired eavch others' rigs, and then, after they asked if we'd fancy a drink, spent the evening sipping wine in their "motor caravan," as they say in the UK.

This morning we left Nehalem Bay and headed south. Stopped in Tillamook for crab cakes, local rockfish fillets, Espresso Mocha ice cream cones at the cheese factory for breakfast, and Freddie Meyer's for groceries. We drove separately rather than hooking up the car, and met up at the Southbeach State park campground. The drive followed highway 101, mostly fairly narrow 2-lane, first through beautiful green meadows where the dairy cows were grazing, then along the ocean. Lots of cows--unlike Utah, it's so many cows to the acre rather than the other way around. Southbeach is about 3 miles south of the city of Newport, which we had to drive through to get here. Looks like a nice town--kind of a combination of modern conveniences (big box stores) but a big historic beach area, a lighthouse, and lots of fun, independent shops and restaurants. Oh, and a large quilt shop! There's supposed to be a lot to do in the area. I'm planning a walk down to the Hospitality Yurt to pick up trail maps for cycling, kayaking, and hiking.

Tide Pools and Neahkahnie Mountain

Yesterday we poked around in the marine gardens (tide pools) at Haystack Rock. It was a cold, cloudy, windy day, and the beach photo captures the mood perfectly. The tide pools (not in the photo) themselves were quite nice, although there were a lot of people there; what made them even nicer was that there was a volunteer who explained about the different animals living there and answered questions. For examples, we found out that starfish are no longer called "starfish"--as of about 3 years ago, they are "sea stars" because they don't have gills and are not really fish. Same problem with ":jellyfish," although it wasn't clear what their official name now is. Maybe just "jellies." Haystack Rock is a nesting place for many different kinds of birds as well as a hunting ground for bald eagles and peregrine falcons; peregrines are the fastest animals on earth, and they even attack the much larger bald eagle. They dive-bomb them using their bodies and aiming for the shoulder to break the wing so the eagle will fall into the ocean where the falcon can them pick them off.

We were freezing after our tide pool walk and went to Mo's (Famous Clam Chowder) intending to have breakfast, but they had switched to their lunch menu by the time we got there. I asked a server there where to go, and she said that Lazy Susan's downtown Cannon Beach had "amazing" breakfasts, and gave us directions. She was right! A darling little house converted into a cafe, tucked in off the street, walls made of rough wooden planks, and just 8 tables, overlooking a pretty garden. Eclectic decorating, including flower photos, dried starfish, I mean sea stars, and a sign that read "Be Nice or Leave." I had a hard time choosing between the oatmeal waffle with fresh strawberries and bananas and the "John's Special"--two poached eggs on top of sauteed potatoes covered with melted Tillamook cheese. I ended up going with John and it was wonderful. I also took home a fresh Marionberry scone which I saved this morning for today's breakfast.

Today we did Diane's other "must do" hike--Neahkahnie Mountain--with Michael and Tracy, another couple staying in the campground. On the way over to their campsite we spotted the mother deer and her twin fawns that many of the campers had reported seeing. The photo must be the girl. She stayed close to mom for the most part and moved slowly and cautiously. Her brother was too hard to get a decent shot of. All he wanted to do was play. He kept racing back and forth, trying to get mom and sis to do something more exciting than nibble at grass; it didn't work. This last photo is the view of Nehalem Beach from the top of the mountain. It was a clear day and the views were stunning in all directions.

Tomorrow we leave here and head for our next location--South Beach State Park, about 100 miles south, near Newport. There's supposed to be a lot to do there--wonderful kayaking, a really good bike trail, and a nice aquarium in Newport. On the way, we'll stop in Tillamook for groceries, one more batch of crab cakes, and one last ice cream cone. I'm going for the Espresso Mocha.

Post-Rally Fun

On Sunday, while Steve attended a presentation on solar panels, I drove into Tillamook to see the quilt show with Diane ( internet name Mrsfish, wife of i flyfish) Weiss, who is one of the co-organizers of this rally. She is a beginning quilter,having just finished her first quilt top and starting her second, but seems to be hooked. On the way, we stopped at the quilt shop in Wheeler, Creative Fabrics. It's a nice shop, although not nearly as nice as Center Diamond in Cannon Beach, and I picked up a couple of cool patterns by a local designer--one of sea turtles and the other pineapples, both made up of Log Cabin strips. Very unusual and fun. Diane lived in this area for many years and loves to kayak, cycle, and hike. She pointed out her favorite seafood restaurant in the area (Pirate's Cove in Garibaldi) and told us about two "must do" hikes. Yesterday we did one of them, and these are some of pictures. It's in Oswald West State Park, and is actually a section of the Oregon Coast Trail, which meanders along the beaches and costal mountains the full 362 miles of the Oregon Coast, and then (I think) meets up with the Pacific Coast Trail that does the same thing in California. The trailhead/beach parking is right on Highway 101, and then you have to hike a half a mile down to where the beach and the Coast Trail actually start. The hike to the beach is through the forest and along a stream, with several footbridges. The first photo is us standing on one of those bridges; the stream behind us empties out onto the beach. The beach itself is called Short Sands Beach, and is a little jewel, tucked into a small, sheltered bay between two capes. It's a popular surfing beach, especially for beginners, because it's very safe, with no riptides. There were several dozen surfers out there yesterday, all in full wetsuits because the water is pretty icy. The picture with the tree in it is a view from the trail going up to Cape Falcon, and shows the far end of the beach cove. The beach itself is just off to the left. When we got out to Cape Falcon (2 miles) we had a great view of the beach and of the Nehalem spit. Coming back, we cut down to beach instead of going all the way through the forest so Ellie could be off-leash. The tide was starting to come in, but a few tide pools were still exposed, and we saw several starfish in orange, tan, and purple. On the way back to the trailhead at the top of the beach, I spotted the "I [heart] the Pacific" sign someone had writen in the sand, and made Steve snap a picture. I [heart] the Pacific too!

Pre-Rally Rallying

These pictures were taking on our little excursion to Cannon Beach the other day. It's a fun little town with a beautiful beach. The big rock, called a sea stack, in the center photo, is called Haystack Rock. It's 235 feet tall, and is the third largest ocean monolith in the world. Steve didn't know they kept track of such things, and neither did I, but there you go. At low tide there are wonderful tide pools at the rock, and there are even ranger-led tide pools walks there. We hope to do that next week. Puffins and other birds nest on the rock itself. We ate at Mo's, which is right on the breach and is justifiably famous for its clam chowder. The third picture is a view of where we're caming. The state park is located on that sandy spit. Just the other side of the spit, which you can't see very well in the picture is Nehalem Bay , the town of Nehalem, and the Nehalem River. We took our kayaks and paddled in the river yesterday. Very nice! Lots of little vacation rental homes on the lower part, even some permanently-moored houseboats, and then civilization disappears the farther upriver you get.

When we got back to camp after our paddle, the View/Navion population had swelled from about 10 rigs to about 25, with people continuing to arrive every few minutes. We rarely see another RV like ours on the road or in campgrounds, so to have so many in one place is really fun. They've come from as far away as New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, and Texas. Lots from California and Washington, and a very nice couple, Ken and Mary, from Green River, Wyoming. Most are retired folks, of course, but a few are still working and/or quite young. Andy and Jodie from New Y0rk, who look to be in their 40's, sold their house and business 7 months ago and are full-timing it their Navion. Kate, who apears to be late 60's, travels alone with her dog, Goggles. So does Sue, who travels with her whippet and Rhodesian Ridgeback. She is into coursing, and travels all over the country with them to attend coursing events. Gordon and Sandy are bikers--motorcycle and bicycles--who keep a Gold Wing in Europe to travel on. They have followed the Tour d'France and the Giro d'Italia, and ridden up Alp Duez (not sure of the spelling), which is one of the famous peaks in the Tour. John Ruch has hiked the intire 2000 miles of the Appalachian trail; it took him ten years. Everyone is so nice and fun to talk to. It can take 20 minutes to take your trash to the dump area because you keep geting waylaid by someone and stop to visit.

Official registration starts this morning, but the first official event is the potluck cocktail and hors d'oevures at 5 p.m. But I've already been on a beach walk with Claudia, have a trip into town planned with Sue later this morning, and a bike ride with Gordon and Sandy this afternoon. Whew!

Checked in at Nehalem Bay

These are the other hike pictures that Blogger wouldn't let me post yesterday. The first is wildflowers along the trail. The second is the bald eagle. It is the dot in the middle of the photo. If you enlarge the photo, you can see him (or her) clearly.

We got to Nehalem Bay State Park a couple of hours ago, after stopping in Tillamook for an ice cream lunch. Steve had a Tillamook Mudslide cone and I had the 3 scoop sampler--French Silk, Mountain Huckleberry, and Pistachio Pecan. I liked the French Silk the best. Nehalem Bay State Park is huge--over 300 sites, I think. It snuggles against the dunes between the Pacific Ocean and Nehalem Bay. There is a boat launch on the bay, and it's supposed to be good clamming and crabbing and kayaking. There is also a horse camp, and you can rent horses for trail or beach rides. We are here for 10 days. The View/Navion rally is this weekend, and people are starting to trickle in. We met a coupole in the Tillamook Cheese Factory parking lot from Oregon that are on their way here, and another guy from Virginia that will be here tomorrow.We met Lynn and Claudia from Iowa this afternoon, camped in our loop, very nice people.

The weather seems to be improving. I don't know if I mentioned that a local said this has been a much colder than usual June--they're calling it June-uary. But it hasn't rained in a week now, and today is blue skies. Steve is even in his shorts and short-sleeved T-shirt--a first for this trip--out there puttering with his kayak. I'm not sure if I'm ready to commit to short sleeves yet, but it certainly is nice enough to sit outside and read or knit.

Still More Fun at Cape Lookout

As you can see, we've been very busy the last couple of days. Yesterday, we went kayaking on the Trask River, which flows around Tillamook and into Tillamook GBay. On the advice of some fishermen who were launching where we were, we paddled downriver, into the wind, planning on the tide turning and pushing us back to the start when we were done. The river is pretty sheltered, so the wind didn't bother us too much. Steve even found us a nice little backwater to explore where it was calm with no wind at all. And, amazingly, when it was time to turn around, the fishermen's advice worked! Unlike Utah, where the wind seems to switch just when you don't want it to, here the wind seems to blow consistently in from the ocean. We really didn't have to paddle much at all to get back to the launch, even though we were going upriver and theoretically against the current' It's sort of like Rock, Paper, Scissors--in the game of Current, Wind, Tide, Tide always wins. On our way back to camp from our paddling trip, we stopped at Cape Meares to view the lighthouse and the Octopus tree. There's a nice trail with beautiful views all around the Cape, with excellent informational signs about the birds, seals, and other wildlife that live in the area. A bonus was a volunteer ranger with a spotting scope set up facing a peregrine falcon nest in the cliffs across the little bay at the cape. We were able to view the five week old chicks on the ledge.

Today we went back to the Cape Lookout trail that we hiked several days ago, but didn't get to the end because we ran out of time. The picture of us Vagabundos was taken there. There are several other pictures from the hike that will show up in the next blog, because Blogger wouldn't let me put them in this blog. One of them is of a bald eagle in the top of a Sitka spruce. But he was only the second best thing we saw on the hike. Whales! We saw grey whales in the bay just south of the cape. We were just hiking along, admiring the view of the water way down below, when we heard this whooshing/blowing sound. Next thing we saw a spout of water, and then the mottled dark gray back of a whale just before it dove. We kept watching, and sure enough, it resurfaced, along with a smaller one--her calf. And then a third. They didn't seem to be going anywhere, were just kind of circling and hanging out. Too far away to photograph, although close enough to see clearly.We later found out that there is a resident pod in that bay; they stay there all year 'round, rather than migrating down to Baja and back to Alaska. We felt so lucky to spot them.

In the afternoon, I drove into town to do laundry and grocery shopping, as we are leaving here in the morning. On our last trip to town, I had picked up some fresh crabcakes at the little fish market across the street from the cheese factory and fried them up for supper that night. They were fabulous, and Steve requested that I get some more, which we had tonight with baked potatoes and the snow peas I bought at the Farmers' Market on Saturday. The fish market lady also told me how she makes them, so next time I may just buy the crabmeat and make them myself.

More from Cape Lookout

Yesterday we did the Cape Lookout Hike. They trail winds back and forth along the top of the cape, with amazing ocean views on either side. Steep cliffs that made Steve nervous, as there are no railings or barriers in most p;laces. Lots of moss, beautiful wildflowers, giant slugs, and that snake (from the previous hike). Today we drove the 12 miles into Tillamook. Steve dropped me off at the Farmer's Market, where we agreed to meet later, and headed off for the Tillamook Airplane Museum. He said it was much better than he thought it would be--lots of vintage planes, most of which are privately owned and flown regularly when not on display. They're housed in a WW II blimp hangar, the largest wooden structure in the world at the time. It was used by the Navy during WW II to house the blimps they used to patrol the west coast, looking for enemy submarines.

The Farmer's Market was small, but fun. They had live music--a folksy band--and I learned a new verse to "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain." Here goes: "We'll have have chocolate ice cream when she comes. Oh, we'll get it from our mother, then we'll get it on each other. . . ." Made me laugh. I bought fresh snow peas for our supper, homemade peanut butter and banana dog biscuits for Ellie, and some shea butter lip balm and foot cream for me. I still had lots of time before Steve was due back, so I got directions to the local quilt shop and set out on foot--about 8 blocks. The shop, Jane's Fabnric Patch, is in a small old house, painted pink. It is crammed, and I mean crammed, with fabric. I bought some fat quarters for the Quilt of Valor I'm working on, and some fun new Laurel Burch Christmas fabric. An added bonus was that the person who waited on me is a kayaker, and gave me directions to a couple of places nearby that she and her husband like to go. We will try one out tomorrow, and see if the repairs that Steve made to his rudder system work.

Cape Lookout

Our mini-excursion into Astoria before breaking camp at Fort Stevens turned even mini-ier. It was pouring rain when we got to town about 10 a.m. The waterfront trolley didn't start running until noon, and The Bowpicker same thing. So we drove around the historic district for a bit, looking at the Victorian houses, then headed back to camp to pack up. We than headed south through Seaside, Cannon Beach, etc. Pretty drive, even in the rain. Much of along the coast, where we could see sea stacks and rugged shoreline. Lots of state recreation areas and trailheads that looked interesting. We've earned that Oregon passed a law in 1967 that made ALL beaches public. No one can build on the beach. Even if you own a house with a beachfront, you are not allowed to fence it off--the beach doesn't belong to you.

We are camped at Cape Lookout State Park, about 12 miles south of Tillamook (pronounced "muck" as in "duck" not "mook" as in "book."). It seems to be a smallish campground, at lest quite a bit smaller that Fort Stevens. There are only 38 sites with hookups--the rest are bare bones, not even with water at every site. Hot showers and flush toilets, though, and a little yurt village and some camping cabins. Our original campsite was advertised as "beachfront," which it was except there's a big dune between the sites and beach so you can't see the ocean. We ended up moving to another site more in the trees that has hookups. Very nice and private, and you can still hear the ocean. Ellie and I go down for a walk on the beach every morning. You can walk for 7 miles north along the beach, but only about a half mile south, and then only in low tide, because of the rocks and cliff. Yesterday morning, a bald eagle cruised right over our heads, checking us out.

Lots to do here. Yesterday, we took a 4 mile hike toward Cape Lookout. It was a nice combination of deep, lush forest and stunning ocean views. Saw a cool-looking snake right on the path--wish Arin was here to identify it for us. In the afternoon, we cleaned up and drove into Tillamook to visit the cheese factory. Besides making something like 1 1/2 million pounds of cheese a year, they also make (and sell!) great ice cream. Too many flavors to choose from--I finally decided on Tillamook Mudslide, rich chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate ribbons through it. Good pick! Next time, I'm going to have Udderly Chocolate, which is white chocolate and dark chocolate icr creams swirled together. Or maybe Oregon Huckleberry, or . . .or. . . . .After eating our dessert first, we went in search of dinner. Got a recommendation at a little seafood market right across from the cheese factory (will go back there another day for their clam chowder and crabcakes to go) for a place called The Schooner on Netarts Bay, about halfway back to our camp. Nondescript-looking place from the outdside, but with a nice view of the bay and great food. Steve had fish and chips with beer-battered fries, and I had grilled halibut crusted with hazelnuts. Delicious!Oh, and clam chowder, of course. We've made a point of trying it wherever we are. Each place seems to have their own recipe. It's all fabulous, but each is unique. Steve's favorite so far is still The Ship Inn in Astoria. I have to agree.

Today we woke up to blue skies and sunshine--a first since we got to the coast. Decided to go kayaking on Netarts Bay. Drove down there, got launched, but Steve's rudder was not working, so he could n't steer. The steering mechanism on his hand-built Western red cedar kayak is made of wood, and it appeared to have swelled up in the damp weather and high humidity here. So we came back to camp and he took it apart, sanded it down and reinstalled it, ready to go maybe tomorrow or the next day. He's also going to be on the lookout for an aluminum replacement part.

Upcoming excursions in the next few days: more hiking and kayaking, a visit to Cape Meares Lighthouse, the Farmers Market on Saturday in Tillamook, the airplane museum(Steve), the Latimer Quilt and Textile Musuem (Sandy), and more ice cream cones (both of us!).

Fort Clatsop

We visited here last week, and again today. Fort Clatsop is about 7 miles from Fort Stevens, where we are camped. The fort is a replica of where the Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter of 1805-06, just inland of the south side of the Columbia River. The fort supposedly stands within 20 yards of the original, of which there is no trace left. The river in the picture is the Lewis and Clark River, which flows into the Columbia just a couple of miles from the picture. When the expedition reached the mouth of the Columbia at the Pacific Ocean, they were on what is now the Washington side. They had been expecting, or at least hoping, to meet up with ship coming up the ocean coast and get a ride home, but were sorely disappointed. Thus, the name of the point--Cape Disappointment. They realized they would have to spend the winter before heading back overland, and Lewis and Clark took a vote from the expedition members whether to winter right there or cross to the south side of the river. Everybody in the party got an equal vote, including Sacajawea and Clark's black slave, York, which was pretty amazing. The majority voted to cross the river, which is how they came to build Fort Clatsop,named in honor of the local Indian tribe.

There are several nice hiking trails in the area, which we didn't get to, but we did kayak on the Lewis and Clark River this morning. We launched at Netul's (Neh TALL's) Landing, where Lewis and Clark landed, and started paddling upriver against the current and into the wind, figuring we'd work hard going out, then turn around and drift back with the wind and the current. Wrong! Just about the time we turned around, the wind not only shifted but started blowing even harder. It was harder going back down, even with the current, than it had been paddling up. We really got a workout. Oh, and did I mention it was raining?

Tomorrow we leave here and head for our next campsite--Cape Lookout, somewhere south of Tillamook, but less than 100 miles away. Tillamook is the home of a big cheese factory that gives tours, an airplane museum, and several quilt shops, among other things. We are planning a quick trip back into Astoria in the morning before we leave to hit one more museum, ride the waterfront trolley, and have an early fish and chips lunch at The Bowpicker. If it's too rainy to eat at the picnic table, we'll either eat it the car, or go back to the Ship Inn instead.

Fun at the Beach

We've been busy doing lots of fun stuff--hiking, biking, touring old forts. More about those in another post. This one's about clamming. When we were at the beach yesterday at low tide, we started talking to the folks who were digging for clams. It got us interested, and later in the evening, when the local cop on patrol in the park stopped at our campsite to say hi and give Ellie a biscuit, he also talked about clamming. They next thing I knew, I was driving to Fred Meyer (7 miles away) buying a clam gun. That's me and that's a clam gun, the closest thing I'll ever get to a gun of any kind. It doesn't shoot--it's sort of like a posthole digger. At 8 a.m. this morning we were out on the beach stalking razor clams. Since we had little or no idea of how to proceed, we followed some other folks around for awhile. Everyone on the beach was so friendly and helpful. One nice couple pointed out some clam holes for me and talked me through the digging process. Woo hoo!! My first clams! I dug up two under their supervision and then graduated to finding them on my own. I ended up with four nice big ones and two little ones. Nowhere the daily limit of 15, but it was a slow day for everyone else too. Ted, the park cop, had given us instructions on how to clean them, and that went much better than I had expected. Next, I chopped them, sauteed them with some onions and garlic, and served them over pasta. Pretty yummy!

Fort Stevens State Park

We are nicely settled in at Fort Stevens State Park, which is at the very tip of the north Oregon coast. It's a big park, with lots to see in the park and surrounding area, so it's a good thing we have reservations for a whole week. The picture of Ellie and I was taken at the wreck of the Peter Iredale , which happened in 1926. The Columbia River bar, where the river meets the Pacific Ocean, is apparently the most dangerous is the world. There are over 2000 wrecks here--it's called the "graveyard of the Pacific." Pieces of ships lost as early as the 1700's are still washing up on the beaches, including old cannons and keels. Yesterday we visited Astoria and the Columbia River Maritime Museum, which is the first nationally-ranked maritime museum. It was fascinating. We spent half a day there viewing all the exhibits, including a "lightship" (like a lighthouse, only a boat) that marked the entrance to the bar for 50 years. The other picture is the Astoria Column, which is at the top of a hill with a panoramic view of the town, river, ocean, and inland. It is carved and painted with scenes of area history from Indians to trappers to Lewis and Clark to steamboats on the river. Very beautifully done . There is a spiral staircase inside with 164 steps leading to the top (124 feet, I think). Unfortunately it was "closed for repairs"--they are putting in a new staircase and it won't be reopened until next spring. We had a great fish and chip lunch at "Ship's Inn" right on the waterfront and recommended by one of our guidebooks. The lady at the information desk at the museum recommended another place--The Bowpicker--right across from the museum as having the best fish and chips around, but it was a little take-out place with only outside seating and it was too cool and windy to make that fun, so we'll save that for our next trip to town.

There is still lots to see and do in Astoria and we will make at least one more trip back there, as it's only about 12 miles from where we are. It's a pretty little town, reminds me of a miniature San Francisco--very hilly and green, loads of charm, with beautiful Victorian homes. There's even a trolley that runs for several miles right along the waterfront that makes stops along the ways at historic sights. And it only cost $1 to ride!

Today is rainy. The weather forecast calls for showers today and rain tomorrow. I don't know the difference, but I suspect there isn't a lot. People here seem to be used to it--they are out walking and riding their bikes regardless. There is a nice paved hike/bike trail that goes all over the park , around the fort, and down to the beach.You can drive your car on the beach, and we did that to give Ellie some exercise--her favorite thing is to run alongside the car. She got lots of grins and waves from people in other cars on the beach. After I post this, we are heading into Seaside for a little explore. Seaside is the furthest south that Lewis and Clark got. There are the remains of a saltworks they constructed to retrieve salt from ocean water for their journey back in 1806. I'm hoping for a quilt shop and/or yarn shop too.

On the Road: Summer 2008

Today is Monday, June 2^nd. We left Salt Lake City Saturday afternoon for this year’s summer adventure—the Oregon coast. We’ll be gone all of June and July. The trip was inspired, at least in part, by a View/Navion rally at a place called Nehalem Bay in mid-June. Steve found out about it on the View/Navion Yahoo group in December and signed us up. At this point, it appears we may be pretty much taking over the campground—there are something like 70 RVs, just like ours, coming from all over the country. While he was making the reservation for Nehalem Bay, Steve started looking into the camping situation along the coast, and was horrified to find out that, even in December, many of state parks only had a couple of sites available for June and July. So he went ahead and made all reservations right then and there for our whole trip. This is something very different from our usual “find a great spot, stay till we feel like moving on, and then find another great spot” approach. We’ll have to see how it works out. We’re not usually very good with schedules and structure. Hopefully, we can cancel our reservations and only lose our initial deposit if something better comes along. “Better” meaning just as pretty but cheaper—Oregon state parks on the coast cost upwards of $24 a night. This, coupled with the rising fuel prices, is making this a more pricey vacation than originally planned. Guess what we’re using our “economic stimulus” check from George W. for!

We’re already feeling a little schedule-crunched as our first night reservation is tomorrow at Fort Stevens State Park (I think) on the northern Oregon border. We left Salt Lake Saturday mid-afternoon and got as far as Jerome, ID. There was nothing in my favorite cheap campground guide for that area, and we ended up doing something I’d always made fun of—spending the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot. It wasn’t as awful as I thought it would be—we’ve actually stayed in worse places—and it was free. Yesterday, we drove from Jerome to Baker, OR, a town I’ve always liked ever time we’ve passed through. We drove up a beautiful, green little canyon 18 miles to Union Creek, a NFS campground on Phillips Reservoir. Lovely sites in the pines with views of the lake. There is a wonderful hike/bike trail that goes for miles along the shoreline and through the woods; it was beautiful with wildflowers and little springs and streams. I managed to get in one hike with Ellie, but could have easily stayed a couple of more days, riding our bikes and kayaking the lake. That’s why I don’t like schedules!

Today we drove about 4 hours to get to Deschutes State Recreation Area, about 12 miles east of The Dalles off I-84. Another lovely place. We are camped on a grassy site under a big shade tree, just a stone’s throw from the river. Several families of Canada geese, complete with fuzzy young goslings, share the campground with us, as well as lots of other birds, including red-winged blackbirds and goldfinches. This campground also has a shoreline trail, which Ellie and I hiked today, and a rails-to-trails bike path that Steve and I hope to ride some of tomorrow morning before heading off to our next stop. The picture at the beginning of this post is our campspot here.