South Beach--Washington This Time! August 3, 2008

Well, we left the casino and headed further into Washington. We stopped at Lake Quinault to get information from the ranger station. It was a combination station with information about Olympic National Forest and Olympic National Park. The ranger recommended we drive around Lake Quinault to see the waterfalls and walk some short trails. We thought that was a good idea so we unhooked the car, left the rv parked at the ranger station and drove the 20+ miles around the lake.

The area is part of the Quinault Rainforest. We enjoyed the drive and stopped to view the waterfalls. The first one was taller than the second. If we hadn't had the map from the ranger, we would have missed this one!

Not only was the top gorgeous, so was the bottom!
We left the first after a short photo session and drove to find the second falls. It didn't have the straight fall like the first, but it was still beautiful. Right before we saw the second waterfall we found a sign for Olympic National Park.
As we continued around the lake we found out why we needed to unhook the car--the road narrowed to one lane and was gravel for about 6 miles on the north side of the lake.

Also on the north side of the lake was another ranger station. We stopped and walked the trails at this station. One led to an old homestead which the park hopes to redo.The homestead was sold to the park in the 5os. There is a sliding glass door and ugly shag carpet. In the field next to the barn was an old moving van which probably won't make any more moves. The other led through to the Mossy Trail. In this portion of the rain forest, club moss grows on the big maples. The moss grows everywhere on the trees and it hangs down like drapes from the limbs. When it is first growing it is a bright green, but as it ages it turns a yellowish green. True to the rainforest, the tree was supporting other life as well.
From the lake drive we returned to the first ranger station and walked next door to Quinault Lodge. It was built in the early 1900s. The first lodge burned and was soon rebuilt.
There was a newspaper clipping showing the lodge in its early days.
This is the back lawn today.
This ornate ruler measures the water when it overflows the banks of the lake.
After touring the lodge we hooked the car back to the rv and headed for South Beach Campground in Olympic National Park. We had our first sunset in quite a while--it was not big and it was too chilly to go out for a toast!

On to Washington--August 1 & 2, 2008

Time to leave the state of Oregon and move to Washington! We got our usual slow start--10:30. We stopped at the park entrance to dump our holding tanks, then headed to Astoria to cross that bridge!

Once across the bridge we were in Washington. The rest area just beyond the bridge had brochures and maps, but not for taking. The man running the rest area did not want to part with his material unless you could verify you were going to the area covered in said brochure! We finally got him to part with some info on Olympic National Park and a map of Washington.

On the road again, we headed for Ocean Shores, Washington. Quinault Casino is located near the ocean north of Ocean Shores. Bob had read about free camping near the beach so we went to check on it. Sure enough, the gravel lot for rvs was within sight of the ocean. We found a place to park and headed to the casino to make ourselves welcome (put a bit in the slots and had free coffee). We returned to the rv and checked on geocaches in the area. Bob couldn't wait to get our first Washington geocache. He found one located in front of the casino so we set off down the beach (away from the casino) for a walk with the casino as our stopping point on our return trip. This is our rv from the beach.
The Washington beach was different than Oregon beaches--no rocks and no huge piles of driftwood!
The most abundant thing on the beach was pieces of broken sand dollars! I have never seen so many in one place. There were a few clam shells and even some red crab shells.These birds flew around us trying to find a new spot to walk the beach.
Once at the casino, we found the area where the cache was located. We didn't find the cache.
We returned to the rv to check the clue and found that the cache blends in well with its surroundings. We will try again tomorrow to find it.

Saturday we went to the casino for morning coffee and to use the rest of our $10 ticket in the slots. We stopped outside the casino to look for the cache, located it, but couldn't get it out of its spot. We decided to return later in the evening with tweezers to make the grab.

Bob had read about a navy resort near Pacific Beach about 10 miles north of us. We drove up to check it out and have lunch at the resort restaurant.

We found the campground and it looked good. There was no beach access at the resort (on a cliff), you had to go about 1/4 mile into town to get beach access. We drove into town and saw some kites flying. They were larger than kites we are used to seeing. They also had some different shapes. The one in the bottom right corner is a panda!

This kite--yes, it is all one kite--had a weird tail configuration.
And then we saw an enormous kite flying just above the beach. I guess if the wind is really howling this kite might go higher. Hopefully you can get an idea of the size by comparing it to the people in the picture!

We enjoyed our trip to Pacific Beach. When we returned to the rv it was time to update this blog and plan the next leg of our adventure.

By the way, for those of you keeping count, August 1 was the one year anniversary of our retirement!

Astoria and Geocaching--July 31, 2008

Astoria was there for us to explore! We knew there was a promenade along the waterfront so we downloaded all the geocaches along the prom and off we went. The promenade is 4 miles long and one geocache was a picture puzzle along the way! We had to find the coordinates to match the pictures to solve the final clue. Our quest began at the Maritime Memorial.

The memorial is located beneath the Astoria Bridge.
From there we proceeded along the promenade viewing the sights and collecting clues for to solve the geocache. Astoria was built in 1822 over the water. Everything was built on pilings as they thought the land to steep a place to build. Also, it was easier to offload ships when the canneries were on the water. Many old canneries have disappeared, but the pilings remain.

The mural on the back of this Sear's was also a clue. Many of the buildings had murals depicting Astoria in the past.
Another geocache was located on the anchor outside the Maritime Museum.
We toured the museum and recommend it to anyone traveling this way. It has history of the Columbia River, Coast Guard, Navy, Astoria, etc. The pilot house of a navy ship was donated to the museum before it opened. The pilot house was floated to the museum by means of a barge and place by crane on the area where the museum would be. The museum was built around the 13 ton pilot house.

I had fun turning knobs in the pilot house of a tugboat that was on display. From the Maritime Museum we continued our geocaching and searched for a place to have lunch. As we completed the geocache puzzle and found the last cache we spotted a familiar name--Rogue. This Rogue is a public house--we've already eaten at their brewery (South Beach).The Rogue Public House is located in what used to be the BumbleBee cannery. The cannery has been rebuilt and now houses people, businesses, and the public house. We walked across the wooden bridge to get to Rogue.
We went in and had a pleasant lunch.
We planned our next stops while eating. A trolley runs the length of the promenade so we decided to ride the Trolley back to our car.
There was also a cache hidden on the Trolley!
Once back in the car we headed for the Astoria Column. The column is one of 12 across the US from Minnesota to Oregon. This column commemorates Astoria's early pioneers. The outside is done in sgraffito--an Italian form that combines paint and plaster carvings.
The column sits upon Coxcomb Hill--one of the highest spots in Astoria. There is a spiral staircase that you can walk to the top to view the surrounding area--unfortunately the column is closed until next spring or until the new staircase arrives and is installed! The view from the surrounding area is still great!

The Astoria bridge stretches from Astoria across the Columbia River...

... to Washington. When it was completed in 1966, it was called the bridge to nowhere since there is no town on the other side. Today, there is not much more!
The town of Astoria was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rockies. It has very steep hills and beautiful views.
It has also been the scene for many movies. Two of our favorites are Goonies and Kindergarten Cop. This is the school used in Kindergarten Cop.

We returned to the rv after a full day of sightseeing and prepared to pack up and move on to Washington.

Ecola State Park--July 30, 2008

Our first order of business for the day was to see if we could extend at Ft. Stevens. We could only have the campsite we were currently occupying for 3 nights and time was up. Luckily we were able to get another site, but only for 2 more nights. This is a very popular park.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was the only lighthouse in Oregon we had not viewed. It is one of 2 lighthouses that are not open to the public. Cape Arago is the other and we saw it from a hill in Sunset Bay SP while we were geocaching. Wednesday morning we drove to Ecola State Park which is the only area to view 'Terrible Tilly.' Both 'Tilly' and Cape Arago are on islands.

To get to the best viewpoint for 'Tilly' we hike uphill 1.3 miles--and I do mean uphill! Bob and I think this was one of our toughest hikes because it was the steepest! Wagon wheel trail at Capitol Reef might be a close second because it was a longer hike. The scenery was nice as we walked the trail. We were able to stop often to read the interpretive signs about Lewis & Clark. The trees are covered in moss--not like the Spanish moss in Florida that hangs from the limbs, the moss here covers everything! We've even seen it growing on houses!

There was a viewing area once we reached the summit. We could see Terrible Tilly clearly since it was a beautiful day. Tilly sits on a rock 1.2 miles offshore. The lighthouse is privately owned and serves as a columbarium (storage place for ashes of the deceased). If anyone is interested, Tilly is for sale. I don't know the price, but will look into it for you.
At the base of the cliff where we viewed Tilly, there were rocks in the surf. The white on all the rocks is from the birds. They love to nest on the rocks in the area.

As we hiked down to the parking area (much easier and faster than going up) we stopped to watch people playing in the surf. The water is much to cold for me!
Just south of Ecola State Park is Cannon Beach. That is where Lewis and Clark went to view the monstrous fish which had washed up on the beach. From journal entries, it has been determined that the monstrous fish was actually a blue whale!

We enjoyed our trip to Ecola State Park the surrounding area. Thursday would be a town day. We need to explore Astoria--named after its founder John Jacob Astor.

Ft. Clatsop--A Lewis and Clark Adventure--July 29, 2008

Yes, we are in Washington and we have internet!

Tuesday was Lewis and Clark Day--for us if not for you! We visited Fort Clatsop National Historical Park. Lewis and Clark stopped here to 'weather' the winter of 1805-1806.
The original fort is long gone and the first replica built in 1955 from the journals of Lewis and Clark burned in 2002. This replica stands as close to the original as could be deciphered from the journals. The open door was the room of the Charbonneau family (Sacajawea, etc.)Lewis and Clark shared this room which was next to the Charbonneau's.

There were 8 rooms in the fort. The rooms opposite Lewis and Clark's each held four men.

Outside the fort area we watched a musket presentation. The ranger dressed in period clothes and explained the workings of a musket. Then, he loaded and fired the musket using a spitball since there are hiking trails near the demonstration area. After the demonstration we joined a ranger hike to Netul Landing. It was a nice hike through the trees whose cover was thick enough to keep the rain from getting us.
The ranger pointed out many interesting plants and told their uses. This is a giant horsetail. The texture of the leaves made it good for scouring pans and such. You can see the 'ribs' along each leaf that give it its texture.

We have seen blackberry bushes everywhere we've been. The ones in this area will ripen at the end of August or beginning of September.From Fort Clatsop we drove south to Seaside, Oregon. It is a beach town with all the appropriate beach shops, arcades, and a promenade (boardwalk along the beach). We found a place to eat lunch and stay out of the rain. We are still sampling the fish & chips of each area.

Lewis and Clark had a production line at Seaside. They needed salt for their return trip. A cairn was set up and was manned 24/7. The men boiled sea water to get salt. They boiled enough water to get 4 bushels of salt.

Wednesday we planned to visit Ecola State Park. We need to see Terrible Tilly and we want to see where Lewis and Clark saw the huge beached fish.

Ft. Stevens State Park, Oregon--July 27 & 28

This is just a short update. We are heading into Washington state today and don't know if we'll have internet! If we have internet, I'll finish updating, if not, you'll have to stay in the dark about our whereabouts!

After leaving Tillamook we drove 65 miles to Ft. Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon. We knew our stay may be short as the state parks fill up quickly in Oregon. After dumping our tanks we proceeded to the ranger station and were able to get a site with full hook-ups for 3 nights. We set up camp and then went out to explore the park.

The park is located on the most northwest peninsula in Oregon. Not far from the campground and close to the ocean is a lake. We hike the 2+ miles around the lake before returning to our site.

Monday we went geocaching at the fort. The fort was originally commissioned to protect the coast in the civil war. It was up and running the day before Lee surrendered!

It also saw duty in WW II and was shelled by a Japanese submarine. Soldiers in the fort did not return fire as the submarine was out of range. This is one of the batteries that protected the coast.
Mines were laid across the mouth of the Columbia River. This was the building where the mines were prepared. The tall column held searchlights.
We thought this deer was guarding one of the old buildings...
...she was actually resting as her fawns played in the nearby bushes.
When we returned to the rv we had lunch, then set out on our bicycles to find the caches on the bike trails. One cache was located near the beach and the wreck of the ship Peter Iredale.

Tuesday we planned to visit Ft. Clatsop--Lewis and Clark's winter fort in 1805-1806.