Mattie – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

01-30-2018 “Home” to Catalina Spa

Most years when we travel south, we slip into one of our favorite little spots, Catalina Spa and RV Resort. Last year was a bit of a shock for us, since one of our favorite things about this particular park was the hot spring fed swimming pool that was open all night. I have watched moon rises and sun rises from this pool, watched stars at night and one time tracked the space station as it crossed the sky. I love swimming in the dark without the sun in my eyes.

Last year the “adult” pool in the lower (older) part of the park was closed for renovation, and I had to either walk or drive in the middle of the cold night to get the the upper pool. We knew that the lower pool renovations were complete and were excited and a bit nervous about the changes.

I discovered that I really am resistant to change. It infuriates me. Cracked me up when I realized how I was reacting to the shifts, just like an old person who can’t deal with change. As time passed, I reminded myself, “change or die”, and I began to adjust to the shifts in our favorite place to camp in the Coachella Valley.

The new pool is quite modern looking. The lovely old and somewhat amateur murals on the spa wall have been replaced with very spendy and lovely glass tiles. The pool is spotlessly clean, with some kind of machine that runs during the night. A very nice technician explained to me that California state law requires that all pools be treated with chlorine, and that not using it could result in the complete shutdown of the pool. Sigh. What I loved about that pool, in addition to the 24 hour open thing was the fact that it had no chlorine in it, and neither did the spa. The hot springs at the resort completely replace the water in the pool every 3 days or so and in the spa more than twice a day. Technician man said that even when he keeps the chlorine level up to state requirements, it is on the very low level of those requirements. I only noticed it very faintly early in the morning, at 7am, when the pool now opens. We also were told that the resort is now being billed as a “family resort destination”. No such thing as an adult pool any more. At least they still honor Passport America and our daily rate was a cool $22.50. Not bad overall. Change or die.

The camping area has changed as well. Half of the lower park (including the area we always chose to camp) has been closed off for repairs, and for eventual conversion to park models only. We were directed to our spot by a volunteer in a golf cart, unlike in the past where we were allowed to make our own choice. It wasn’t a bad spot, actually quite level, and the sand had been freshly raked. Instead of the tall tamarisk trees at the rear of our rig on 11th street as we always chose, we had campers directly behind us, and our patio was completely visible to them. Not exactly private, but tolerable, since we were lucky enough to have nice, quiet campers in those spots.

The park seemed fairly full, but with half of it shut down, that would explain why. We were given pages and pages of rules and activities, how to create a “safe bag” for exiting in an emergency and all sorts of other stuff. TV thank goodness is still not digital, so we were able to get it via cable. (We left our cable at home somehow and had to buy another one) So much for knowing where everything is located after our move.

We were so lucky for our entire time in Desert Hot Springs with absolutely perfect weather. It was especially lucky to be in a place with clear skies for the early morning spectacular show on January 31, the Supermoon and the Lunar Eclipse. I didn’t even set an alarm, but woke up several times during the night to gaze at the moon, and was awake just after the eclipse started. Didn’t pack a tripod on this trip, and thought that I really didn’t need to try that hard for a perfect photo. So many good friends are really good at what they do, and they all have tripods. I did want to at least try to capture the moment for my own memories, and the photos I got made me happy enough. I was surprised at how many people around us in the park just slept through the entire display. Of course, there were a few folks wandering about in bathrobes and slippers, smiling and laughing with me.

Once the sun was fully up the last morning of January, it was time to take Mattie walking in the big desert area just north. The dog park is small and was muddy from the morning sprinklers, and the desert was much more inviting. Within a few days, Mattie had made friends with several other dogs whose owners liked walking in the open, and several of us let the kids play off leash when everyone got along well. As usual, Mattie likes the big dogs best, but there were a few little ones who were playful enough for her. She can be a bit of a brat when she is on-leash, and gets all excited when she sees new dogs, wanting to play. Her version of play can look kind of aggressive if you don’t know her, and I spent a lot of time saying, “No!!”

I was glad for doggie play time for her since she will be going to visit a doggie care center while we are in Mexico next month, and the place requires her to be well behaved with other dogs. Of course. At least she had some practice during out three weeks out on this trip.

Time passed slowly for us at Catalina. This year the weather was so great, with NO wind, an unheard of thing when visiting Desert Hot Springs at this time of year. We had time to read in our chairs on the shady side of the rig, to swim mornings and evenings, to actually relax. That is something we both really needed to do since we have been so much on the go for the last two years. Real relaxation has been missing, and especially relaxation in warm sunshine! Wonderful.

We had a few plans upcoming for the later part of our week, including some hikes, and some traditional treats like the Living Desert and Palm Springs Street Fair, but the quiet down time we enjoyed those first few days was extra special.

Let’s Go to the Beach!

Current Location: The Sunset House in Grants Pass Oregon

Let’s go to the beach! I suppose that is something said more often in summer, or even spring or fall, but probably doesn’t fall off one’s lips in the middle of winter, at least not in this part of the country. But now that we are at last settled into our home, Mo and I have been itching to get the MoHo on the road, and the beach is just two hours west. That was one of the reasons we chose to build our home in Grants Pass; it is a reasonably easy drive to the ocean, without having to live in the salt air and summer fogs.

Is it surprising that once again we ended up in Brookings at Harris Beach State Park? Probably not to readers who have been around awhile. What can I say about Harris Beach that I haven’t said several times a year for the last 15 years?! Brookings is the Banana Belt of the Oregon Coast, and is known for great December weather. With a foggy inversion hanging around Grants Pass for the last week or so, we were definitely ready for some sunshine.

The beach complied with a great day of sun and temperatures in the 60’s. At least that was the case when we arrived on Monday afternoon. Packing up was a breeze, the MoHo was nice and clean inside and out, waiting in the RV shed, everything we needed for a simple two night stay took less than an hour to load. We had to bide our time before leaving since we didn’t want to arrive too early. Check-in time at the State Park is supposed to be after 1pm. Perfect.

We left in fog, but by the time we reached Hayes Hill just west of town on Highway 199 the sun was so brilliant I had to find my sunglasses. Ahhh. The drive was gorgeous, as always, even with the water in the wild Smith River at fairly low levels due to the recent lack of precipitation. Someday I am going to make an attempt to drive that road in a car and stop often enough to capture some of the beauty of the river and the mountains and forests through this part of the coast range. Taking photos out the window of a moving vehicle can’t begin to do it justice, and since I was driving that was even more of a problem. I had the same thought today as we returned, and I wasn’t driving. I did manage to get a photo of the snow surrounding us at the higher elevations, thankfully not right on the road, but real photos? As I said, maybe someday.

When we first arrived, the front row appeared to be completely empty? Really? What a delight! We didn’t have reservations, insisting to friends who asked that they were completely unnecessary at this time of year. Approaching the park entrance, we had a bit of a shock. The front row was completely empty because most of the park was shut down for a complete overhaul of the sewer and water system.

There were only 2 sites along the front row that were useable and as we continued around the C Loop (most of the back side of A and most of B loop were closed) we saw that C4, one of our favorite sites, was open with a reservation scheduled for late December. Score! A big rig followed us in, and gave up and left the park, shaking his head at the vacancy sign. Vacancy doesn’t mean anything is useable for big rigs or that the available sites would actually have hookups. Most of the vacancies were tent sites. The park volunteers let us know that the work was supposed to be completed by mid June of this year. We will see. But I don’t imagine we will try to get back to Harris Beach any time soon. Loeb Park is open, and is only $24 per night, but it is up the Chetco River, and is some distance from town and the beach.

Thanking the RV gods for our good luck, we were in our spot and set up in no time. One of the nice things about C4 is that it still has the tall trees and overgrown bushes that used to make Harris Beach so charming and private. The new thought for the park is to take down many of the trees (they aren’t native), and trim all the hedges into nice even rectangles.

Much of the privacy between sites is gone, and while the views of the ocean are accessible, so are the views of your next door neighbors. I miss the old overgrown feeling of the park, but I don’t imagine we will give up camping at Harris Beach in the future. It is just too convenient to town, to trails, to wonderful beach walks, and to home.

The sun was still out, and there was very little wind. We knew the forecast for the next day called for 100 percent chance of precip with high winds, so we quickly set up camp and headed down to the beach. It was so wonderfully warm, with no wind at all, and our light jackets were almost too much for us. We walked north from the main beach parking area where we can let Mattie off leash when no one is around.

She had a great time tearing around in the sand. That little dog loves to run and is sooooo fast! It was impossible to catch her in a photo since I didn’t bother to lug the camera with me and only had the phone. We sat for a time watching the water and the sky, and letting Mattie play as the sun began to go down over the waves.

There was more entertainment on the agenda that needed to be enjoyed on an evening without rain. The annual Nature’s Coastal Holiday was once again lighting up Azalea Park with over 500,000 lights. We attended the show in 2013 and didn’t want to miss it. We thought a fish and chips supper before the show was a great idea until I started searching and found most every fish and chips place in Brookings and in nearby Harbor are closed on Mondays. Note to self, bring food for Monday nights in Brookings! Luckily I had some great chicken enchiladas in the fridge so we didn’t go hungry.

It was completely dark by a bit after 5 when we paid our nominal $2.00 fee to enter the park. The show was breathtaking, even more wonderful than we remember from our visit four years ago. I have never seen so many lights, wrapped around every bush and tree and even spread over the ground to look like flowing water. The pathways around the park were lit, the gazebo on the hill was a beacon that could be seen from most every vantage point, and the music was pure Christmas, with Bing Crosby crooning, and of course, Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. I think the only light show I have seen that could come close to this one is the Christmas light show at Silver Springs in Ocala, Florida. I have no idea if they even still do that show now that Silver Springs is officially a state park and no longer a private amusement venue.

Everything was so lovely we had to walk around more than once to take it all in. Somehow all those lights and Christmas music are what makes the holiday the most fun for me. I am so glad that we went.

Afterward, we stopped off at Fred Meyer, the main shopping place in Brookings, and lo and behold out walked Doni, from Quilting and Life in General, a blog I have read for years. I had never met her in person, but recognized her face instantly. I can only imagine how it must feel to be leaving the grocery store and have some stranger accost you with, “Doni?! It is YOU! I have read your blog for years!” Doni is a quilter, and I found her blog through Paulette of Rick and Paulette from the very old days of early blogging. Such fun. And such a small world.

Yesterday we woke to hard rain and very dark skies. Somehow breakfast slipped in at almost 9am, unheard of for the two of us who are usually such early risers. The winds were high and wild and the rain was blowing sideways for most of the day. We decided it might be a day for a book instead of a walk, and wandered off to the Goodwill store in search of something used to entertain each of us. We also thought a stop at my very favorite local quilt store was in order, and imagine my sad surprise to find that the store was closed and the owner had retired last summer. I was heartbroken, but I guess after 30 years a woman can get tired and want to let it go. Our favorite bakery still had hours listed from 6am on Friday mornings through Sundays only, so I was glad I brought a stash of Christmas cookies that I baked last week to keep us fortified.

Fish and Chips are an important component of any visit to the coast, even a short one. We have spent several years passing by the Crazy Norwegian in Port Orford. Sometimes we pass because we are on our way somewhere coming or going, or the place is closed (probably a Monday). Nina talked about it often when she and Paul were staying at the lighthouse in Cape Blanco, and other bloggers have waxed poetic about the fabulous food to be found in the tiny establishment.

In spite of the driving rains, and high winds, we thought a 55 mile each way trip up the coast along Highway 101 would be a good way to spend part of a rainy day, especially with good fish and chips to reward us. The Crazy Norwegian turned out to be a great little place, with everything fresh and homemade. I loved the chowder especially, not too thick and homemade with some kind of herb that didn’t appeal to Mo but really tickled me. I think it was tarragon. The cod was from Alaska, and on the menu it stated that the supply of good fresh cod from local sources was too undependable, hence the Alaska version. It was moist and tender and done perfectly, as were the fries. The coleslaw was different, and the waitress said the secret ingredient was horseradish. It wasn’t my favorite. Coleslaw should have mayo in it! We were really glad we made the trip, glad to have tried out the Crazy Norwegian, but also decided that in the future we might be perfectly happy to return to the Sporthaven Marina that we found last time we were in Brookings.

Back to the RV in the rain, we settled in for card playing, skipping super since our two o’clock lunch held us over just fine, and reading our new books. I found a new author, Martha Grimes, and I am loving the book, “Dakota”. I think I’ll have to search out some more of her writings.

We watched the weather report, listening to the winter storm warnings for the coast range and for the Cascades, hoping that things would clear out by the time we had to leave at noon. I checked the weather channel this morning, and we played more cards while waiting for the snow to melt that covered the roads at the Oregon California border. I didn’t relish the thought of traveling Highway 199 in the snow. That road along the Smith is gorgeous and treacherous as well, with steep mountains formed from slippery serpentine rock that slides easily, and narrow lanes that drop directly to the river sometimes a hundred feet below the tiny almost non existent guard rail. Just ask Judy about that road! Ha!

By the time we left however, the temps were in the 40’s, the rain showed no signs of scary snow at least as far as Patrick Creek, and the road had no ice to mar our journey. Mo drove and I did manage to get a couple of photos out the windshield of the snow around us, but thankfully not on the road. When we got home, the sun was shining through the clouds surrounding Grants Pass.

Within a hour of arriving, we had dumped the tanks into our own RV dump, unloaded everything, and had the MoHo all backed into her shed, safe and sound. I made another batch of Christmas cookies, we ate our leftover fish and chips (of COURSE we had leftovers), I processed photos, and wonder of all wonders, here I am writing the blog! Photos probably won’t go in till later since tomorrow morning I am off to see daughter Melody and her family just two hours north in Eugene. So excited! Two hours isn’t that far, but it seems a long way after two years of having Melody living in the same apartment building with Mo and I. I really do miss having her close by and seeing the kids come and go and getting hugs on a regular basis. I’ll have to catch up on hugs tomorrow for sure.

12-26-2016 Laughing at the Jello

Current Location: Flag City RV Park, Lodi California

I had no more finished publishing the last post than things started changing. First of all was a sweet solution to the Mattie problem. Our blog friend Laura read the post and immediately wrote saying she might have an idea. I met Laura last summer for lunch in Ashland when she and Alice were traveling. We had followed each other for some time and it was great to get together and meet in person. Laura is a dog person, and a motorhome travel person, and since she lives near the Pomona fairgrounds, she sweetly offered to come during the days we had to be away and take Mattie for a potty break and a walk. Amazing!

Next I called Orange Grove RV to confirm a two day reservation. That place is getting so very popular with people traveling to and fro in Southern California that we learned the hard way that reservations are in order. Well, popular is an understatement. The price went from $34 a few years ago to $37 last year (with a cash discount) to $47 per night this year with no cash discounts offered, just $4. off with AAA or AARP or Good Sam. Geez. We looked at each other and said, “Why not just stay right here for two nights?”

Mattie loves heat, crawls as close as possible to the fire at home

We have open skies to fiddle with the satellite, paved space to keep out of the mud, a nice big doggie park, and sunshine. With our Passport America this park is only $27 per night. I really do need my oranges, so we will still go to Orange Grove, but for one night only. Oranges for $17 bucks extra and 25 miles out of our way. They really ARE that good.

Mattie isn’t too impressed with the electric substitute for the fireplace

Next up was going to the park office to pay for two nights instead of one. I asked about the TV thing, and sure enough, this past year they upgraded to digital. At the moment, Mo is outside hooking up a very long cable that we can bring inside so that we can hook up the digital converter box and hopefully will discover that it actually works and we can get digital cable from the park. Our other techie problem is our TV antenna. It isn’t digital either, so when the girl at the counter said, “Just put up your antenna and you can get 45 channels from Sacramento”, we just smiled. Mo purchased a digital antenna long ago to replace the original one, but it didn’t have room to retract on the top of the rig, so she removed it, so no, we don’t have a digital antenna either. Technology shifts so fast you can’t be slow!

We do have a digital to analog converter, but so far the problem has been figuring out how to make it actually work. It is now noon, and we have given up. When we hook up the box, it can only be seen on input 3 and cable can only be seen on input 7, and when we program the box on 3 we get a bunch of strange channels that the maintenance guy can’t figure out at all, not the regular digital channels that come across the Direct TV cable. It is all too weird. Solution? Figure out how to get a digital TV in the space that we have and for the time being, forget about TV! A big glass of wine should get us to the next project….getting our King Flex satellite to work with our new Direct TV receiver. A BIG glass of wine.

A bit later, after the wine and lunch, we tackled the King Flex satellite system. The system worked fine for a few years, since we got it in 2014, so it obviously isn’t that old. Last year, when we had to upgrade our old Direct TV receiver, it quit working. After a long day on the phone, I learned that it needed updating, and King sent us a big update file that had to fit on a 4 gig or less USB stick. You can’t buy those any more, but I did manage to find one buried in an old drawer. We upgraded the system, but it still took a long time on the phone to get it to work. That was back in May.

When we traveled last summer to the family reunion, for some reason it would no longer work. Direct TV isn’t very helpful because they don’t understand how these RV satellites work, and they keep wanting us to do things related to the big satellite at home where the system works just fine. Sigh. So this afternoon we hooked the system up again, with completely clear skies, and in a fairly short time the converter showed full reception on the satellite system. The Direct TV receiver, in spite of tracking the numbers of the transponders, still said there was “no signal”. I forgot this was a holiday, but was reminded quickly when I put the call into King. They are closed for the holiday. Of course.

So we put the satellite away, put the non working cable digital converter box away, turned off the TV and spent the afternoon laughing and playing cards. In spite of the tech issues, it has been a lovely day of down time. There haven’t been many down time days in our life lately and that is the one thing we can count on when we get away in the MoHo. We will usually manage to have some quiet days without a lot going on. Much like being on a cruise, we have learned after more than ten years of RVing that you don’t have to keep running around doing everything all the time. Whatever wonders may be out there will still be there next time. We could have dressed to go wine tasting (we love Old Vine Zin’s which Lodi does better than anywhere). We could have visited the Jelly Bean factory. Instead, we hung around home, and thoroughly enjoyed it..

It is still fairly chilly, even with the sun shining, so I wrapped up in a warm coat to take Mattie to the dog park. The “park” is simply a fenced storm water control basin, but is full of grass and good smells with lots of room to run. Surprisingly, both times we visited the park, there were no other dogs around so Mattie had the place entirely to herself. Today there were only a couple of Snowy Egrets pecking around, but last night there were more than a dozen, including three Great Egrets as well. Their view from this spot certainly isn’t what our Klamath Basin egrets enjoy!

Our plan now is to leave as early as reasonable tomorrow morning with hopes that we will get to Orange Grove RV in time to set up the satellite again, and make the call to King on the east coast before they close. Mo is a lot more patient than I am with all this stuff, and after things don’t work I just throw up my hands. She wants to keep trying. Our testy comments to each other are good natured most of the time at least. I just want to buy all new stuff and have someone make it all work. Mo, in her best thrifty fixit self, wants to make what we have work. Most of the time it eventually does work out. I guess we will find out tomorrow!

Now, for those of you who said you were glad I was posting again….really??

Hopefully as the week progresses there will be more interesting stuff to talk about.

11-20-2016 Escape to the Coast

Current Location: Harris Beach State Park, hard rain and 52 degrees F

It is raining hard right now, and the wind is blowing. It rained all night and most of the day yesterday. Mo and I laughed about how much fun it is to be rocked to sleep in the dark listening to the sound of rain on the roof. Not something often experienced in the stick and bricks.

We expected rain when we set forth on this journey. The predictions were for rain and gale force winds in Brookings, with small craft warnings all up and down the coast. We left the apartments in Klamath Falls on Wednesday morning, leaving behind a skiff of snow as we headed west for the cottage and the waiting MoHo.

Mattie is ready for some chilly days at the beach

I spent most of the afternoon in Grants Pass raking up more leaves, but the good thing was that at last the huge oaks seemed almost completely bare. The neighbor across the way came over to talk and said, “At least this should be the last time you have to rake.” Yeah, maybe, but there are a LOT of leaves waiting to be hauled off, all scooted off the grass and to the long driveway, hopefully they will still be where I put them when we get back to Grants Pass. Rumor has it there was a huge storm there as well, with lots of wind.

Cozied up in the cottage, for a moment we questioned our sanity. Are we really heading for the coast and a big storm instead of laying low? The answer was a resounding “Yes”. Every time I moved the MoHo out of the RV shed when we were unloading “stuff” from Rocky Point, I would smell that familiar MoHo smell. Familiar, comfortable, a reminder of almost ten years of happy times cozied up in that sweet little rig. Couldn’t wait to get out again after such a long hiatus.

When we left Grants Pass on Thursday morning, the skies were dark and gray, and we fully expected to be fighting rain and wind all the way. There is a big tunnel, just beyond the California state line, and as we entered the tunnel it was cloudy, and when we emerged on the other side, the skies were a brilliant blue and the sun was gorgeous. It was the strangest thing. I was driving, so didn’t get any photos, but the winding road along the Smith River was breathtaking. The canyon is deep, with incredibly steep mountains along the river, and much of the highway was darkly shadowed where the sun never gets high enough this time of year to touch the river. Then from that dark shadow we would emerge into sunlight so blinding that it was hard to see. Talk about contrast. The skies were bluebird blue all the way to Highway 101, with just a bit of cloudiness visible in the distance on the ocean horizon.

We arrived at Harris Beach State Park around 2pm, without a reservation on a mid week day. In spite of the season and the weather, most of the front row ocean view spots were already taken, but we got lucky and slipped into one of our favorite sites, A23. There were three rigs right behind us. Lots of space still available in the park, including sites with cable, so they found a home as well, just not as perfect as ours.

After visiting Judy at Harris Beach State Park in the summer of 2015, and reading her blogs about how she felt about spending that summer as a volunteer, (discussing the down side of crowded conditions and summer fog) we were glad that we were here in the off season. Suzanne of Take to the Highway, had trouble finding a spot when traveling during the summer as well and it seems that our opinion and love of Harris Beach State Park is colored by the fact that most of the time our visits have been off season, often in November, December, and early spring.

Dinner for our arrival night was already determined, “Fish and Chips!” Our little Chetco Café and Seafood place where we have enjoyed so many great fish and chip meals is now closed. Instead, in the same area of Brookings Harbor, we returned to a previous find, The Hungry Clam, which had a tremendous plate of halibut and chips. The only thing about this little spot is that they have no liquor license, so a glass of wine or beer with the chips isn’t possible. Still, it was a great meal, and the leftovers fed us for another night at the beach.

Friday morning I took a few hours to wander around Brookings, shopping at a favorite quilt shop, Keepsake Quilting, and discovering another wonderful shop called “By My Hand”. I walked away with more fabric and some yarn for knitting, always hard to resist. For me, it is all about the color and texture, and I could walk around and touch and smell yarn to my heart’s content. In the same little mall, I finally found the bakery I had read about, “Bakery by the Sea”, and bought the best six inch apple pie I have ever tasted. (That bakery was so great that I had to return this morning for another pie and some crullers. Yum!)

Another stop at a favorite local gift shop, “Feather Your Nest” yielded some goodies for my Rocky Point Ladies Luncheon Christmas table decoration that will be coming up soon. By the time I returned home, Mo and Mattie were ready for an outing.

Heading down the South Beach Trail at Harris Beach

We decided to take Mattie down the South Beach trail for some sand time. Walking toward the north instead of the south, the familiar sea stacks welcomed us back home. Everything looks much different this time of year, when the leaves are gone from the shrubs and the skies are wild and gloomy. There was still very little wind, and once again we discovered that the winds up on the bluff where the park is located are sometimes completely absent down on the beach.

After some time there, later in the day we decided to try the dog beach at Maklin Mill Beach. There is no leash law here and people love to bring their dogs for play time. Mattie was beside herself excited, and there were lots of dogs around, but this time we found no friends for her to play with. A few big dogs, with owners who kept them at a distance, and one little six month old Jack Russell who was a bit scared of Mattie’s exuberance.

Friday evening the rains started in earnest and the predicted winds were wild. I did spend a moment or two wondering about the big trees near the MoHo during those winds, but everything held and we had no problems. Something I have noticed, is that our slide awning seems to be resistant to the flapping problem that people often talk about during wind storms. We didn’t have to pull in the slide in spite of the wind.

Saturday morning was stormy and wild, and Mo and I decided that it would be fun to try to get in between the rain for a beach walk. The skies kept changing and the wind made the weather dramatic and fun instead of simply dark and boring. Instead of walking the long slope down to the main beach, we took the Tracker down so we could escape the rain if needed. Mattie was excited to be on the beach for about five minutes. No one was around, so we took her off leash. The rain started up, pelting us in the face so hard it stung, and Mattie decided that this was just plain stupid and took off back up the ramp toward the car. All the calling and coaxing couldn’t convince her that the rainy beach was a decent place to be.

She and Mo took refuge in the car while I kept walking a bit to try to get some photos of the wild surf. Taking photos in a rain storm can be a bit daunting, but I would hide behind a rock, pull the camera out from my waterproof coat for a fast shot. The weather was exhilarating! I decided then and there that I love the coast more in the winter than in the summer. Summer beaches should be Caribbean or Floridian in nature, and the Oregon Coast is always wild, summer or winter, but at least in winter it is mostly empty.

After that little weather moment, we decided to try Mill Beach once again, and surprisingly, we got a parking place right at the beach, and the wind was much less crazy than it had been back at Harris Beach. We walked for an hour and a half with Mattie off leash most of the time and no other dogs to worry about. The surf was crazy wild and gorgeous.

I included this photo for the wind effect. See how fast our flower is spinning?!

Our planned entertainment for Saturday afternoon was some time at the Lucky Seven Casino, just a bit south of the California border in Smith River. We had visited this casino a couple of times in years past, but it was quite a surprise to see all the remodeling and rebuilding that has happened since we were last there. The gaming areas are a lot bigger, and the slot machines are a lot fancier. Big things, and all 1 cent machines which we love, but the fine print is that the minimum bet on most of them was between 40 cents and a buck and more. I guess they have to pay for all the fancy new stuff.

We aren’t big gamblers, and usually I am only willing to shell out 20 bucks for some entertainment, and if things are good, maybe 40 bucks. I never plan on winning and sometimes I do, but at least I get a bit of fun for a time. This casino wasn’t that much fun, in spite of the glitz. We lasted about an hour before leaving with our free machine cappuccinos. Probably won’t have to go back there anytime soon.

Once again we were rocked all night with wind and rain, and woke to a gray Sunday. After breakfast I made another run to the wonderful bakery, open on Sunday! Home to processing photos, and writing this blog, and now as I look outside, the winds have parted the clouds. I can see the wild surf below us, and I am sure before long we will attempt to convince Mattie that walking on the beach with imminent rain isn’t as bad as she thinks.

September 21 Day 1 and 2 Off to Dublin

Catch-up posts from our trip to Ireland. Most of these posts are quite lengthy, with a lot of detail that is important only to us, or close friends and family. Feel free to cruise through at whatever speed suits your fancy. All the additional photos of the trip will be located on my SmugMug site eventually, but not just yet.

Our trip to Ireland was with Go Ahead Tours – Grand Tour of Ireland. We have used Go Ahead in the past, and it is a good value for price and content. The pace is a bit quick, but since we may not get back to Ireland with so many places in the world to visit, we would rather see a lot, even if it means a lot of moving and traveling. Much like a cruise, a tour like this is a good way to see a country for the first time, and then if you return later it is much easier to do on your own if you want, and you know where you want to be.

It is 4 in the morning here in Dublin, 8 pm back at home After an incredibly long and tiring day on airplanes and in airports, we are somehow still awake. Last night after we arrived, we were addled completely from the lack of sleep. After our welcome dinner, we fell into bed exhausted, and then woke up at ten pm. Back to sleep and then awake again at 1am. or 2 am. I don’t remember. But we are still awake. Talking, laughing, getting quiet, and one or the other of us breaks the silence with a question. “Which night is the included dinner and where is it”. Mo gets up to find the itinerary and we figure it out. Back to darkness and silence.

OK then…a few more minutes pass and one or the other of us says, “Let’s read.” “OK. Maybe I can write”. Without an easy way to blog and no way to process photos, I decided that the best way to track our days was with emails to the daughters and the very short list of friends. Temple Bar (1 of 1)

Dublin at the moment feels a lot like taking a trip to New York. They didn’t even take our passports at the desk here at the Maldron Parnell Square Hotel. The wait staff last night at dinner was Thai, with several people from several other places, and the accents were less strong than many we hear at home.

Our tour guide, for this two weeks in Ireland, is Italian, with a very strong accent. Italian, not Irish. We will see how that goes, I guess. We arrived after 6pm, with the welcome dinner at the hotel scheduled earlier, they postponed it for our arrival. We hit the room, and had 15 minutes to regroup and get back downstairs. P1050331

Couple of things we did learn however. Folks who showed up at the airport early in the day spent up to two hours waiting for the shuttle. Not a good thing. A taxi picked us up and immediately took just the two of us to the hotel. Nice driver, nice drive through a part of Dublin that I recognized from looking at the Google maps obsessively back at home when I couldn’t sleep. Other nice thing, the check in process was almost instantaneous. We met our guide, and received our keys. Only thing we had to sign was the order for what we wanted for dinner.

When we left Rocky Point yesterday morning, it was gorgeous. Perfect September weather, with dry, clear air and blue skies. By the time we got to Eugene, it was cloudy and raining. go figure. Both of us were like parents leaving a kid at daycare for the first time. Our friend, Joanne, was excited about taking care of our dog Mattie, and in true Joanne nature had our list of written instructions all printed out with red lined questions and markings to check with us. Mattie seemed just fine, pottying in the yard, barking at Joanne as expected, but deciding that with a hot dog in her hand, Joanne was a pretty cool and interesting person. She took her outside to the back yard while Mo and I disappeared out the front door.

We decided to get gas in Albany…what maybe an hour from Eugene….when I get a frantic text from Joanne, “Mattie won’t let me put her leash on. What do I do”. Seems as though Mattie would only bark at Joanne when she tried to get close. I told Joanne to let her go in her cage and then try to get the leash on her. Response back was that Mattie went in the cage, but when Joanne approached, she ran out, but still managed to get the hot dog bribe. Panic. Then a few minutes later, another text. “All is well, she let me do it”. I immediately called and Joanne said, “You guys are going to drive me crazy if you keep calling every few minutes!” Eventually Mattie just walked up to Joanne, sat down and accepted the leash without a qualm. Whew. Texts later throughout the day, and a couple of emails here to Dublin seem to indicate that all is well, Joanne and Mattie are having a great time, and Mattie could care less about he fact that we are nowhere around. Fine.

Gas was all the way down to $2.13 at the Albany Costco, so getting in and out of that place was still worth it. We made great time, the rain cleared up by the time we got to Portland, and the skies were once again blue and clear. Haven’t seen that from the Portland airport very many times. We checked in without a hitch and found the Beaches restaurant for a snack and a drink.

I could foresee that being the best food of the trip if last night’s welcome dinner is any indication. I had some kind of amazing Thai crispy breaded pork and sweet hot chili sauce and Mo had perfect taquitos. My drink, some kind of orangey marguerita was rather incredible. We had time to lounge in the bar and decide that by the time we were through our 4 hour layover in Seattle, we could have a light dinner there before boarding the plane. As we were boarding in Portland, waiting in a long line, when the agent saw our pre printed boarding passes, he said, here, go this way and don’t take off your shoes or empty anything out of your bags. My boots, purchased especially for wet cobblestone streets in rainy Ireland, still rang, however and I had to take them off, but they are easy and I was ready for it. The flight from Portland to Seattle is something like 22 minutes. Again, perfect clear skies with the volcanoes looming to the east and the Olympics and Puget Sound shining in the west. Once on the ground, we checked the reader board and..wait…what?….our plane was scheduled to begin boarding in half an hour. Somehow I had morphed a 90 minute layover into an imaginary 4 hour layover and dinner was not to happen. delta 767 seat map

Our flight is operated by Delta and KLM, and the plane was a Delta 767 with our seats almost in the very back.

We like the 767’s because they have side rows of only 2 seats across, so we can share window and aisle space without dealing with someone else next to us. Not all that huge, but at least a lot roomier than some of the flights I have been on lately. We had ten hours to go, and imagine our surprise when the drink cart came along dispensing red and white wine complimentary along with the usual teas and sodas. Yes. We even got refills of wine with our supper, which was not nearly as good as the wine.The little boxes of pasta for me and chicken for Mo were in some kind of awful sauce, and Mo’s chicken was served with some mushy overcooked veggies that actually tasted OK. I ate the veggies, and she ate my pasta, tortellini’s, which are not a favorite. Dessert was a brownie that was so thick and gummy you could hardly chew it. I was happy for our fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that I had made the day before to fill in the blanks. Finally around ten or so PST, I snuggled into the neck pillow, put my big scarf over my head, and took a sleeping pill. I don’t remember sleeping, but neither do I remember being awake that much. By 3am PST, I had jumpy legs and thought I wasn’t going to make another two hours.

We arrived in Amsterdam at 1 in the afternoon (5am to us) and it was quite gloomy out, but you could see the water and the huge windmills in the ocean to the west of the city. Amsterdam is just so incredibly clean and manicured. I commented that I doubted that there was any kind of wild country anywhere in the Netherlands. All so pristine and cared for.

The airport is a lovely one, but somehow not quite as enchanting as it was the first time I was there with Melody in 2012. I kept searching for the comfy sofas with plug-ins. We walked a lot, and did finally find the chocolate stores and the tulip kiosks, but they looked kind of drab instead of so bright and fresh as I remembered. Maybe it was because it was raining by then, and there was a lot of construction going on inside the terminals. Still, it was a pleasant wait, and with neither of us hungry after our airplane dinner (and tiny breakfast), we just relaxed after our check in and passport check. Four hours went by in a flash.

The Air Lingus Irish airline to Dublin was a bit different. All shiny new airplane, but no amenities at all, no sound plug ins, no in flight entertainment, and even a cup of coffee was available for 3 Euros. At only an hour and a half, we didn’t really care, but the quarters were tighter than the previous plane as well and we were both so tired that we kept falling asleep. Mo dropped her book with a crash, and her elbow kept falling off the armrest with a bang while I would suddenly wake choking because I had been breathing through my mouth and probably snoring.

Wasn’t all that much to see anyway. Blue ocean and lots of clouds between us and the water, with an occasional glimpse of England and the edge of Ireland as we approached the airport. What surprised both of us the most was how brown some of the landscape looked in Ireland from the air. Probably fields that were ripe, because other fields that looked like pastures were green enough, but somehow I didn’t expect to see Oregon late summer brown anywhere.

On the ground and our baggage appeared very quickly, nothing delayed, nothing lost. Lovely. Once we passed through customs, also very quick and easy, where they checked our passports, we were into the main terminal without a hitch where our Go Ahead taxi driver was waiting with a big sign on his IPad screen with our names. Lots easier than printing something, I would say. Fifteen minutes to the hotel, and as I said before, 15 minutes down to dinner. At first I was horrified, because it seemed that there were at least 80 people in the main dining room where we were to have dinner. Turns out that many of those people were with another tour of German travelers who were arriving as well.

Our group consists of 31 people, but the way that the dining room was set up, and with us arriving a bit late, we were at a table of eight. The four people who were at the other end of the table were conversing with each other, and even when I asked a question I was ignored. The young woman next to me was quite conversational however, and seemed to quite the traveler and quite brilliant. Some kind of contractor for NASA in Houston. She and the other folks had arrived early today and spent the afternoon touring the Guinness Factory, something that is obligatory when visiting Dublin. Something we are going to skip actually, in favor of our own tour of the Neolithic world heritage sites in the Boyne Valley. Ancient history and prehistory, Druids and temples all win out over beer for me!

I was a bit disappointed with the way that Go Ahead handles these welcome dinners, and this one was even worse. Unlike in the past, where there was at least a private banquet room, this was in the main dining room, quite noisy, and not at all conducive to communicating with anyone. Even though she was near us when speaking, we couldn’t hear much of what Isabella said, and had no interaction with anyone else from the group. In the past, there has been at least a rudimentary introduction so you have an idea who you are traveling with. While not especially social, I do like to have an idea and a bit of encouragement to interact in the beginning.

Dinner was just OK. We made our choices from two options, and both had a vegetable soup that was probably some kind of squash puree, the main entree of Guinness Beef Stew which was rather flat and flavorless. I make a Guinness stew sometimes for St Patrick’s day and I wish this had been half as good as mine! Dessert was excellent, however, an apple crumble pastry pie sorta thingy, that was a bit tart and really good. A couple of glasses of wine were nice along with some excellent coffee with dessert.

By the time we got back to our room, we were a bit more ready to tackle the tight quarters and try to figure out where to put stuff. The room is very nice, but in true European style, very cramped, and there are a couple of chairs, tables, and a desk that makes it impossible for us to pass each other or even get around the suitcases as we tried to unpack. No place really for the cases, so we struggled a bit with the whole thing.

We were very well and tightly packed for the airplane and transfers, but everything changes when we are in a room and getting into things differently than the way we do when flying. It didn’t help that the nifty little converter I bought to charge USB devices didn’t work on the UK part. I had no problem with the Euro part at the airport, but for some reason it refuses to work here. Sigh. Mo, thank goodness, brought her converter as well so we have one plug to charge the iPad, the iPhone, and two Mophie batteries, and oh yes, the curling iron if I want to use it. Frustrating.
I was so tired I was feeling weepy about losing my Advil baggie, but eventually I found everything, found tight spots for what I needed after realizing that the three tiny drawers are only about 6 inches to the back, and moving the suitcase holder in front of the door. Till we have to get out of it in the morning, then all will be moved around again.

We will be here at the Maldron Parnell Square – Dublin, for three nights. The WiFi in the room seems fast and is free so the phone is on airplane mode for the duration, but I can talk to people via facebook chat and email without a worry. It is now 5:11 AM. We will go down to breakfast at 7 and then leave for our extra tour of Newgrange and the Boyne Valley with Mary Gibbons Tours around 9:30. That involves walking a bit toward the famous O’Connell Street to catch the tour bus in front of the bank. Maybe I can sleep for two hours now that I have all this out of my brain on on paper so to speak.

Next: Dublin and Visiting the Boyne Valley, the Hill of Tara, and Newgrange