ocean – Page 2 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Final days on the Oregon Coast

Even though we arrived home Sunday night, May 8th, soil survey work was the priority this week and blog updates were a bit lower on the list. After seeing the blip in blogger, I was just as glad I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to update! The other BIG priority was completing our work on the greenhouse, but more about that on another post.

Thought I would mention SmugMug. I saw the website on E-Squared and Mui’s blog in addition to Froggi Donna’s blog, and decided to check it out. I have used Picasa for all its handy features, but with the volume of photos that I take and upload, I still have to pay a fee for storage. The SmugMug site isn’t free, but it IS delightful, and after perusing it a bit, I decided to go for it. Eventually I will manage to upload all my past photos to the site, and that takes time on a satellite connection, but for now, at least all my current photos are there. One of the things I love most about SmugMug vs. Picasa is the ability to organize photos into categories and subcategories, which makes for much easier viewing. Here is an example: a link to the set of galleries that are from our recent Oregon Coast Trip.

Of course, the other major feature available with SmugMug is the ability to store all your photos at the original resolution, and to download them again at that resolution with no charge. I learned about this once the hard way, losing some photos and going back to Shutterfly (which I used prior to Picasa) to retrieve them, only to find I had to pay for a shipped CD to get full resolution. SmugMug is a great backup, for a fee of course, but worth it in my opinion.

After four gorgeous sunny days in the Brookings “Banana Belt”, we drove north to South Beach State Park just south of Newport to spend a couple of days camping with Mo’s brother, Dan and wife Chere. They traveled from Beaver Creek Oregon to spend some time at their favorite beach park. Even though the water is actually half a mile from the campground, I can see why Dan likes it. He has two big dogs who need lots of space, and there are miles of lovely trails and open space where he can run the dogs each day. Chere loves the cozy comfort of the motorhome and a great book, so it’s perfect for them. It was wonderful to see Dan looking so healthy and happy, since just last fall he scared all of us with a bout with throat cancer. Pretty amazing how he came through the surgery and radiation, and according to all the reports, he is back good as new. He is getting back his sense of taste, and looks wonderful. Of course, there will be periodic checks in his future, but the worst is over.

We enjoyed the morning walks with all the dogs, and the hike to the beach was nice, even though it was cloudy, and quite windy. The two days went by quickly with long afternoon campfires, spurts of rain, and bits of blue emerging from the clouds now and then. We shared dinners and breakfasts and on Saturday evening trundled off to Newport to explore the Old Town area, find some fudge and some gorgeous coastal art, and check out the harbor sea lions.

I hadn’t heard that NOAA “National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration”, decided to move to Newport. Dan showed us the new site under construction. What a loss for Seattle and what a huge boon to the town of Newport. The new site is just inside the harbor beyond the famous Newport bridge, and very close to the open ocean. In Seattle, the facility was many miles from open sea on Puget Sound. We talked about what a difference Newport will be for the 175 families relocating there. Some may love it and others may have a hard time with the isolation of the Oregon Coast after all the amenities of a big city like Seattle.

We left South Beach early Sunday morning, deciding on the route east from Florence directly to Eugene. I love Florence, which has an actual downtown, a beautiful kayakable harbor and estuaries, and beautiful surroundings. We had a spontaneous Mom’s Day breakfast at a comfy little local restaurant before traveling the easy route east. Florence isn’t as warm as Brookings, but the convenience to Eugene was impressive. We put Florence on the “possibility” list for our nine-years-out relocation to a less snowy place! Who knows, magic happens and wherever we should be will show up when the time is right, I am sure.

On the way home, we decided to detour north a bit to La Pine and visit Mo’s other brother Roger and wife Nancy. Roger was recuperating from back surgery just three days prior, and was in amazing shape considering he was barely out of the hospital. After a great visit, we traveled the last leg of our trip south and home. It’s always amazing to me as we cross the Wood River Valley west of Chiloquin to see the massive green slopes of the Cascades rise above the rich valley. The sun was setting between the clouds and the mountain crest creating a brilliant backlight to the shadowy clouds. As always, it was good to be home, knowing that part of my family is close by in town.

We drove about 700 miles and this time our costs averaged about $89 per day. We never paid more than $4.00 per gallon for gasoline, and found that Florence actually had the cheapest gas at 3.79 pg at the local Fred Meyer’s. State Parks in Oregon are certainly cheaper than California, with our partial hookup (water and electric with cable at Harris Beach) sites costing 27.00 per night and an $8.00 reservation fee for each park. Both parks had on-site dump stations. We only ate out twice along the way, not wanting to miss fish and chips on the coast or a Mom’s Day breakfast that I didn’t have to cook. It seems that travel for us manages to average out somewhere around 70 to 120 per day, whether we are cruising around in the motorhome or on a ship. I know that motorhome travel can be much more thrifty if you boondock more and move around less, but so far, we have wanted to enjoy our trips without having to manage our travels around the most thrifty options. I am sure if we were full-timing, the choices would be far different.

Baptism in the Winchuck River

(The rest of the photos for this day are HERE on my SmugMug site)

As I mentioned previously, Brookings is in a sort of “Banana Belt”. Most of the Oregon Coast is chilly and windy much of the year. There are often beautiful days with sunny skies in the fall, and sometimes when it is least expected. Those clear warm fog free days happen more often in Brookings than farther north, and even more than in Crescent City to the south in California. The rainfall here is around 74 inches a year, with precipitation falling on 150 days. I am comparing notes and paying attention because while we were at Fred Meyer the other day, Mo just happened to throw out the thought that Brookings might be a nice place to live.

The original plan when Mo built her house was to live there ten years or so and then move on to something smaller and more manageable, perhaps a condo in a place where there was no winter snow. She chose Brookings once, and having lived on the California coast for more than 25 years, the chilly fogs don’t bother her in the least. I, on the other hand, am a sun worshiper. I need light and warmth. I often think I could live in Florida. I love green and flowers and plants. Brookings right now is filled with green and flowers, and it looks terribly tempting.

Thank goodness a decision isn’t imminent. Mo has lived in the big house at Rocky Point for almost nine years now, and the “ten years” has evolved. So many things to love about Rocky Point, and Mo’s home is lovely, with her assistance throughout the building process, it is a very personal space. The large beam in the living room and much of the woodwork came from huge Douglas firs milled right there on the property. So now the plan is 2020. Instead of a certain number of years, we picked a date. Arbitrary to be sure, but in our 80’s, the thought of shoveling snow isn’t a good one. So, again, somewhere in Southern Oregon, but it could be just about anywhere. It’s kind of exciting to have this change out there in the future, something fun to think about and now I look at Brookings in a completely different way.

Yesterday was one of those gorgeous, sunny days, with temperatures climbing into the 60’s. We hiked a couple of the trails in the park, first to the Harris Butte, and then again down to the beach in the early morning sunshine. It was a perfect day for our plan to get the kayaks in the water. We have a copy of the “Canoe and Kayak Guide” for Oregon South Coast, covering the sloughs and rivers from Newport to the California border. Our choice for yesterday was the Winchuck River, a smaller river near the southern border with an outlet to the ocean. The guide warned of low water, but this time of year we thought things would be in good shape. The suggestion was to launch before high tide, paddle upriver till the tide shift, and then follow the tide back to the launch site near the ocean.

The launch was lovely, on a sandy beach with shallow water that deepened quickly. We paddled upstream under the Highway 101 bridge and followed the river along the farmlands and river homes along the way. Even this close to the ocean, the water was really shallow, with some gravel bars and areas that were less than 4 inches deep. We managed to get through it without grounding, a good test of the new kayaks, but then as we reached some very shallow riffles the current got very strong as the river made what looked like a gentle drop.

I think we paddled for a good 20 minutes, going absolutely nowhere, before we decided to get out and portage the riffles along the rocky beach. We thought if we could get around the riffles, we could continue upriver a bit more. I held Mo’s boat in the strong current while she got back in with Abby, and then attempted to launch into the current myself. I thought of my friend Jeanne, a whitewater kayaker who launches her tiny shoe kayak off rocks and over waterfalls. I, on the other hand, couldn’t manage getting into my boat in a simple fast current. I must have hit the current sideways, or still wasn’t balanced in the middle, and over I went into the very cold water. Even though it was only a couple of feet deep, the current was incredibly strong, and it took every bit of strength I had to hold on to my boat and paddle to keep it from going downriver. Our cockpits are large, open things, and even if we had skirts on, these aren’t the kind of kayaks that you roll over and back up in deep water. Instead, my cockpit filled with water, and my boat banged on the rocky bottom until I could get it hauled up on shore and dump all the water out.

I’m glad it wasn’t terribly cold out, with sunny skies, and I again remembered some kayaking advice, “Dress for the water, not the weather”. Of course, I probably won’t ever do that, since a wet suit seems to be a huge pain in the neck, and I like easy fun comfortable kayaking. It definitely taught me another lesson, though. I saw just how easy it is to roll over in a kayak. In all our years of boating, this has never happened to me, and I get cocky and sometimes don’t wear my lifejacket. I had it on yesterday, since I usually do wear it in unknown water, but now I will wear it all the time, even in gentle Recreation Creek. Good lesson. I didn’t need it yesterday, but I could have.

Amazingly, I had the camera around my neck and inside the jacket and it didn’t get wet. The water and 2 bottles of beer were safely stashed inside the closed hull with wallets in a dry bag so all was well. Once back in the boat, we decided it might be time to go back downstream. Paddling up, I don’t think we really realized how strong the current actually was. In no time at all we were back at the launch site, floating easily and quickly by all those cute little river houses out to the sea.

We also read about the danger zone where a river meets the sea, and now instead of heading into the waves to play, we stayed back cautiously. Again I think of Jeanne, who reads my blog faithfully, who will probably laugh at my caution. Jeanne climbs mountains in Nepal, jumps off waterfalls in Costa Rica and skis down back country cliffs in wild British Columbia. I love watching her adventures, but I have no plans to ever try any of those things. In fact, yesterday looking at the surf, I wondered out loud how people manage to take kayaks out there. I think true sea kayaks are more nimble creatures than our comfortable, big cockpit, wide, stable boats. Maybe someday I’ll go take a surf lesson on a warm day with an instructor. Maybe.

We saw no sign of the recent tsunami damage at Brookings Harbor

We didn’t get back to camp till 4 or so, and after a very late lunch of egg salad, we both fell into a weary nap. The evening was long and warm, and a bit later Mo built a great campfire that we enjoyed long into the dark night. There wasn’t a bit of wind and the fire felt wonderful. It is nice that in this state park, campfires are allowed, but don’t plan to bring any firewood from any other area. It’s called “Burn it Where You Buy It”, and is important to keep beetles and other pests from traveling from one place to another. The California check station now asks specifically if you are carrying firewood as well as certain kinds of produce.

Off to Brookings on May 2

That is Mo’s old condo over on the cliff across from our campsite at Harris Beach

The trip to Brookings is a familiar one. I didn’t even plug in Garmin Girl to show us the way. The route is the fastest way to get to ocean from where we live, less than 200 miles, and we know it well. Over 140 to Medford, north on I-5 to Grants Pass, then west on the beautiful Highway 199 toward Crescent City in California before turning north on 101. After meandering through the pastoral Illinois Valley, the road descends along the wild and winding Smith River and is designated a Scenic Highway for many miles. The route passes the magnificent Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park a few miles east of Crescent City, but we had other fish to fry and just passed through. Even with a few errands to run in Medford, our 10 am departure dropped us into Brookings by 2:30 in the afternoon.

We had reservations at Harris Beach, not wanting to take any chances, but they really weren’t necessary. While the front A loop with ocean views was all full, the rest of the park was very nearly empty. Our site was perfect. Just one space in from the view sites with a lot more privacy, and I can see a “peep” of the ocean from the bedroom window. It’s quite enough, and the big open private site is lovely. After settling in and setting up, we took the baby car to town to look around a bit and see how much has changed since Mo sold her condo a few years ago. The condos look just fine, with new paint, and only one for sale. Surprisingly, the prices are only about 25 percent less than they were in 2006.

We drove up to Azalea Park, a special pride of Brookings. Even though we have been here many times, I haven’t seen the rhodies in bloom the way there were on Monday afternoon. The park is lovely, and a special treat is a small chapel that seems to be some kind of memorial, with a view of the ocean in the distance. It was closed when we were there, but the architecture is amazing, even from the outside, with soaring windows, and glass and wood and metal woven together in a magical work of art.

Brookings is a great little town, in what is called the “banana belt” of the Oregon Coast. When we arrived on Monday, there was just a bit of residual cloudiness in the skies, but by the time the sun set, it was beautifully clear. After a stop at the very large Fred Meyer store for some minor supplies (chips!) we settled in to a beautiful sunny evening.

We took Abby for a walk on the beach, and I took way too many photos of breaking waves. I always think I will delete most of them, but then I have a terrible time with that cutting knife. I like first one, then the next, then another, and before you know it, I have a dozen photos of the same rocks with a different wave breaking just a little bit differently than the first. ah well. It’s digital, and doesn’t hurt anyone but me when I try to organize my photos and make sure I have enough storage for all of them.

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Mo built a great campfire and I heated up leftover turkey pie brought from home for supper. Jeremy joined us outdoors to explore the campsite, (on his leash of course). Even though it was 8pm and the sun was shining, the breeze came up and I had to give up and go inside before the fire was all the way down. With cable tv for an extra buck, we enjoyed an episode of Dancing with the Stars before falling into a great night’s sleep. I do think I probably missed about half the show, since I was all worn out with the fresh air and relaxation. Amazing how relaxing can wear one out, isn’t it. Of course, I took many photos, so if you want to see lots of flowers and rocky Oregon coast, click here. Oregon Coast Day 1 (67)

The Sonoma Coast and the Russian River

We wakened to a bit of fog this morning, but the rain had stopped and by 9 most of the fog was gone as well. Once again the weather was with us. Today we planned to kayak the Russian River, starting at Jenner on the ocean and paddling upstream with the tide until noon or so before turning with the tide and going back down to the ocean.

The route to Jenner along Highway 118 follows the river and passes the eclectic town of Guerneville along the way. The road is narrow and thick with trees, so dark that the street lights were still on at ten in the morning. We didn’t stop at Guerneville, in spite of the cute little shops there, the river was calling. Once at the launch site at the Sonoma Coast State Information Center our plans came to a screeching halt. The wind coming upriver from the ocean was cold and stiff, and I really didn’t want to spend my day cold and stiff as well.

Instead, we drove on north through Jenner, toward Fort Ross, a Russian settlement with an amazing history, and the magnificent views of the ocean along this part of Highway 1. The skies were clear and the ocean was gorgeous. We stopped for a hot cappuccino and a decadent muffin at the Timber Cove Lodge overlooking the bluffs. At Salt Point State Park we walked the trails out to the surf with Abby. Continuing north we checked out the state park campgrounds along the way. They were completely empty, and no wonder since there are no amenities except wild ocean, and the charge is a flat 35 dollars per night. Gerstle Cove campground was beautiful, with sites that were level enough to be manageable, but we would have to really want a view of the ocean to maneuver Highway 1 for all those miles to end up with something close to boondocking for 35 bucks. I don’t remember State Park fees in California being this high before. Maybe they have raised the rates to help out the bankrupt state, but if no one is in them, it isn’t going to help much. More photos of the Sonoma Coast are linked here.

When we got back to Jenner and the Russian River, the skies were still clear, and once inland at the Highway 1 bridge south, the winds seemed much calmer. We took the old dirt road on the south side of the river leading to Willow Creek State Park, closed to camping, but with a path leading to a wide rocky beach perfect for a river launch.

By the time we got on the river it was nearly 3, but that gave us enough time to paddle upriver about 2 miles before we turned back. The high tide was supposed to max out at 12:00 or so today, but it seems that sometimes the river mouth closes off and slows the outgoing tide. Paddling upstream was effortless, with calm still water and very little wind. Again, we saw cormorants and several kinds of ducks, and I watched a great egret fishing intently along a gravel bar.

The reflections of the surrounding hills on the silky water were mesmerizing. It turned out to be a perfect day of ocean and river and we got to do it all. More photos of the Russian River are linked here.

Traveling from Fort Bragg to the Russian River

When we left Fort Bragg yesterday, it was raining hard. Our route followed Highway 1 along the coast for several miles before we turned inland at the Navarre River on Highway 128. Gasoline was just 2.99 a gallon on the south end of Fort Bragg, so we put another 75 in the MoHo and hooked up the baby car right there in the gas station. We are both amazed at how quickly we can hook up that car. The Stow Master hitch works great if we hit it every now and then with a bit of silicone. I can just slide it onto the ball without any effort at all.

I checked our route on Google Maps, on the iPhone, and with Garmin Girl, all set for the fastest, not the shortest route. I didn’t say anything about avoiding highways. All three of them sent us over 128, but not a single one gave us a clue what we were in for. The first part of the road was narrow, following the Navarre River through huge old redwood forests, damp and dark in the misty rain. After a few miles we emerged into the Anderson Valley, and official wine country. Picturesque small towns dotted the landscape every few miles and even in the rain the vineyards were beautiful in their fall colors.

Once we began ascending the mountains of the coast range however, the road got more and more narrow, and more winding even than Highway 1 was a few days ago. The last five miles before we reached 101 were probably the most harrowing so far on this trip. Mo handled it with aplomb, I wore my wristbands, and Jeremy only got sick once.

If we had known the route was this bad, we would have taken the more direct route straight south on Highway 1 along the coastline all the way to Jenner. Ah well, neither of us had been on this route before, so it was ok. Of course, Garmin Girl was still programmed for “shortest route”, so she took us along the even rougher “Westside Road” to get us into Forestville rather than going farther south on 101 and taking a major road back west. By the time we got to the campground in the dark pouring rain, Mo’s opinion of Garmin Girl was diminishing.

This trip was an opportunity for us to check out as many Camp Club USA parks as possible, and we only came this far south to try out this park. The web site looks great, but if you look at Street View on Google, it’s another story entirely. When we arrived at the River Bend RV Resort, the office was closed (it was barely 2 in the afternoon) and there were some very vague instructions about “finding a site”. We had a reservation, and had no clue where to go because the park is very tight, convoluted, and completely full of old trailers, rv’s, campers, all surrounded by old cars and trucks.

While I stood around looking helpless, the owner showed up saying, “Oh, I was just making a map for you”. He charged me the half price fee of 24 bucks a day, and then said, “Wi-Fi is free for one hour a day, otherwise there is a 6.00 charge” . What?? It didn’t say THAT on the internet. He proceeded to give me a huge spiel about the high cost of real estate in Sonoma County and how he didn’t let anyone else stay in his park for a measly 24.00, and didn’t I realize that there were 150 wineries within a fifteen minute drive and he wasn’t about to pay for free Wi-Fi for people who just abused it by downloading movies. Hmmm. It was also interesting reading the “rules”. My favorite was the one warning about going in the river intoxicated, and another one referred to no loud partying after 10PM. Interesting clientele, I think.

Our site was right on the river, a bit away from all the permanent residents, so that was a relief. I think we are the only people in the park who aren’t permanent. I decided to do some laundry, going back and forth in the rain, dealing with the dryers that quit when the power went out from all the rain, but of course the timers didn’t quit and I lost 4 bucks. Froggi Donna, another blogger, asked recently what we love and what we hate about RV’ing and last night I through that what I dislike most is the dang laundry thing.

I decided to read the “101 Things to Do Sonoma” for some ideas about the area. Unlike the Mendocino publication which was full of great information, this one had page after page of wineries and restaurants. I guess if you are in Sonoma, you are supposed to go wine tasting and then eat. Ha. Mo and I both love wine, but the wine tasting thing sometimes just seems way too expensive and pretentious for either of us. I’d rather go kayaking and buy my wine at Trader Joe’s or Costco. Maybe a nice wine tour would be a fun thing to do another time, but not this time.

We settled in after supper and listened to the hard rain, drowning out most of the heavy traffic noise from the highway nearby.