Rain Delay

Oct 4th

We holed up in a hotel in Eureka to sit out the rain, we searched the weather stations to find sunshine in the state of California, we even contacted our timeshare company to check on availability around the state - all to no avail :(

We are really wanting to get back to the simplicity of tenting, where boiling water and making campfires are the highlight of the day.  But tenting in the rain is just no fun, so we have to be content with some more hotel time - at least it will be in a very beautiful little town with a huge New England feel.

Mendocino, California

Settled by New Englanders in the 1850's this town is now an artisans utopia.  But even more important (at least to me) is the fact that it is "Cabot Cove" of Murder She Wrote fame.  Any of you who watched that show as faithfully as I did will recognize Jessica's (aka Angela Lansbury) house:

Amazing, eh??  I was soooo excited to find it.  Not that it took much effort - it is now a B&B, the Blair House.  I absolutely loved the show and was tinkled pink to find myself right there - right at the scene of the crime!  I could practically feel Jessica and Amos at my side  :)

And as with my previous posts, I'll the you decide for yourself on the magnificence of this beautiful section of the coast:

Notice the blue sky??  and the reflection of the sun on the waves???  Oh yes - we did find some sunshine.  Day one in Mendocino was pretty wet (nasty actually):

Day two was partly cloudy with occasional showers and DAY THREE????  Clear skies - yeaaaaaaaa!  It made a very special place absolutely amazing!!  More details on the Stanford Inn to come.

Sea to Tree

Oct 1 - Our travel from the Coos Bay area down along the coast to Eureka, California was uneventful, and I won't bore you with any of the tons of pictures taken of the beautiful coast.  The California coast is under the same horrible weather pattern the Oregon coast was - so we're back to Best Western Land.  While Guinness seemed to enjoy his tent naps:

they're nothing compared to his Best Western naps:

On Sunday, while Dave got his football fix, Guinness and I went to the Samoa Dunes for some more beach time.  At one end of the beach, surfers have their way with the waves, at the other the 4-wheelers have their way with the dunes.  And in between, just sand and sea!

And now for something completely different ...  trees

Oct 3 - On the agenda for today, the Avenue of the Giants, a "world famous scenic" 31 mile drive that parallels Hwy 101 and contains 51,222 acres of redwood groves.  Humboldt Redwoods State Park, which surrounds the Avenue of Giants has the largest stand of virgin redwoods in the world - truly amazing!!!

You can drive past them:

you can drive through them:

you can look up at them:

you can stay dry in them:

but you can't get your arms around them (some of them):

or across them:

Truly amazing!!!

Tomorrow: Mendocino, Cal

Shore Acres State Park

Shore Acres State Park is just a mile from Sunset Bay.  Even though it was pouring rain, Dave indulged me by scooting in to take a peek - were we ever glad we did!!

There was everything in there from rugged coastline

to a botanical garden:

and even some wildlife:

a great detour, and now on to Eureka

Coos Bay/Sunset Bay State Park

After our amazing stay at Crater Lake, we were anxious to get back to the coast - our destination, Coos Bay.  The drive was about 6 hours, and Guinness & I thawed out at about hour 3 (Dave seemed completely unaffected by the rather cool temps).  After the rather chilly night at Crater Lake, we decided a night in a hotel was appropriate. We again holed up in a Best Western - Dave was able to get the car serviced, and I was able to get a much needed haircut.  We had a fantastic German meal (that's for you Christina) and prepared to get back into the tent.

Dee and Garth recommended the Sunset Bay State Park, so off we went (only about 40 min drive from Coos Bay).  The long range forecast was not looking good - but the next 2 days seem to be okay.  It was mid-week and we think folks may have been scared off by the weather - so we really had our pick of the campsites.  Found a HUGE site with an equally HUGE tree (which would later become very important as the precipitation eventually commenced, exactly as forecast).

Here's the Bay:

Our first night was dry and uneventful - night two, slightly different.  But do not despair!!  A quick trip to Walmart for a $39 purchase, and moving the tent under the HUGE tree made all the difference in the world:

The drizzle did not interfere at all with our fun, and we proceeded with the plan for fajita night:

We both enjoyed hearing the pitter patter of raindrops on the tent during the night - the pack up in the morning was not quite as enjoyable.  (sorry for the fuzzy picture, but I thought it was worth posting)

 

Next stop: Eureka, California

See you there!!  xoxo

Nancyville

Hello everyone,

I seem to have a ton of time on my hands these days - what with long car rides, afternoon naps in the tent and walks along beautiful beaches.  I've been very productive with this "down time" -  I've decided it's time to create my own camping village.  It will be called Nancyville.

I have yet to acquire the land, or even decide where Nancyville will be located, but I have cleared a major hurdle - establishing the campground guidelines.  They are, in no particular order:

The owners guarantee:

• that all sites will be grass, not sand or dirt;
• that there will be no charge for showers, and there will be no limits on the time/amount of hot water;
• laundry facilities and shaded kennel sites will be provided at the campground;
• that the two largest RV pads will be converted to gardens - one for organically grown veggies, the other for greens;

In return, all campers will abide by the following:

• Men may wear anything they want to the shower - with the exception of bathrobes (gents, no matter how "hot" you are, you do not look good in a bathrobe.)  What you do in your tent/RV is your business, but the use of bathrobes otherwise is banned in Nancyville;
• Dogs who bark before 7am will be driven 1 mile from the campground and must find their own way back to the campground unassisted - the same applies for screaming children.  If this does not resolve the problem family members of said dogs/children will be ejected from the campground;
• The larger the RV, the higher the campground fee - those in two person tents or less, camp for free;
• Anyone whose car alarm goes off between the hours of 10pm and 7am shall sit in a wire cage constructed for that purpose for 2 hours.  The guilty may choose which two hours they "sit", but it must be during daylight hours so that those campers who sat bolt upright in the middle of the night can be certain of the identity of the guilty party;
• Anyone travelling in a RV with a satellite dish will tend the aforementioned gardens and CAC (car alarm cage).  They will be assisted by any man caught wearing a bathrobe to the shower.  Upon completion of their chores, they may watch one hour of Dora The Explorer.

The owners (me ;) reserve the right to post further guidelines as the need for same arises.

Anyone wanting to book a spot for 2012 may do so at www.pleaseletmestayatnancyville.ca

Crater Lake National Park

Some things simply defy description, and Crater Lake certainly fits in that category.  As a picture is worth a 1000 words, I'll let you judge for yourselves:

"The beauty and intense blue of Crater Lake have awed people for generations.  Five miles wide and ringed by cliffs almost 2000 ft high, the lake rests in the shatter remnants of a volcano called Mt. Mazama, which erupted and collapsed into itself 7700 years ago.  Later eruptions formed Wizard Island [viewed in the second picture].  At 1943 ft deep, it is the deepest lake in the United States and one of the deepest in the world."

The drive around the rim of the lake is 22 miles long - we saw many  bikers taking the challenge, a few runners, and even one walker!

Of course, we had to hike to the lake - Cleetwood Cove Trail was 1.1 mile each way, taking us down 700 feet.  It was well worth the effort!!!

This amazing volcano offers unique scenery beyond the crystal blue waters of the lake.  I speak of The Pinnacles.  Formations caused by hot gasses escaping through fumaroles.  These structures are becoming further defined by erosion - some of them are over 100 feet tall.  Truly amazing!!

Next stop: Coos Bay, Oregon
See you there!! 

Lost Creek Campground

September 26 - once again the weather is not looking good along the coast, so once again we head inland, chasing the sun.  Today we left the shores for Crater Lake National Park.  Our drive is approx 6 hrs, slightly prolonged by some road construction.  When we finally arrived at the registration booth we were somewhat surprised to learn that the main campground was closed for the season, as they prepare for snow at this time of year - seriously??!!??

Thankfully, there is another campground, but it only has 13 sites!!!

So now our new real-life example of assertion (borderline aggression) is Nancy directing Dave past other cars, practically through trees and strategically placed guard rails to get the last of the campsites at Lost Creek Campground.  Due to the newness of our vehicle, "site grabbing" is not a full contact sport, but it's close (unlike getting the last washer at the Laundromat, where it's "game on"!!!).

Some more pictures of campground life:

Lumberjack Dave

Pyromaniac Nancy

Guinness the Brave (trying to ignore the campfire)

... and speaking of brave - I would like it on the record that we woke up yesterday morning to minus 1 C / 30 F - BELOW FRIKKIN FREEZING!!!!  Poor Guinness - he's not used to breaking through ice to get to his water.

I am now the Camping Queen (self appointed, of course).

Sand Dunes on Steroids

Florence, Oregon: " With 10 miles of uninterrupted beaches, quaint local shopping, scrumptious dining, and plenty of family activities, your Florence Oregon vacation is sure to be unforgettable."

We knew we wanted to "pull up" here as this is the start of the most amazing dunes area of Oregon.  And I mean dunes!!!  I grew up with sand dunes and most of my activities in said dunes will remain un-identified.  But these dunes go beyond anything I have ever experienced - people snowboard on them; go 4-wheelin' on them, and who knows what else on them?

These pictures can't begin to do justice to the height of these things!!  I have tried to show proximity by including objects to compare with, but they just look far away - they don't capture the height of the dunes.  Off in the distance, you can see our vehicle:

so just enjoy the beauty:

the sand boarding:

and the 4 wheelin'

Tomorrow: headed inland to follow the sun

Destination: Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the USA (just under 2000 feet deep! Slightly deeper is Great Slave Lake, NWT at 2015ft  - yea Canada!!)

Rain in the forecast

September 24th:  Another thing we have learned - local businesses post WiFi "hotspots" signs prominently in their front windows.  And because the weather plays such a prominent role in the success of this trip (Nancy hates being wet/cold, and if Nancy ain't happy - no one happy!), we've taken to pulling in to the parking lot of these businesses and checking the weather.

It's not looking good for the next three days - in fact, the rain is supposed to start tonight - uggghhhh!

After a very quick consultation, we decide it might make good sense to head to a hotel tonight - spend Sunday there (see previous post about Dave needing to be in front of the TV for NFL Sunday).  Although we were pretty tired from our crabbin' adventure, we agreed it made sense to get things packed up and into the car, rather than take the chance of getting soaked overnight.  Our destination - Florence/Dune City.

Tonight's sunset/sand dunes pictures were taken from the car:

Need I say more??!!??

Crabbin'

Sept 24th

OMG!!!  What an amazing day!  The weather was perfect and we were at the bait shop at about 8:30.  We knew it would be a busy day on the dock - combo of it being a weekend day + and high tide at 12 noon (we are now experienced crabbers and know that it's best to fish "into the high tide" and if you time it so that your bait (mink carcus) is thawed and showing its guts at that time, you're destined for success).

So: Rental for one crab ring - $10; an Oregon State Crab License - $12; frozen mink carcus - $3; a measure thingie $2 - good to go!!  I was sooooo excited - we had our camp chairs, and our little red cooler to safely confine our catch (it was with great angst that Dave removed all our cold beer from the cooler that morning - not at all convinced that we could ever catch enough crab to justify warm beer!). 

So - females get thrown back (damn!) and males have to be a certain size (damn!) - could be discouraging, as the basket was often quite full, but most of the catch had to be thrown back.  What became the most fun of all?  Every time anyone pulled up their net, everyone else gathered around to see what they had, and what they got to keep.  You only pull up every 20-30 minutes, and I thought I'd have plenty of time to read my book ...  but between pulling our own trap, and joining in while all our dock neighbours pulled their traps - we didn't barely have a minute to call our own :)

So - we ended up with 5 beautiful Dungeness Crabs and sunburnt faces - all in all - PRICELESS

And after a full morning of crabbin' a fella gets a big of a hunger on - what better to eat than freshly smoked ribs, pulled pork or chicken:

After a very full day, the fruits of our labour: