Beautiful Phoenix

We left Palm Springs on Monday, November 24th at approximately 10:00 a.m. I was sad to leave, as we really enjoyed it there. It’s a nice size – not a crazy city, there are great amenities, and the place is beautiful. But on to our next stop of Mesa, Arizona.

Our route took us along the I-10 in into the desert. We crossed the sparkling Colorado River at 11:50 a.m. into Arizona, where we had our first cactus sighting, and amazing views of the desert hills.

As we were trying to make time, we didn’t stop at Quartzite, which is supposed to be quite an interesting area. Next time!

We arrived at our RV Park, the Monte Vista, at approximately 4:00 p.m. This is a really nice park – many high end park models, including a number with balconies above their carport. Great idea, and one that we’d love to incorporate at our lot back home in Carefree.

The amenities are amazing. They have a ‘ballroom/stage/dance hall’ the size of the Alumni Centre in Olds. There are two beautiful pools, a huge hot tub, TONS of tennis courts, and every imaginable activity you could want. Everyone is extremely friendly here as well.

After getting ourselves settled, we discovered that our neighbours across the road are acquaintances from home – Erlin and Marlys Kaiser. We met our buddies Rod & Wendy, who had been in Mesa since Friday, and had supper with them and another friend from home, Janet, at a local brew pub.

Tuesday we were up and out the door for a morning run around the park and surrounding area. We were invited to Janet and Granite’s house for a party that evening, which was great. They have a house in Mesa, and we enjoyed sitting outside around a fire late into the evening.

On Wednesday the weather was forecast to take a turn from the worst, and it lived up to the promise. Things cooled off considerably, and we had rain off and on that day. What to do when it’s raining? Why shop of course! We headed off to the Arizona Mills outlet mall and scoped out some bargains for the better part of the day, then hit the hot tub and pool in the evening.

Thursday, we were up and out for another morning run, and explored a little in the neighborhoods surrounding the RV Park. As it was American Thanksgiving and virtually all the stores were closed, we decided to take a drive with Rod and Wendy to the Queen Creek area to check out the real estate situation.

It turned out to be a nicer area than I had anticipated. We found a few interesting homes for sale, and planned to contact realtors to see what pricing is like, and in particular, the status of foreclosed/bank owned properties.

Rod and Wendy joined us for a barbeque that night, where we were treated to a spectacular storm. Thunder, lighting, and a downpour of the likes I have never seen before! We had rivers of water running down the streets. After the ‘light show’, we played cards into the wee hours of the morning.

Friday we had a golf game booked at ‘The Links’ golf course in Queen Creek. We had booked a tee time the night before via the internet for a steal of a deal - $29/person including cart!

The course was fine, with the exception of the greens on holes 1 and 9, which the marshall had warned us about.

When we first arrived at the resort, we parked our trailer in the storage compound, and were surprised to see boats being stored there. Turns out that there is a lake not too far away from us. Of course we had to go see firsthand what a desert lake looks like!

Terry’s sister Judy, her hubby Joel and their daughter Kelly, along with grandkids Louis and Lauren had flown into Phoenix Friday night, and were staying for a week at Joel’s brother ‘s (John & Carol Thompson) house in Scottsdale.

John and Carol had graciously invited all of us for turkey dinner at their new home. So we combined a drive to Saguaro Lake with our trip to Scottsdale.

Saguaro Lake is 41 miles from downtown Phoenix, and is a long, narrow and winding lake created by the construction of Stewart Mountain Dam (Salt River).

What a beautiful lake! It is so different from any lakes back home. Had we had more time, we would have made arrangements to take the boat tour out of the marina so we could see more of the lake.

John and Carol’s house was incredible. They live in a gated community set deep in the hills north and east of Scottsdale. We sat outside and watched the amazing sunset, and had a great dinner and visit.

Sunday, up and out for our last run here. We decided to take advantage of the sunshine, so hung out poolside for the afternoon. We’re leaving for Las Vegas tomorrow, so packed up as much as we could in anticipation of an early morning tomorrow.

We're staying in Vegas for 6 days, and I'm sure they'll be long ones!

Update on Life in Indio

10 days since my last posting!

Life has been good here. The weather has been one series of perfect day after another, with temperatures in the mid-80’s, and clear blue skies. Hot enough to be in shorts and t-shirts all day and enjoy a refreshing dip in the swimming pool, yet cool enough at night to appreciate the hot tub.

As they say, time flies when you are having fun! To bring you up to date on our activities:

We golfed the Indian Springs Golf Resort one day, and were joined by a very nice couple, Don and Marilyn, from Seattle. The course was fantastic – beautiful shape and lovely. It was hot, hot, hot that day. But sorry, no pictures.

On Saturday, the 15th, we went to the Spotlight 29 Casino and sat through the ‘Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band’ concert. Not bad – a lot of ‘hawaiian music’ peppered with the occasional Fleetwood Mac hit. The show ended early, so we each took our obligatory $20 and went our separate ways on the gambling floor. The stars must have been aligned perfectly that night – I won $85!! I scrambled around to find Terry (who had promptly blown his $20), and we left with my winnings in hand.

We golfed the municipal golf course Monday afternoon – a par 3 executive and only $20/person.

Excellent value and a great way to practice your irons game.

On Monday night we were surprised to hear a knock on our door and to see our friends from Vernon, Jan and Norm. They were parked at the same resort for one night, but moving to another park the next day.

On Tuesday, I hiked the Morrow Trail with three other folks from our RV park. The Morrow Trail is located on the west side of Lake Cahuilla in La Quinta, and follows the edge of the golf course at The Quarry (a posh residential area with a very, very private golf course that appeared to never be used, but manicured to a level I’d never seen before). We hiked through a valley and then up along the scenic cavern walls. It was great.

On Wednesday, Terry and I drove to L.A. What a contrast to Palm Springs – unbelievable traffic, and smog - no blue sky there!

I had booked tickets for us to sit in as audience members at the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. We had to be at the CBS Studios no later than 3:30 p.m., so we first drove there to make sure we could scope out parking. With time to kill before the show, we drove to Rodeo Drive and toured.

On to the Late, Late Show. The studio seats only 113 people, so it was very up close and personal. We were first treated to two songs performed by the British singer Adele. She is an amazing singer. Craig Ferguson is great – he has the best monologue in the business, and was really quite a nice guy. We even lucked out and had a ‘bonus’ session with Larry the Cable guy as a guest. We met Larry after the show and he was really friendly and down-to-earth. All in all it was a great experience.

Our good buddies Wendy and Rod Wiebe flew into Palm Springs on Tuesday, and Terry made arrangements for them to stay at the park model next door to us in the Park.

We golfed with them on Thursday at Woodhaven Golf Course (nice, but not near the Indio Springs Golf Course quality).

Friday Rod and Wendy left Palm Springs and headed on to their next destination, Phoenix.

Terry and I decided to go for a drive and ended up at the Coachella Valley Preserve, where we hiked the McCallum Trail.

It is a short 2-mile trail, but winds through the Thousand Palms Oasis, and crosses over the San Andreas fault. Very interesting.

Today we went to the big flea market at the College of the Desert.

Lots of interesting booths and much 'brik a brac'.

Tonight we may stroll down to the big ‘dance’ at the park.

Tomorrow is Grey Cup day, so we’ll be glued to the tv for the event. Norm and Jan are joining us.

Go Stamps Go!

We plan on leaving Palm Springs on Monday, and will be making our way down to Mesa for a week.

And, unfortunately, the weather here is supposed to be cooling down, but we’re hoping it’s not too drastic a change. Still a lot better than home!

To my running buddies, we have enjoyed a number of runs through the local area. It's been quite a change to have to worry about the heat, instead of the cold, wind or rain!

Later.

Palms Against the Mountains and TRUE Confessions of a Bad Co-Pilot

It’s a beautiful night – almost a full moon, and we’re settled in at Indio, Palm Springs at the Indian Wells Carefree RV Resort for the next 12 days.


The sun set at approximately 5:00 p.m., after a beautiful, hot day (with the promise of hotter days to come). Terry and I just took a leisurely bike ride around the resort, checking out the ‘cocktail hour’ crowd (minimal). Now he’s busy preparing us a lovely supper, so I’m finally able to get back to the blog.


To bring you up to speed on what has transpired since my last post …..


We left Santa Rosa at approximately 10:15 a.m. on the morning of the 10th. We debated on possible places for our next stop, but decided that weather should be the deciding factor. Palm Springs won out, so we headed down the highway, with the thought of making the best time possible. This meant getting onto the I-5.

But first we had to get there …. We crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, and immediately crossed into highly populous areas, where one city merges into another. As Terry would say, the ‘big ass freeways’.

Stress levels rise in direct proportion to the number of lanes of freeway, we soon realized. Vodka with our orange juice should have been the breakfast of choice that day!



As we travelled down the I-580 towards the I-5, we began to move into the more desolate areas of the state. Hundreds upon hundreds of wind turbines lined the valley surrounding us on both sides of the highway.

We hit the I-5 and began to travel through areas of immense orchards. I couldn’t immediately identify the trees, but found out that they were almonds (bet you didn’t know that California produces 80% of the world’s almonds). This appeared to be a huge cash crop – miles and miles and miles and miles of orchards.

We also came across the occasional vineyard, but they did not appear to be the crop of choice in that area (were they table grapes or for wine – not sure). We finally saw our first orange grove in Huron, California, and even cotton growing in a field by Buttonwillow, California.

We climbed the Tejon Pass, and then drove into greater Los Angeles, and the endless sea of traffic that comes with it. Much stress.



It was dark, we were tired of the drive, and just wanted to park for the night and carry on early the next day. So, we steered off the freeway and pulled into the parking lot of the Duarte Walmart! After confirming with the manager that it was okay, we called it a night, and were up bright and early the next morning, departing by 6:30 a.m.

It was only a couple of hours drive into Palm Springs. Approximately 30 miles from Indio on Highway 10, we again came across acres and acres of wind turbines of varying size spread across the hillsides.

As we drove into the greater Palm Springs area, Terry wanted to stop at a truck wash and clean the rig up before we hit our RV Park. We pulled into the ‘Two Sister’ truck wash, and were surrounded by half a dozen Mexicans who efficiently scrubbed the RV and trailer in no time. Sweet!

We checked into the Indian Wells Carefree RV Park. It is an older park (both the park itself, and a good portion of its occupants). Terry’s pants crept up to mid-chest level the minute we drove in!

The amenities are fine – 3 swimming pools and hot tubs, and a barrage of scheduled activities that we can participate in.

Myself, I plan on signing up for the day hike scheduled for next Tuesday, and we both are thinking of attending the ‘Coffee & Donut’ event on Saturday’. I think I’ll give the quilting and ‘stitch and share’ a miss.

All kidding aside, it’s beautiful weather here – going up to the mid-90’s by Saturday. We went for a run this morning, and by 8:00 a.m. it was almost too hot. It is pleasant beyond words just to sit outside in shorts and a sleeveless shirt, drink in one hand and book in the other.

We are going to see whoever is still alive from the Fleetwood Mac band on Saturday night at a nearby casino. I also booked tickets online for the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. We’ll be in the audience on Wednesday, November 19th, so tune in and look for us! We’ll have to travel to L.A. for that, but will make a day of it.

Now on to the ‘True Confessions’ portion of this blog.

When we started out on this epic journey, my biggest fear was whether my cats would adjust to the ‘driving’ portion of this adventure. Turns out, it’s not the cats who freak out when the motorhome is moving down the highway – it is me.

Any corner, any sharp turn – I panic. I hear the dishes rattle in the cupboards or any strange noise – I panic. If I see vehicles braking 5 miles ahead down the road – I panic. If Terry pulls off the road and brakes – I panic. If Terry pulls into any parking lot, gas station, RV Park, etc. – I panic. Having to back up – I panic. If we are in heavy traffic or on big freeways – I panic.

And I don’t panic well – ask Terry. I gasp, yell at Terry, outwardly groan, yell at Terry, clutch my chest, yell at Terry, dig my fingernails into my arm rest, yell at Terry, hide my eyes, yell at Terry. It’s not pretty.

And you can imagine how well Terry takes this kind of response to his driving. If we both don’t have heart attacks before the trip is over, we’ll be lucky.

AND to add insult to injury – I apparently don’t know how to read a map. Driving through the greater Los Angeles area was a real treat when this deficiency reared its ugly head.

I’m great when we’re parked – happy as a lark. But, unfortunately, the driving is still a large portion of this experience. I am going to have to figure out how to calm myself down when in motion, but the mere idea of being inside of a 37,000 lb. can hurtling down the road makes me panic.

Terry is investigating methods of dealing with this. So far he has discussed locking me in the bedroom, blindfolding and gagging me, using a blowdart tipped with a knock-out drug at moments of panicking, or using liberal amounts of good old fashioned alcohol.

His true feelings were revealed the other day when we talked about purchasing bear spray for personal protection, should we need it. He then mentioned the possibility of buying a taser. I told him that it probably wouldn’t be a good idea, because, knowing him, he’d want to try it out.

He laughed, saying that I probably thought he’d try it out on the cats. I told him, no – that I meant he probably would want to use it on ME when I was having one of my panic moments. He laughed, then got real quiet for a minute, and said ‘but you’d be mad, wouldn’t you’. Hmmmmm…..

So, if anyone has any ideas, I’d very much appreciate them. As I said, I’m a ‘peach’ when we stop, but your basic nightmare when we're driving.

Later.

Sunset at the City By the Bay

(NOTE: Scroll down this posting - it covers two days of travel).
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Up in the morning to beautiful sunshine – yahoo!

Our plans for the day were fairly loosey-goosey; neither of us could come up with a real firm decision of where to go and what attractions to see. Santa Rosa didn’t quite present any real thrilling options.

We finally decided to take a trip down the coastline and cross over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful day, and we knew this might be the last of our views of the ocean for a while. Plus, we were only 55 miles from San Francisco. We headed down Highway 101 and exited through the City of Petaluma on our way to the scenic route south.

Petaluma is a town that I’d like to have spent some time snooping around. The city centre, which we drove right through, is full of amazing historical buildings. Apparently many of these buildings survived the 1906 earthquake.

On to the scenic coastal highway, which is very similar in parts to the road to Hana in Maui. The road is perched along the high cliffs overlooking the ocean, and extremely windy. Taking the RV on this road would have been suicide or, at the very least, have given me a heart attack.

There was either a bike race or rally of some sort going on; we passed many, many bikes snaking their way up the winding hills and converging on Point Reyes Station, a small (population 350) town that pops up out of nowhere and seems to be a catch basin for tourists. In addition to the groups of pedal bikes, there were also groups of motorcycles that obviously rallied their way up there.

We made a stop at Stinson Beach, a beautiful long sandy stretch, and obviously a popular day trip for people from San Francisco. The surf was very rough, and there was a warning that great white sharks were known to be in these waters. An attack had occurred in less than 6-feet of water. No thanks! We carried on, but made a few stops to take pictures of the unbelievable views.

Our path took us into the Olema Valley, which sits ‘uneasily’ on top of the San Andreas fault, and is the site of where the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate meet. Apparently the ground shifted 16’ in 45 seconds in the 1906 earthquake!

Finally, over the Golden Gate Bridge ($6.00 toll!) and into San Francisco. Terry was extremely nervous about accidentally driving into the ‘gay’ section of the city. I had told him about Haite-Ashbury, so he kept checking street signs to make sure that we never came near this area of the city.

We were starving, so decided to head to Fisherman’s Wharf for a bite. While looking for a restaurant, we saw a booth that was advertising sunset catamaran cruises. We booked the cruise, but only had about 15 minutes before we were supposed to be boarding.

Starving, Terry bought some fries that we could eat while waiting. We got about halfway through the fries, when we moved closer to the railing to look at the seals that made the marina their home (so this is where the buggers were instead of at the Sea Lion Cave!!).

All of a sudden, a seagull swooped down and stole the plate of french fries right out of Terry’s hand – potlicker!!



The sunset cruise was great.

We sat outside and enjoyed the tour past Alcatraz and to the Golden Gate Bridge.




From there, we had supper at one of the seafood restaurants in Pier 39. Turns out our waiter was flamboyantly gay (so much for avoiding Haite-Ashbury). Terry ordered crab legs, and the nice waiter asked him “if you don’t object, I’m going to put this bib on you”. If I’d have had my wits about me, I would have quietly pinched Terry’s butt when the waiter was behind him tying his bib. I’ll bet Terry would have gone straight through the roof!

Back home now, and planning the next stop. We’re headed for the Napa Valley and ultimately Palm Springs. But more later.

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Sorry – no pictures in today’s blog entry!

Today was a travel day. We said goodbye to Klamath at 9:30 a.m. It had rained hard all night, and our morning started out dreary, but warm.

We tuned into both CFL games and were heartened to hear of the -14 degrees (with windchill) that Winnipeg was experiencing!

Our drive carried us along the Redwood Highway, where we passed a number of elk viewing sites (resident herds of elk).

Much of our travel was bereft of ocean views – we passed through intermittent stretches of low lying agricultural regions, and heavily forested freeways. At some spots the redwoods were splitting the highway, and it was a little tight going by with our rig.

The small town of Benbow was very pretty – it brought us back into areas of trees exhibiting fall colours. Another interesting town was Willits; it is best described as a ‘cool hippy town’, with lots of head shops, natural food stores and colourful murals. AND – it was the place of our first sighting of palm trees! (Oh, and diesel was $3.08/gallon or $0.81/litre.)

Willits calls itself the ‘heart of Mendocino County’. Not knowing what that all entailed, I Wikipedia’d it – turns out that the county is noted for its "distinctive Pacific Ocean coastline, redwood forests, wine production, and liberal views on marijuana" (which accounts for the hippy scene and all those head shops!).

After Willits there were miles and miles and miles and miles and miles of vineyards. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop for a picture, which was a crime. The leaves were all turning colour, so it was very beautiful. Hopefully I can catch some pictures of this on the next leg of our trip. We even came upon strawberry fields that were producing fruit (u-pick).

We made it to our scheduled stop of Santa Rosa at around 4:30 p.m. We booked two nights in the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. It is basically a huge parking lot, but we have all amenities.

Now to plan our activities for tomorrow!

Hiking Among the Giants

Woke up to beautiful sunshine and a blue sky - at last!

Our plan was to explore a couple of the sites recommended to us by our hillbilly RV site manager. Thinking we might attempt a run, I didn't bring my camera with me (foolish mistake). However, Terry did bring his phone with him, so have a couple of shots from his phone camera.

A 1.3 mile walk down the road brought us to a Native American ceremonial site. Actually quite interesting. We had been warned to treat it with respect, so did so.

The site was beside an incredible beach, and where the Klamath River meets the ocean.

We hiked down the beach to see it, as we had been told that with the salmon running, this was a gathering place for feeding seals and possibly whales.

We didn't see any whales (damn - where are those whales hiding!), but did see a few seals surfing through the crashing waves of the two water's meeting. We also saw a couple of Indians (oops, Native Americans) drift net fishing. Didn't see them bring anything in, but an interesting process to watch.

From there we walked up the Coastal Drive Road to Flint Ridge, and hiked the Coastal Trail. This 4.5 mile hike took us into the middle of an old growth Redwood forest.

It was amazing - a beautiful trail with beds of large ferns, moss covered trees and the amazing Redwoods. We never saw another soul, and the hike was so quiet - no bird noises - nothing. Very neat, and the green of the fern beds was almost unbelievable.

The hike took us over the other side of ridge and we had to walk another short bit to get us back to our RV site.

We walked a total of 3 hours, which almost killed Terry. Plus, we were probably the stupidest hikers ever. We didn't come prepared for a 4.5 mile hike - no compass or GPS, only one bottle of water, and no food. No wonder Terry almost died! Where was my seasoned hiker friend Lori, with her bag full of trail mix, granola bars and other great treats!

After reviving ourselves with a big brunch, we cleaned up and decided to head into Crescent City, which is located 20 miles north on Highway 101.

The town of Klamath (if it is a town), is very small with pretty minimal amenities, so we gave it a miss.

We managed to catch a beautiful sunset on the drive to Crescent City.

We needed to hit a grocery store and replenish supplies, and had planned on finding a beachfront establishment to partake of a beer and pub grub, but couldn't find anything noteworthy to stop at, so headed home instead.

Apparently Crescent City was struck by a tsunami after the Alaskan earthquake of 1964. There is supposed to be evidence of the wreckage, but we were unable to see anything in the dark.

However, it's time to move on. We're scratching our heads trying to map out our upcoming route, but it looks like tomorrow we'll travel to Santa Rosa - in Sonoma county.

Later.

Domestic Violence and a Goat to Boot!

Well, it poured rain all night long at the South Jetty RV Resort. Time to move on in search of the sunshine we had planned this entire trip around.

After reviewing our options last night, Terry decided that it was still in our best interest to follow Highway 101 south. He routed the destination of Klamath, California as being within our timeframe of 4-5 hours driving time, and this would put us in the Redwood Forest district.

We headed out at 11:00 a.m., with a light drizzle of rain, but at least it was warmer outside than in the past few days.

We drove through areas of large sand dunes to our west, but it was difficult to see much through the trees along the highway. Plus, it was quite foggy so our panoramic ocean views were quite limited, and fairly dreary. Thus, no great pictures to share with you on the blog.

One good thing, though - the highway is considerably better than what we travelled on prior to this. We were able to make decent time, and only made one real stop to take in a viewpoint and make a quick sandwich.

We were travelling through the South Coast, which is described as the more 'wilder side' of the Oregon Coast, with longer gaps between centres. You don't begin to experience the long stretches of magnificent coastal scenery until you reach Port Orford.

Terry took Molly out for some air at a viewpoint along that stretch. With the drizzling rain and gusting wind, she wasn't impressed with the experience!

As this was a driving day, we could only acknowledge the points of interest as we passed by them. Bandon by the Sea seemed to be a big area for sheep farms, and is the cranberry capital of Oregon. Just before we hit the California border, we drove through the 'Easter Lily Capital of the World' (didn't see any).

Then at the border - who knew! - we had to go through an inspection stop. Everyone crossing the border had to drive into a controlled area and speak with a border guard. What were they asking about? Fruits and vegetables again! Terry told the guard that we didn't have anything (a lie). Could have been busted again!! He also asked if we had any furniture in the trailer. Don't quite understand why (will investigate). We said no, but as we drove away, it both dawned on us that our motorhome itself contains quite a bit of furniture.

As we hit the Redwood Highway, the ocean calmed, and the misting rain and gusting wind quit. Hallelujah!

We drove into Klamath (part of California's Del Norte County) with no RV site booked. There were four options in the Passport America book (50% discount for us), so we narrowed it to two choices. When we hit the first choice, we found that it was closed for the season (rats!), so quickly phoned the second, (open, thank God) drove to it and set up camp.

Can only use two words to describe the scene we are living in for the next two nights .... 'hill', and 'billy'.

There is reserve land around us, which shows. I saw a car with I swear a tree growing in it. Will try to stop and take a picture tomorrow. The camp is very rudimentary with minimal occupants. It would appear that a few, if not all of these occupants call this park their home.

Terry was not able to make our Bell TV satellite dish sync up, so no television for us for the next two nights. Fear not, though. We have been treated to a very dramatic and vocal 'domestic' scene just a stone's throw away from us that promises to keep us entertained.

So far, the way I understand it - she has "given him 8-1/2 years of her life". And, she "ain't never lied to him".

He, on the other hand, feels that "he ain't no dummy". And, he argues that he, too, "ain't never lied to her".

We can only hope that neither of them is sport'in any guns.

On the bright side, the nice hillbilly gentleman that runs the place clued us in on what appears to be some amazing hikes nearby, so we'll get ourselves out of camp tomorrow and do a little exploring.

Another bonus - they have a goat here!

Till tomorrow.

Sea Lions and Sand Dunes

NOTE: We had some issues with Internet access the past few days, so have been unable to post blog entries until today. Note that I have posted four entries under today's date, so keep scrolling on down to catch up on our whereabouts and activities. This entry brings us up to today's date.

Awoke to the sound of the pouring rain – dang! No wonder it’s so darn green around here.

We had planned on visiting the Sea Lions Cave just north of Florence, so headed out in the rain, fully prepared to be awestruck by this amazing display of nature.

Turns out that there are NO sea lions or seals in the cave this time of year. Apparently the bulls head up to Alaska for a spell, and the females and their young stay out in the ocean and fill up on fish in anticipation of the winter. They don’t actually come back into the cave until sometime in December.

Oh well – at least there were no crowds of people. We literally had the place to ourselves. I’m sure the weather didn’t help much in attracting people. It was cold, windy and rainy. The waves were pounding against the cliffs. Appreciating the fact that the cave itself is worth seeing, we paid our obligatory $10 entrance fee and took the 208 foot elevator down into the empty cave. There were some interesting displays covering the history of the cave (privately owned), and informative videos regarding the formation of the cave, and of the sea lions, seals and sea birds that inhabit the area.

There were stairs up to a view point that looked out towards the Heceta Head Lighthouse (apparently one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world). We spent a lot of time looking out to the ocean, and did spot a number of sea lions/seals (not sure which). They seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely – porpoising out of the water, surfing through the waves, etc.


This lookout is also one of the best to look for gray whales, but we didn’t see any.

Not too successful a 'wildlife viewing day.

On to the sand dunes. Our campground is close to the famous Oregon dunes – the ‘Himalayas of Sand’. It is quite a phenomenon. Picture a ski hill, but take away the snow, and replace it with sand. Very cool!

We hiked up a big hill and took in the fascinating landscape. This is the place to go touring on an ATV or dune buggy, but not in the rain. Definitely a ‘must return to’ site as well.

For those who would like an explanation of how this phenomenon happens: "For millions of years, the Coast Range has been rising, pushed upward by the incredible force of colliding tectonic plates. But what goes up eventually comes down. Wind and rain grind rocks into sand, which is carried by rivers to the ocean’s shore. Strong winds and tides coming off the Pacific blow and push the sand into undulating ridges along the 50 miles of beach between the Heceta Head and Coos Bay.” And, according to the literature, these are dynamic vistas, ever-changing. As you can see from the pictures, there is evidence of the European Beach Grass, which was introduced to stabilize the moving sand, and shore pines that grow in fantastic twisted shapes. This looks like rock formations in the pictures. Plus, there are “tree islands, remnants of larger forests that were overrun by sand, and are isolated strands of trees that look as though they’re floating in a sea of sand”. Very surreal.

In the evening, we took a tour into the Port of Siuslaw, and toured ‘Old Town', which had many eclectic shops and seafood restaurants. Quite nice.

But – it is pouring, pouring, pouring rain. We have had about enough of this, and are considering moving away from the slower coastal tour, and moving inland to the I-5 to see if we can outrun the rain, and get into warmer, dryer weather. We’re planning our itinerary tonight. Stay tuned!

Travelling the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway

NOTE: This blog entry covers Tuesday, November 4th.

We left Long Beach at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4th – Election Day! We were interested to see history in the making, and the reactions of the local ‘mericans that we interacted with.

Wanting to stick to our plan of ‘travelling NO MORE than 4 hours and NEVER in the dark’, we mapped out our next destination – Florence, Oregon, home of the Sea Lion Caves.

The weather had lightened up quite a bit, and we were even seeing sunshine as we drove along – bonus! We crossed from Washington into Oregon at the halfway point along this incredible bridge (dang didn’t get the name).

The Pacific Coast Scenic Byway obviously winds along the coastline, but in parts, is quite agricultural in nature – lots of dairy farms. The ‘Oh My God’ scenery really begins around Cannon Beach, Oregon. Every corner you turn is incredible. It is a fairly windy road which made for an interesting ride with our rig. I had a few white-knuckled moments which stressed Terry more than the drive itself. New rule for Sandy – have a BIG drink at the start of every drive to minimize the unnecessary freakouts ……

It is very green here – minimal fall foliage. We are definitely into a different ecosystem here.

Stopped at Cook’s Chasm and snapped a few shots of the wild blow hole.

We arrived in Florence, Oregon around 5:30 p.m. A 4-hour trip can be mapped out, but in reality with a few stops and with winding roads it ended up taking us longer than that. Oh well – at least we didn’t break the daylight rule this time!

We had planned on staying at an RV Resort 5 miles south of town, but ended up booking two nights at the ‘Thousand Trails & NACO South Jetty Resort’. Very much like Red Lodge Park – heavily treed, with campsites carved out of the growth. Like Red Lodge – minimal services. We have power and water, but no sewer. In peak season this would be a great place to stay, as it is quite pretty, and they have a little restaurant, adult lodge, activity center, etc. There is a pool, but man you don’t want to swim in it right now – COLD.

And, unfortunately, with all those trees around us, satellite tv and our internet access both seemed impossible to locate. Here we were, at one of the most historical elections in history, with no television to watch it all unfold. What to do? Why, go to the Casino of course! So Terry and I toodled on down to the ‘Three Rivers Casino’ for supper, a bit of gambling, and to share the moment of history in the making with our fellow casino-goers.

If there was any consolation to this, at least the casino crowds were thin. I can only hope that is because people chose to forego a night of gambling to instead stay home and watch the election results. The remaining crowd at the casino seemed fairly oblivious to the happenings.

After losing my allotted $20.00 (played the penny slots – yahoo!) within the hour, I joined Terry for a drink at the lounge, where we sat listening to Obama’s inspiring victory speech with a sparse crowd of mildly interested patrons. It brought a tear to my eye (or was that just from the dense cigarette smoke trailing over to us from the ladies at the table next to us!).

SO … when people ask you ‘where were YOU when the first black (African American ..) American President was elected – I was at the lounge in the Three Rivers Casino in Florence, Oregon.

Stepped out of the casino to the pouring rain – crap – rain again.

In the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark

NOTE: This blog entry covers the period of November 2-3rd.

We worried a lot about crossing the border on Sunday, November 2nd. After hearing stories of full-time RVers being given a rough time by the border guards, we gathered evidence that we had a residence to return to, and finances to cover ourselves while we were guests of their country. After leaving Burnaby, we nervously lined up at the Pacific Crossing border (into Blaine, Washington) around 9:30 a.m.

We anguished over all of that for no reason – turns out we got busted for agricultural violations! I had left an orange out on the counter for Terry to eat that morning, but he had not seen it. They pulled us out of the line and completed an inspection and ended up confiscating the orange, a bag of cut-up limes, and a bag of cat treats out of the original package. After all that, it took us an hour and 45 minutes to clear the border from the time we hit the lineup until when we carried on. Phew!

So now the real adventure begins – just Terry, myself and the cats crossing into territories unknown, and with a schedule that can change on a whim – is that scary or what!

We had planned on driving no more than 6 hours per day, and only in daylight hours. Of course we blew that plan the first day. We crossed into Blaine, Washington and drove south on the I-5 Highway past Tacoma, where we had to turn west towards the coast and then south along the coastal highway. That’s where we got lost, and it became an extremely frustrating and stressful drive from that point on. We made our way into Long Beach that black, rainy evening at about 7:30 p.m. A little rattled, but in one piece.

The campground (Sand Castle RV Park) we stayed at was pretty basic – located along the street and just power, water, sewer hookups and no ‘fancy’ amenities, but at $14 per night – it’s fine. The campground owners were very friendly and even came out to thank us for staying there when we left. We stayed Sunday and Monday night.

The Long Beach Peninsula is awesome – what a great find! It is home to the longest beach in the world – 28 miles of unbelievable west coast beach. You can even drive on it! It is part of the Washington State Highway system, with a speed limit of 25 mph.

Terry and I started the day with a long walk on the beach. It was lightly raining at that point, but armed with our umbrellas it was fine.

This is the area where the explorers Lewis & Clark tramped in their quest for a route to the Pacific Ocean, so the place abounds in historical markers and such.

Long Beach has developed a short board walk that highlights the local flora and fauna of the area with interpretive displays, and points of historical interest regarding Lewis & Clark.

There is also the ‘Discovery Trail’, an 8.3 mile paved trail that joins the centers of Long Beach and Ilwaco, and parallels Clark’s hike to the Pacific Ocean.

After our walk, we drove into the scenic town centre of Long Beach and stopped for lunch. The houses are beautiful – clapboard and fitting to the seaside town atmosphere.

We couldn't resist taking a few photos of a real 'retro' RV Park we stumbled upon.

From there we drove to Cape Disappointment State Park, where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. The ocean along this area is very dangerous , and is known as the ‘graveyard of the Pacific’. Apparently 2000 shipped have been recorded lost at sea here.

At this point, the rain turned from ‘light’ to ‘pouring’. This was fairly evidenced by some of my pictures (great camera captured the raindrops!). However, we kept on touring.

There are two lighthouses in the Park, and we stopped to see the North Head lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for entry so were unable to see inside.

We ran out of time to visit the Cape Disappointment lighthouse, but did manage to snap a few shots of it, and the hardy surfers braving the cold, rough waters. We then drove through the Port of Ilwaco and headed home.

This is an area we will definitely return to. There are just miles and miles of trails that you can walk, run, hike and bike. The beach and the scenery are outstanding. We missed seeing the Kite Museum, and apparently this area is the ‘Ocean Spray’ (cranberry) capital of Washington.

Next time.