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Paradise RV Park (Aug 9-Aug 27)
These are a few photos from prior to leaving Tall Chief…we visited Snoqualmie Falls. It is beautiful and we chose a good day, as there were not too many people around!
We also visited a Lavender farm…it was also quite beautiful!
We have moved back to Paradise RV Park for a few more weeks. Ed is doing better everyday. He is still battling with fatigue and is very easily run down, so we are taking it a bit easy. Lots of “Chill Days” as we call them. On August 4, the surgeon removed some of Ed’s sutures, but had to leave some because he wasn’t fully healed yet. We returned a week later on the 11th and they removed the remaining sutures.
We also visited the Olympia F.L.A.G.s since we passed right by them, I left a few more painted sand dollars. These beautiful sunflowers were at the Olympia park where one of the galleries resides.
Ed’s scar has healed so beautifully! A huge credit to the plastic surgeon!!
After resting a few days, Ed is doing much better! We visited Mt. St. Helen’s on the 15th. We stopped at a fun little tourist trap area that had the bigfoot statue below. The man who ran the shop was a SERIOUS bigfoot believer and ‘spotter’. He had some interesting stories!
We went to the Chehalis County Fair on the 17th. We had a good time! There were tons of exhibits and games (Ed’s favorite)! I got a huge dish of garlic parmesan fries that were cut fresh on sit….they had chicken strips and were OH SO GOOD!!!
A few days later on the 19th, we went to Mount Rainier National Park. It was beautiful. We went hiking and crossed a log ‘bridge’ that was interesting. At the end of the hike was a falls, very rewarding end to the hike!h
We took a trail that was just across from the village in the park. There used to be a resort there many years ago where people came for the ‘healing spring waters’.
When we were driving to the park, we stopped at a gas station and saw this interesting camper. I kinda dig it, Ed thought it was ‘weird’. LOL
Several days we just hung out and chilled. Ed had good and bad days. His stamina was still a bit lacking, so we took it easy. We did venture around the campground a bit…there is a cool trail that passes by the little lake on the property. It is good for fishing, but we have yet to take that on as a hobby! I prefer just taking photos of the lake.
We went letterboxing at Seaquest State Park, Mossyrock and Ike Kinswa State Park. These two cool trees are at Ike Kinswa State Park.
We found a great Mexican food restaurant in a town about 15-20 minutes west of Paradise, called Winlock. They have this crazy egg statue…not too sure of the story, but it is a conversation piece for sure! LOL!
On Friday the 26th, Ed had his last in person appointment with Dr. Lee, the plastic surgeon. Dr. Lee gave us the go ahead to continue on our travels and leave Washington! We loved Washington, but are definitely thankful Ed is doing so well and we are ready to continue along our travels!!! -
Tall Chief *Fall City, WA* (July 19-Aug 9)
We moved back to Tall Chief to be closer to Ed’s surgeon. We are so grateful to have 3 full weeks here, so we will be able to relax both before and after the surgery. Those who don’t know or use the Thousand Trails system, 3 weeks is a max stay at each campground (at least on our membership). You must leave the park for 7 days before coming back again, so our time at Paradise reset our counter for Tall Chief. We got another really nice spot here and settled in quite nicely. The tree cover is nice for the heat wave the PNW is experiencing. I know my Texas family/friends are laughing at the mention of heat wave, but it is pretty unusual for this area and like us in the winter storms, these folks are not at all prepared for the heat. Luckily it is supposed to be short-lived and we will be back to cooler temperatures soon.
One of the things I have been doing to keep myself busy and my mind occupied is painting the remaining sand dollars (yes, I had lots of them)
I plan to leave this one at my campsite when we move on. I am going to start a tradition of leaving some form of art on the picnic tables of my sites when I leave. I will make them either camp themed or something to do with the area. Hopefully people will enjoy it. I belong to a group called Art Abandonment on Facebook and have dropped some of my work in some of the places we visit. I am very eco-responsible when I drop, I make sure it is in a very visible spot for someone to find easily, I leave a card with the drop that explains that it is a gift for the finder (who can keep it, move it to another location for someone to find or they can simply leave it for another), I don’t hang strings off of the art and I put them in clear bags so that the finder can clearly see what is inside.
Ed took me out to lunch on my birthday and we stopped by a couple of F.L.A.G.’s to drop off some of my sand dollars.
We stopped and picked up this funny little cake to celebrate, I mean, is it really even a birthday if you don’t have CAKE?
When we were walking around the campground one day I saw this tree growing from a fallen tree. Mother Nature is truly amazing and I just think this is a beautiful representation of Her shear strength and ability to survive.
The Monday following my birthday, Ed took me on a whale watching tour. I was SO excited! There are Orcas (Killer Whales) in the area right now and I have never seen Orcas in the wild. The tour is half a day, so we packed our lunch and headed out. The seats were very nice and Ed booked mine right by the window! We saw a grey whale quite close to Seattle and then saw two separate pods of Killer Whales further south. I got some pretty good photos, but they are on my Canon in RAW format, so I need to get time to process them and I will put them up. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of a week. The tour was amazing and we saw lots of beauty, not only the whales, but the scenery here is just gorgeous.
While in Seattle for the Whale Cruise, I took the opportunity to drop by a few more F.L.A.G.’s.
Ed’s Mohs surgery was July 27th, a Wednesday. We drove into Seattle early because Ed wanted to have breakfast. He was not required to fast, as the procedures are done under local anesthesia. I was a nervous wreck and can’t say Ed felt any better. The fear of the unknown is just something that can’t be contained. We arrived for his surgery and they took him back pretty quickly. The way MOHS is done (in the most simplistic way I can describe), they cut away a section of the cancer, hopefully enough to get it all. They put a pressure bandage on the site and send the patient out to the waiting room for about 45 minutes. As a patient, you are ok to go for a walk, have a coffee, get a snack…etc. They will call/text you when it is time to come back. During that time, they are looking at the cut away portion to see if it has ‘clear fields’, meaning that all the edges of the piece are clear of cancer cells. If it is not clear and any cancer cells are present in the edges, they must repeat the process. Ed didn’t feel like leaving the waiting area, so we sat and chatted and kept ourselves as busy on our phones as possible to keep from overthinking. The doctor had told Ed when she first cut into his wound, the area collapsed ‘like a rotten apple’. This did not sit well with me, as with my limited knowledge, I knew that was not a good sign. The nurse came and took Ed back into the procedure room, which let us both know that they did not get clear fields. I was not allowed back in the procedure area, of course. Ed texted me after about 15 minutes and he told me that the doctor had cut away a bigger area and she wanted him to stay in the procedure area while they ran a STAT biopsy. She said they had to remove much more than they initially thought, so the wound would have to be closed by a plastic surgeon. We knew this was a possibility going into the surgery, but we didn’t really expect it. I think that may have been the longest 20-30 minutes of my life. The biopsy came back with clear fields, which was outstanding! They ended up putting a pressure bandage on the wound and sending us home, as they tried to see if the plastic surgeon could fit Ed in. We went home and waited. The nurse called and let us know that the surgery was set up for the next day, Thursday, at 4pm. Again with the waiting!!I took these photos from the waiting room of the Mohs surgery center. It’s hard to see the beauty of the rooftop garden, but it was stunning. It always seems strange to me that there is constantly construction going on around hospitals. Every time I have been stuck in a waiting room away from my loved ones, I tend to get fixated on watching a crane. Weird, huh?
Well, Thursday afternoon came as slow as molasses. Poor Ed had to fast all day and have nothing to drink. I was so paranoid that he would accidentally drink something and have to reschedule the surgery! He managed to make it through. We got to the hospital a bit early and it seemed like forever before they took him to pre-op. I was very upset to find out that they would not allow me into the pre-op area or in recovery due to COVID. So, out in the waiting area I was banished again! I brought a book with me and amazingly, I was able to read it. As she was the previous day, Mama was constantly checking on me and was chatting with me to help me stay calm. Man, there is nothing like this kind of situation to affirm how much you love someone. The nurse finally called me and she said Ed was out of surgery and in the recovery area, she reminded me that it could still be another 2 hours before he would be ready to go. No more than 5 minutes later, the recovery room nurse called and said “Ed woke right up from the anesthesia and is very alert. Would you like to come back?” I almost crawled through the phone to get to him! LOL! She came immediately and got me, explaining that since it was so late in the evening and they only had 3 patients in the large recovery area, I was allowed to go back. When I saw Ed, he looked great. A little spaced out, his eyes were wide open like saucers…and he had tons of food wrappers on his tray. He had told me before he went back for surgery that he was starving and wanted to go straight to McDonald’s when he was released. I figured he would not hold to that post-op, but the first thing he did was remind me that he wanted to go to McDonalds. LOL! He had already been to the restroom and he had eaten a cup of applesauce, several packages of crackers and a chunk of cheese. I was amazed…I am always so nauseated after anesthesia! Anywho, after about 15 minutes, the nurse stated we were ready to go home. I expressed my concern about some bleeding Ed was having and she told me to just change out the gauze. I told her I wasn’t thrilled with the bleeding, but she assured me several times that it would stop. So, we headed out. I stopped off at the pharmacy to drop off Ed’s prescriptions to be filled and headed straight to McDonald’s. Then after Ed ate his tiny bites of burger and fries, I went back to the pharmacy. When I got back into the truck with Ed, he had bled through several wads of tissue…so back to the ER we went! Of course, by the time we were back at the ER, the bleeding had stopped. The surgeon met us there and took off his bandages and cleaned him up. Ed and I both were stunned at the size of his wound. The surgeon explained that the Mohs surgery left Ed with very little tissue left between his nose and lip…they had to excise so much during Mohs that he had a silver dollar sized ‘hole’ under the edge of his nose. Fortunately, they didn’t have to remove any further tissue, but he did explain that much of the muscle tissue was excised. The cut runs from the edge of his nose, down the cheek, past the edge of his lip and back up his cheek in a teardrop shape. There are about 60 or so sutures. Now, let me state here, we are so very thankful that ALL of the cancer is gone and that Ed did so well throughout all the surgery. We realize that whatever we face now with his recovery is manageable. I just relay this information so that all our friends/family understand what he has been through and why we have been and may still be a bit radio silent. We are both focusing all our energy into his recovery and his healing now. I updated the blog with Ed’s permission to be fully transparent…anyone who is concerned that they were not ‘included’ in this journey up until now…I am sorry you feel that way, but I will not apologize for it. Ed is a very private man and he wanted to be on the other side of this journey before he allowed me to share it. He doesn’t like a fuss made over him and I will continue to make sure that I do what is best for Ed.Today is August 2, so I will update this a bit down the road. I doubt there will be much update, as we are just chilling as much as possible and Ed is spending his time healing. Thank you for all the love and support we know that you all are sending.
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Paradise RV Park (July 7-July 19)
We begrudgingly left Tall Chief (it has to be one of my top campgrounds we have been to). We are in Paradise RV Park in Silver Creek, WA. The area is gorgeous! On the main road on a clear day, you can see both Mt Rainer and Mt St Helen’s. There is an area as you drive up to the campground that has a cute sign that says “Slow Down and Look Around, isn’t this Paradise” and the view is spectacular. As for the campground…eh, it isn’t my favorite type of campground. It is pretty crowded in the sewer site areas. I prefer to have a sewer hook-up so that I can do laundry, take showers and not have to worry about filling the tanks. Also, having the Honey Wagon service come empty your tanks is not cheap, yet it much easier than having to pack everything up, put your stuff all over the site to make sure it is clear that it is taken and go to the dump station…then only to return and have to set up all over again. The sites here are tiered and super close together. There are trees, but they are sappy trees that in just the first day had everything outside covered in a thin layer of glue-like sap. Unfortunately, in order to get a sewer spot with a decent area for the satellite internet, we ended up really close to the pool. Just like in hotels, I do not like being near the pool, because it seems to always be loud and irritating.I will say, again, that the area is beautiful. Even the campground has some really pretty areas. The lower far back sites are nice and spacious and way more private than the sewer hook-up sites. It would be nice if they got some sewer run back there. Of course, it would be a battle for those sites I suppose. I can go without sewer if necessary, but will always opt for a sewer site when I can.
Ed got me these great picnic table covers…they came in handy for the sticky sap situation, I could just take a wet soapy rag and wash the sticky off and rinse the soap away. I like being outside when the weather is nice, I took the opportunity to wash, bleach and seal some sand dollars I have picked up along our travels to prepare them for painting. I figure I can drop those in the Free Little Art Galleries for others to enjoy. I painted a few during our stay.
We drove up to Keyport to visit the Naval Under Sea Museum. This is a pretty cool place. I read a ton of stuff about deep sea divers and submarines that had my claustrophobia on high alert. It is amazing to me what these soldiers go through during their training and eventual jobs. Honestly, it is like reading a horror story to me, but bless their souls that there are folks out there willing and dare I say even excited to do this kind of work! Chilling…
On the way home from the museum, we stopped at a couple of F.L.A.G.’s to donate some art and pick up a couple more cool pieces.
Some pretty daisies and a view of Mt St Helen’s from the road up to the campground.
The view from the road to the campground zoomed out a bit
A view of Mt Rainer from Eatonville on the way back to Tall Chief campground.
**We FINALLY have a surgery date. Ed’s Mohs surgery will be on July 27th in Seattle. We are going back to Tall Chief, as it is only 25 minutes from Seattle instead of the 1.5 hours this campground is. Fortunately, Ed was able to work out getting a full 3 week stay there, which will be nice for resting after surgery and being close for any possible unforeseen complications and follow-up. -
Tall Chief *Fall City, WA* (June 26-July 7)
We moved to Tall Chief campground, just outside Fall City, WA. This is a really nice campground, lots of trees and space. The only drawback is no sewer sites. The central bathrooms are under construction, as is the laundry facility. We got a great spot, in a corner site, which is always my preference. I’m getting pretty good at backing the camper into these sites now. I still like a pull-thru site, but the backing in doesn’t get me as stressed out as it used to.
I went to Dollar Tree and bought some Fourth of July decorations. I thought the gnomes were quite fitting for my little forest retreat. Dollar Tree is my frequent stop, as I feel like I can justify the decorations and not have to worry about them getting ‘ruined’ in the weather.
On the way home from Ed’s biopsy, I had to pull over to tend to some bleeding from his biopsy site. (These photos were out of order a bit) I just happened upon this Free Little Library on Mercer Island. It was a nice surprise on an otherwise gloomy feeling day! Picked up this clever use of a paint sample card. The paint color is Vanilla Ice Cream and the artist drew an ice cream sundae!
We went into Seattle one day and had a ‘City Pass’, which allows you to pick several tourist destinations to visit/experience at a discounted rate. We went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. It was breathtaking. I could have spent the entire day there alone. Just so much to look at at so beautiful!
We then headed over to the Space Needle, stopping along the short walk to see some art installations in the park around the area.
I don’t really care for high buildings, I have a loathing for elevators, especially the glass kind. Ed was pretty excited to go up, so I clenched my teeth and went up. The views are really amazing, I must say. One of the things I hate about structures such as this is the ‘swaying’ you can feel. We went to the top and they have windows that lean outwards with benches you can sit on that allow you to lean out. I did NOT like that feeling at all. We went down to the second level of the upper deck and they have a glass floor that rotates around the perimeter of the room! Ed purposely did not mention this. I didn’t step out onto the glass, but Ed did. I was quite happy when we were back on solid ground!
They had a Mold-A-Matic! Ed surprisingly did NOT get one. One of the things we got rid of when we downsized was his Mold-A-Matic collection. It was a bittersweet thing to walk away from…
Next, we went to the Museum of Pop Culture. It was an interesting place. We were running short on time, so we kinda sped through this one.
On a different trip to into Seattle, we went to the Aquarium. It was a small one and had LOTS of people in it. We have come to realize that summer is now in full swing and our days of going to places that are not so busy are over for a bit. I have to admit, the older I get, the less tolerance for people I have. I feel like common sense and decency are lacking quite a bit in some folk. People just seem to have forgotten how to act in public and they certainly aren’t teaching it to their children.
After the Aquarium, we went to the Pier 57 to ride another ‘Soarin’-type ride called Fly Over Washington. I can see why these are becoming so popular…they really are a fantastic experience!
After milling around a bit on the Pier, we boarded a Harbor Cruise. It was a really great day for the cruise and the announcer was top-notch. He gave us tons of history, information and a local’s view of Seattle. I really enjoyed the cruise. We snagged a great seat in the back of the boat with a little overhang that kept us out of the sun, which with Ed’s situation, has become an even bigger priority for me lately.
After the cruise, we popped over to Pike Place Market. I have always wanted to experience this place and BOY is it a hoppin’ place! As we were coming up the stairs from the street, we got to witness the fish market tossing fish around for a guy who made a purchase. Unfortunately, I didn’t get my phone out quick enough and although we hung around for awhile, we didn’t get to see them do it again. Bummer not to catch it on my phone, but I was stoked to see it in real life. We also walked passed the original Starbucks…they had an INSANELY long line and what makes it even funnier, is that literally a block in any direction will get you to another Starbucks. There is NO way that I would stand in that line just to say ‘hey, I’ve been to the original Starbucks’…people are weird. We also saw the gum wall. This is such a disgusting, yet fascinating thing to me. I don’t understand the appeal of such things, but it is a bit fascinating…in that can’t look away kinda realm.
Ed bought me this gorgeous bouquet of flowers at the market for $15! Such an amazing deal and the flowers lasted beautifully.
I love the fog in the morning at the campground.
We visited the Museum of Flight. They had lots of cool stuff and even an outdoor area where you could walk through several planes. There was a Concord and a AirForce One that Kennedy had flown on. This is more Ed’s area of expertise, but I took lots of photos.
We spent one entire day traveling around the Seattle area visiting Free Little Art Galleries to make donations and admire the art. I picked up several pieces. It was a fun day! We made the determination that while Seattle is a cool city, we are definitely not ‘city’ people. The roads are waaay too narrow and the houses are so crammed in together. While the idea of walking everywhere and being in a close knit neighbor area seems intriguing, we decided we like to have a bit of space between us and our neighbors. Also, my truck is NOT at all made to navigate these tiny streets, I’d hate to drive a delivery truck down some of these roads!
**We are STILL waiting for the referral and coordination of things to go through for Ed to have his Mohs Surgery. While it is frustrating, we are happy that surgery will be able to get all the cancer removed and get Ed on the road to recovery rather quickly…that is, once VA gets things sorted out! *Sigh* -
Chelan County Expo *Cashmere, WA* (June 20-June 26)
We moved to the Chelan County Expo in Cashmere, WA. We were not able to fit into Leavenworth’s Thousand Trails as they don’t have long enough sites. The County Expo is a large open field with sites on it and no trees, they do have full electric and sewer, which is really nice. When we pulled in, I found a rock on the picnic table. It has a website miasmovingmountains.com on it, it’s about a sweet little girl who had Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. She had a challenging life, earning her angel wings at just 8 1/2 months old. I took the rock to plant at another campground along our journey. That way her legacy travels along with us a bit.
We took a drive along the mountain pass and to a little diner. The view along the road was stunning and followed the river.
One morning we had brunch at little diner that we saw on Guy Fieri’s Family Road Trip show. It was an adorable little place and we had awesome wait staff! I ordered got a philly sub and a pineapple/coconut shake. Ed got a chocolate shake and breakfast.
We explored Leavenworth, which is a touristy little Bavarian Village. The streets in town are all blocked off so that it makes it easier for the people to get around. We went to a little gingerbread bakery and got some really yummy treats. I bought a Matryoshka, a Russian Nesting doll. Ed found an interesting candy shop, it had a bunch of vintage candy and a some that was ‘free-dried’. Ed got a few vintage candies. LOL!
We also went to the little town down the road, Cashmere. It is a tiny town and is really very cute. They have these little gnome vignettes all over town. They have a map you can follow to find all of them. We just happened on a few and they were really cute. They even had little gnome footprints on the sidewalks in town that led to some. We went to a pharmacy that has a little soda fountain in the back and had root beer floats.
**The referral came through and Ed finally saw the Dermatologist. He had a biopsy and the Dermatologist is pretty certain it is basal cell carcinoma…we were hoping that it may be something a bit less serious. Unfortunately, Ed’s biopsy came back, it is basal cell carcinoma. He has to have a Mohs surgery in a few weeks. We have to wait for the VA to get a referral in the system. Everything with the VA takes what seems like forever. We are going to change plans and move closer to Seattle again. We are hopeful that the Dermatologist that did his biopsy will be able to do the Mohs surgery. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Washington until this whole situation is over and Ed has a 100% clean bill of health.
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Birch Bay (June 8-June 20)
We moved to Birch Bay, which is right on the border of Canada. The park is nice, we found a spot on the end of a row that is a bit muddy. This apparently has been the wettest Spring that the PNW has seen in many years. The birds found my birdfeeders right away 😊
I found out about these great little “Free Little Art Galleries” which are like Free Little Libraries, for art. Anyone can donate art, take art or just enjoy the art. This concept is such an amazing one! If I still had a house, I would put one in front of it. I went to three in this area. I left some of my handmade cards and collected a few pieces.
We went into Canada and it was a fun day. Funny thing, Ed has this hilarious routine that Mama and I joke about…he tends to always go to Walmart, no matter the area we are. Well, the first stop we made was, you guessed it, Walmart! LOL! We did have fun looking at some of the different products they have…like Ketchup flavored chips (even cheetos, yuck) and Ed’s favorite, Kinder Eggs. We then went to the Port of Vancouver, where there was a Disney cruise ship, we rode a ride called Fly Over Canada (like Soarin’ at Disney), we had lunch at Red Robin and shopped at a touristy souvenir shop.
We spent most of our days at Birch Bay just chillin’, since it was pretty rainy. We enjoyed relaxing and having just some ‘off’ time. We did go to Peace Arch Park. It is a neat little park…it’s kinda funny, as there is literally just a shallow ditch that separates the US and Canada. We had ice cream at a little local shop, they call it ‘hard’ ice cream here.
**Ed has a wound on his lip that has been there for about 6 months. He saw a doctor about in Oregon last month. They gave him some medication, but it didn’t heal like it should. We have been waiting for the VA to get a referral for a Dermatologist. We finally gave up and went to the ER, which didn’t really do anything other than hopefully get the referral for the Dermatologist on a faster track.
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Ocean Shores, WA (May 31-June 8)
Oceana RV Park was a mud pit when we arrived. The park was mostly empty and we quickly figured out why…it never dried up the entire time we were there, actually it rained even more. Our site had some issues with the electric and the ranger was a real jerk about it. We reduced our stay as much as possible and will not likely return to this campground. This is the first campground that we have had such a miserable site and experience with an employee.
We went to Westport and visited the lighthouses, picked up several letterboxes and we went to a cool Mermaid Museum. It was a really cool day and I really like the area. Hopefully we can find a good campground if we come back to this area again someday.
We spent a few full days letterboxing in Ocean Shores, even with the rain. All the area eateries dining areas are closed, I guess due to COVID. It is a bit frustrating, but I understand. The town had a kite festival that seemed to turn out to be a bust due to the rain.
We drove to Sequim on Monday. Along the way, we stopped at several lighthouses. We stayed overnight at a cool little motel of cabooses. We got the ‘Lavender Caboose’ and it was so adorable! Tuesday, we drove back to Oceana. We went to Cape Flattery and took the trail to the lighthouse. We went to the Olympic National Forest Upper Ho area, it is stunningly beautiful. It took all day to get back to Oceana.
Caboose ‘Motel’
Interior of Lavender Caboose
Cape Flattery and Neah Bay
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Seaside, OR (May 15-31)
We got a good spot at Seaside. The spring here has been super rainy…so the ground is swampy, but what can you do. I’m happy, as it is a corner spot and I like only having one neighbor and my craft area faces the more open space. I’ve decided that Ed’s goal is to find a pizza place at every area we stay. Here it is Fultano’s. It is downtown and in the arcade, but it honestly is pretty good! We discovered it is a local chain.
We visited Ft Steven’s State Park and hiked from the fort to the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale. It was a fun hike and we had a good time, saw a paraglider while on the beach, almost caught him! LOL!
We drove inland to Longview, WA because I had to have some bloodwork done to check on my kidney issues. I had to stop and see the Nutty Narrows Bridge for squirrels! Interesting concept…
We visited Ft Clatsop at Lewis and Clark National Park.
Ed found out one of the local beaches was good for finding sand dollars, so off we went at low tide to check it out. There were tons of them! I stopped picking them up at 18, as Ed had to go and be all reasonable and ask me what the heck I was gonna do with all of them. We also saw tons of people digging up razor clams. I asked one lady and she showed me how it is done. She said they were super plentiful right now and she had so many she wasn’t even sure what she was going to do with the ones she was getting…I could relate 😉 She had the most adorable Scottie dog and he was all about telling her where to find the clams! It was cute!
We went to Girabaldi to ride the Coastal Sea Train. It was really cute and fun. The conductor told us that she found her ticket punch at a local estate sale, so it was an authentic punch! She told me that each conductor had their own special punch with a shape that identified which conductor punched your ticket, I never recalled hearing that before, so it was a cool thing to learn about.
We visited the Tillamook Air Museum. It is a HUGE blimp hanger that has now been turned into a museum. They have a Guppy outside that you can tour also. It is a pretty neat place.
Of course, we couldn’t skip the Tillamook Cheese Factory! The last time we were in this area, they were closed while they updated the museum/factory tour area. We got ice cream cones that were huge and delicious!
We visited Cape Mears Lighthouse and the surrounding area. Hiked a bit and found some letterboxes.
We drove up to Long Beach, WA and went to Cape Disappointment. We hiked up to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, which was a short distance, but a moderate hike with quite a steep hill! We also went to the North Lighthouse and did the little hike around it and back to the lighthouse keepers residences, which are now vacation rentals.
We spent a day letterboxing from Wheeler to Ecola Bay State Park and hiked the Indian Trail. WHEW! That is a STEEP and long trail, it was super muddy and we were exhausted by the time we were done. We had a really fund day that day, even if it made us really feel our ages! LOL!
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Newport, OR (May 1-15)
We got a perfect spot in Newport at the Whaler’s Rest RV Park. The park is nice and just on the other side of HWY 101 from the beach. There is a trail to the beach even. We really like this park.
The Beach Trail and Beach
There’s Bears in these here hills! This adorable camper has been at the last several campgrounds we have been to!
My Sweet Hummingbird
One day, we drove to Salem, Mt Angel and McMinnville. I wanted to visit a craft store that I had heard of on my card-making boards. It was all they say….like a wonderland for me! LOL! I showed Ed around Mt Angel and showed him the glockenspiel, it was working this time…I have been several times when it wasn’t. I don’t think Ed was all that impressed, he prefers Germany in actuality, I guess. *snooty*
Then we headed to McMinnville to the Evergreen Air & Space Museum. It was pretty cool…they have the actual Spruce Goose. It is certainly impressive…I couldn’t even get a full photo of it!
This is a water park on the property that has tubes going through the plane on top of the building!
Afterwards, we went across the highway to Galen McBee Airport Park, with the intent of letterboxing, but unfortunately, we just found lots of mud and bugs! It was a fun hike though!
We visited the lighthouses in Newport, Yaquina Head and Yaquina Bay.
I met a fellow letterboxer. We spend a couple days boxing and visiting. She gave me some tips and tricks to the letterboxing life.
Ed and I visited Depoe Bay, I was heartbroken that my little café that I loved has permanently closed. They had the best clam chowder!
We also visited the Hatfield Marine Science Center, which I had never been to. It was pretty cool! There is a Giant Pacific Octopus there that is super cool. You can see her sometimes on the OctoCam https://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/visitor-center/exhibits/octocam
We did a lot of letterboxing in Newport and the area. Ed is finally coming around to it! LOL If you are interested in learning more about letterboxing, here is a link to check out https://www.atlasquest.com/ It certainly has taken us to some beautiful and interesting places!
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Coos Bay, Oregon (April 24-May 1)
We were supposed to stay at Sunset State Park, but unfortunately, their available spaces were way too tight and not long enough for our rig. We ended up having to make a last minute move to the Mill Casino RV Park. It was actually a really nice park. I mean, it’s a parking lot, but there was very nice landscaping and we had a view of the bay which was nice. After having a bit of a trying day, we decided to eat at the Casino…it was good, I had fried avocado tacos, which was a first for me, but oh man were they tasty!
We decided to drive up to Newport to check out the next campground, as we were not spooked about scrambling for a reservation if we didn’t fit! LOL! It never happened before, so we wanted to be better prepared. We picked out several spots that would work and were feeling more comfortable about it after visiting. We hiked up to Heceta Head Lighthouse.
View from Campsite
Hike to the Lighthouse
Lighthouse
While chilling one day, a HUGE ship sailed by the campground and then turned around and went back to park along the neighboring area, which we discovered was a mill….duh. They were loading that ship all week, even after we left!
We visited the Coquille River Lighthouse, tried to hike to the Cape Argo Lighthouse, but there was no real way to get there. The GPS had sent us down a private road and we had a “Karen” come out to give us the stank eye while I turned around. I guess she must have some kind of video surveillance system that alarms her that there are stupid tourist trying to see HER lighthouse. We literally turned around and left as soon as we figured out the GPS sent us rogue. Sheesh, Karen….sooooorrrry!!
A rainbow at the campsite
Coquille Lighthouse & Beach
The hike to try and get to view the Cape Argo Lighthouse
Take that Karen! If you look above the fence and under the carport top, you can see the Cape Argo Lighthouse! The second photo is the lighthouse from where they say you can view it-I’ll let you find it!
We also visited Umpqua River Lighthouse. This one was open and we were able to tour it and the museum.
