Saying Good By to Oregon

We decided to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport before we headed home. Several years ago we stayed in a RV park across the street from the Aquarium and had visited it then.  It is a really nice place to visit.  All kinds of fish, and out door things to see and do.  Below are some of the pictures Frank took.

We decided to leave a few days early and went for one last walk and stopped by our favorite statue.  If you look up the road you can see where people park to visit the over look of the ocean.

Here are some pictures we took of the ocean on that last walk.  Double click on the pictures and see how beautiful they are.

We stopped by our neighbor's home and watched the Raccoons one more time.  The babies grew up in the two months we were there in Oregon.  They were fun to watch.

This is the living area of the little home we stayed in.  If you look close you can see that there are blankets under the cushions of the couch.  It was so uncomfortable to sit on and this made it bearable.  The beds were very uncomfortable too, and we ended spending close to $90 on foam toppers to make them more comfortable.  We decided to leave a few days early as after two months we decided we wanted to leave this uncomfortable place and we were homesick for family, friends, and our comfy home.  I am glad that we did get to rent this place as it was a lucky break as most home owners of the vacation rentals will not rent on long term bases because they can make a lot more money renting out on a daily rate.  We had a wonderful time, and still miss our walks, the ocean, the beautiful scenery, and wonderful cool ocean breeze.

More Vacation Pictures

I have been a blog slacker ever since we got home from OR.  I have been feeling lousy and just haven't had the energy to sit down and blog.  Since it took so long to post photos on my blog from my lap top with a real slow Internet connection, I decided to wait until I got home.

We were going to go to the beach and have a marshmallows roast.  It was way too cold and windy  so we roasted  marshmallow's over the burner on the stove and had our Smores at home  Sherry and Lorri eating them

Sherry and I making Smores

We were fascinated with this tree and found out it is called a Monkey Puzzle Tree.  It has branches that  are very sharp and can cause body damage

Lorri, Sherry, & Me getting ready to head to Portland Airport

We passed this statue every day on our walk to the look out over the ocean and then headed out for our walk.  He points the way to a hotel.  

Winema Church Camp area

We decided to go to a local beach where you can find Sand Dollars.  It is located by a church camp called Camp Winema.  When we got there I had to pee so bad and we couldn't see any public restrooms.  I asked a lady if she knew if there were any in the area.  She invited me back to what they called their cabin, above picture.  She was so nice and friendly, and she and her husband gave us a tour of the home. The whole area is connected to a church that owns Camp Winema.  We hugged each other and I told her she had saved me and that I would do the same for someone in the same situation I was in.
This is a view from the house above, overlooking the camp area.  There is a fresh lake and then the ocean. It was a beautiful site.  We were able to walk the beach known to the locals as Sand Dollar Beach.  We found a few broken sand dollars, and was going to go back and hunt for some more, but we didn't get to return to this beautiful place.  This is a beach that is only known by the locals.

Lorri & Sherry's Visit

On the 5th of August, we went to Portland Airport to pick up Sherry and Lorri.  It is close to 100 miles, but it seems so much farther than that.  There aren't too many freeways in this area only when you get to I-5.  The roads going inland are windy, up and down and no passing except in designated passing lanes. On our way we got behind a long line of backed up traffic.  When we got to the passing lane, this one car stayed in the left lane so everyone had to pass on the wrong side.  It looked like a young girl driving and it made me wonder if she was a new driver.  She had been going 40 MPH in a 55 MPH speed zone.  So frustrating to all the drivers behind her.

We were early at the airport, so we waited in the baggage area for Sherry and Lorri.  They ended up landing early and we were surprised to see them walking up to us.  They stayed with us five days and we were on the dead go.  Below are some of the fun things we did with them.  Sherry and Lorri went on some real long beach walks while they were here.  Lorri got up every morning and took a walk on the beach alone.

We went to a beach and did some Agate hunting.  Frank made his own Agate digger.  He found a strainer and bought a dowel and attached it to the strainer.  It is better than the cheesy one we saw in a rock store and his was a whole lot cheaper.  In the above picture Frank and Sherry are Agate hunting.  Frank walked clear down around the point, and the tide was coming up.  I got worried when I couldn't see him, but he was in a cove area.  He rolled up his pants and still got wet.

Lorri playing with some sea weed

Frank digging for Agates

Sherry and Lorri at the Whale Look out in Depot Bay

Sherry & Lorri Depot Bay

Getting ready for a beach ride Pacific City

Lorri mounting from the required steps 

Sherry all ready to go on the wild one he tried to buck her off twice

We were told where to go to take pictures of them on the beach

Lorri riding Bella right next to the ocean

Sherry enjoying the ride until her horse got wild.  Sherry told the workers that she was an experienced rider,  so they gave her the wild one.  We should have known as he broke through his corral when they were getting the riders ready.  No way was he going to be left behind

Pacific City Beach

Pacific City the view we had while waiting to take pictures It was beautiful there

Sherry had a real wild ride as her horse was trying to buck her off.  She finally had to get off from him and the daughter of the owner of the Beach Horseback Rides told her if she wasn't going to get back on him, she would have to take him and she did and  left Sherry there to walk back over a sandy dune.  Sherry and Lorri were both upset at how this girl acted and treated people on the ride.  In fact Lorri said something to a one of the workers and she said it was the snotty girl's last day.  She was arguing with one of the other workers, riding side saddle, and just not being friendly.  Sherry felt she should have traded horses with her when she saw how Sherry's horse was acting.  Then on top of it all Sherry had specified that she wanted a two hour ride when she called and made reservations.  It ended up being a one hour ride.  Lorri said that one way or another she was going to find a way to complain to the owners, especially about their daughter who made everyone miserable on the ride.  Not good for business. I felt bad for Sherry as she had been so excited about riding on the beach. Her ride was mainly trying to keep an out of control horse in control.  No riding by Lorri and enjoying the beach ride together.

More Vacation Photos

Lincoln City Beach two blocks from our rental

A walk on the beach - tide is out

Seagull looking for something to eat

This flock of birds fly over the beach every evening

A view from an over look close to Depot Bay

Waves splashing on the rocks

Waves rolling up to the beach

Close to Depoe Bay 

Oregon Vacation - Two Day Trip to Seaside

Years ago we started our journey of the hwy 101 Cost trip.  We took two different trips one starting on the California Coast, and then we went back where we left off and went as far as Crescent City, CA.  

When Frank retired, we took our fifth wheel and stayed in a beautiful state park called Bassendorf.  There we went back down on the hwy 101 to where we had left off several years before. When we headed home, we  went to Newport and spent two nights, and then headed inland to go home.

So on this trip we wanted to finish our hwy 101 so we decided to spend a couple of nights in Seaside, OR And explore on up the coast.  We took the scenic byway from Pacific City.  I have never hiked so much as we did on this trip.  The pictures below are some of the beautiful sights on our trip.

This was a view from a hike to Cape Meares Lighthouse

I had to stop and rest quite a few times, it was a steep hike

One of the views on our hike.  It was a little foggy

A monument for Cape Meares Lighthouse

Cape Meares Lighthouse

Reading the history of the Lighthouse

On our way to Washington we crossed Astoria Megler Bridge .  It is the highest bridge I have ever been  on

This was a very interesting stop.  History of Lewis & Clark

This is at the end of The Promenade in Seaside

A river walk in Seaside

The back side of the Moument  - End of the Promenade Seaside  Lewis & Clark

Our visit to Fort Canby

Fort Canby- Sacagawea

The Fort

Inside quarters of the solders

A demonstration of shooting a very old riffle

We had a lot of fun on our trip.  The hotel we stayed in was really nice and when we got ready to leave, we wanted to take the king pillow top bed with us, as where we are staying the bed is a very uncomfortable queen bed.  We had to buy two toppers and put on it before we could stand to sleep on it.