Wednesday, August 6, 2014

We were up early this morning to look for a brake repair shop, as one the brakes on the passenger side is squealing. It is overcast (as it always is on the coast) and 15C.
Found a "Les Schwab Tire Centre" in Reedsport, 6 miles north. We arrived there at 7:48, but they didn't open until 9:00.
They performed a free brake check & assured us that there is nothing wrong. Reassured, we headed back to the RV park.

On the way, we stopped at the Umpqua River Lighthouse, which was the first lighthouse in the Oregon Territory. It was built in 1857 hear the mouth of the river. It was undermined and destroyed by flood in 1864.Rebuilt on the present site in 1891, it shines a guiding light to all mariners. The tower is 65 feet tall and sits 165 feet above seal level.







From the viewpoint across from the lighthouse, we could see 50 - 60 boats in the ocean - some fishing and some whale-watching.
All you can see in the pic (if you look closely) are some tiny dots!








Finally, we were hooked up & on the way. It is sunny and 16C as we turn east onto OR-38 at 29 feet elevation following the Umpqua River.

Soon, we passed the Dean Creek Elk Viewing area which is the year-round residence for a heard of about 100 Roosevelt Elk.A mild winter climate and abundant food allow the Elk to remain all year.







It is a beautiful morning and the river is smooth as glass.

We drove by Scottsburg Park which has a picnic area overlooking the river and several rare Myrtle trees, which are harvested for their texture, grain and colour.

Kellogg is home to the Hinds Walnut tree, which was planted more than 250 years ago and stands over 100 feet tall. It's circumference is 20 feet! It is notable for its size, age and that it is not native to Oregon.

We departed from the river and after a short drive on Interstate 5, we turned back on to OR-138 at Roseburg, a town built up by the lumber industry, and now a popular recreational centre.

At the community of Glide, we went by the Colliding Rivers, where the North Umpqua and Little River converge in a fury of white water. It's one of the few places in the world where rivers meet head on.

We stopped for lunch at Swiftwater Recreation Site, at 831 ft elevation,then went for a hike along the North Umpqua River. The water was crystal clear and very inviting considering the 30C temperature!










Once again, there were many huge trees.







The next stop was Steamboat at 1276  ft. to view the Mott Bridge.The bridge is a recognized Oregon Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935-36, the bridge is the only surviving example of three such structures built at that time.


Following that, we climbed steadily on our way to Crater Lake, gaining about 500 feet every 5 - 8 minutes until arriving at Diamond Lake RV Park at 5274 feet.
There is no TV reception, no radio and the wi-fi is unreliable. We are here for three nights!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014, Travel Day

We left Tillamook under cloud & sun, 16C. As we drove south on the Oregon Coast Highway 101, we passed many dairy farms that provide milk for the Cheese factory.

Half an hour into the drive, we ascended from 46 feet elevation to 750 feet, then went back down approaching Lincoln City.

At 10:00, we stopped in Lincoln City for some groceries at Safeway. Had to park in the Chinook Winds Casino RV parking lot, but didn't go in to the Casino!





Shortly after resuming our drive, we stopped at a viewpoint at the south end of Lincoln City. It is amazing to see trees growing on sheer rock.












                                              The tide was out!









At noon, we crossed Newport's iconic Yaquina Bay Bridge, probably the most photographed bridge on the coast. It is an arch bridge that opened in 1936.





We stopped for lunch at a "picnic area", which turned out to be a road down to the parking lot, then a path to the beach where there were 2 tables, both of which were occupied. There was a cold, strong wind blowing, so after taking a couple of pics, we sat in the truck to eat our lunch!






Later, we crossed the Umpqua River Bridge, which is second in size to the Willamette, and is navigable by fairly large vessels as far upstream as Scottsburg. The bridge is the state's largest swing-span bridge. It consists of a central swing span flanked by two reinforced concrete arches on each end.
It was opened to traffic in 1936.




At 2:25, we arrived at our destination for tonight, Osprey Point RV Resort in Lakeside, Oregon.
Today's trip was 250 km. Unfortunately, we passed several lighthouses but were unable to stop due to lack of parking space for us. I was really hoping to see some of them. I can see a truck camper in our future! LOL

Monday, August 4, 2014

It was a nippy start to the day as it was 13.4C, but should soon brighten up! There had been some light rain overnight. We are overrun with rabbits, all colours & sizes!


At 8:10 we were off to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, again.
When we arrived, the parking lot was almost empty. The self-guided tour was excellent. We saw the production of the cheese from start to packaging. http://www.tillamook.com/cheese-factory/index.html
Tillamook Cheese Factory is one of the top 10 visitor attractions in Oregon. Every day they make 171,00 pounds of cheese. There is also ice cream made here.

Each of the eight stainless steel cheese vats holds approximately 53,00- pounds of fresh milk. On average, each vat makes three batches of cheese per day.

It takes 10 pounds (1.16 gallons) of milk to make 1 pound of Tillamook Cheese.
More than 1.7 million pounds of milk arrive at the plant every day. Approximately 167,000 pounds of cheese are made every day!





40 pound blocks of cheese arrive at the packaging room after ageing in the warehouse and being graded for quality.

 Blocks are cut into individual pieces in one of three different packaging lines and then are packaged into convenient sizes.
Each piece runs over a scale called a checkweighter. Off-weight pieces are directed to the side. Underweight pieces ate patched overweight pieces are trimmed before being packaged.

Following the tour, there was a Gift Shop, of course, and a tasting room. Yummy!







From there we were off on the Three Capes Scenic Tour. First was a fuel stop at Fred Myers ($3.919/gallon) just over $1.00/litre CDN.
Once again, the skies are clearing as we head off to Cape Lookout at 9:55.




When we arrived at Cape Lookout State Park, we walked along the beach. Yes, the water was cold!
It had clouded over and was about 15C.














Marcel took a 'selfie' and got me in it!







Our next stop was at Clay Myers State Natural Area at Whalen Island where we went on a 1.5 mile  interesting hike.
The Clay Myers State Natural Area at Whalen Island is a remarkable place. A virtually untouched coastal estuarine ecosystem, it is bounded by the Sand Creek estuary. This is critically valuable habitat for adult salmon moving upstream to spawn and for smolt leaving the inland fresh waters for their marine journey. The area is a ecological potpourri, including mixed woodlands, grasslands, fresh and saltwater wetlands (the Lillian Parker Craft Wetland) and a rare native dune sedgeland. Species run the gamut from salmon and steelhead to shorebirds to deer, otter, and even bear and cougar.

At 12:10 we moved along to Kiwanda and stopped for lunch at the Pelican Pub & Brewery, Cape Kiwanda, which I thought would be a small, intimate pub. Boy, was I wrong! It was on the beach & probably seats about 150. The menu was varied & service was quick. I had an Oyster Po'boy and Marcel had Linguine with Clams. Both delicious!





After lunch we watched people climbing the sand dune and sliding, rolling & running down.

Looks like I need to clean my camera lens.......







We made one more stop at Bob Straub State Park Beach south of Pacific City. It was sunny but VERY windy. As you can see, the beach was deserted.

Then it was back to the campground to do laundry before moving on tomorrow.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

After our Sunday bacon & eggs breakfast, we set off for Munson Creek Falls, which we had been told was worth checking out.


At 10:25, we arrived at the State Park under sunny skies. It took a short trail through massive old-growth western red cedars and Sitka spruce that were dripping with moss and lichen.








The falls are 319 feet if three-tiered, awe-inspiring cascade goodness. They are the tallest in the Coast Range and perhaps the tallest in the state west of the Willamette River. It was a 1/2 mile trail to the falls and back.

Unfortunately, when we returned to the truck, the other vehicle in the parking lot had been broken into and various items stolen. Their car was there when we arrived and we passed them on the trail leaving as we were going in. It was a very secluded location.



Our next stop was the Tillamook Air Museum, which is housed in one of the few remaining World War ll blimp hangars in the nation....the largest wooden structures in the nation!

The museum features one of the countries top private collections of more than 40 World War ll aircraft. The planes are housed in one of the world's largest clear span wooden buildings.

The massive  hangar is 1,072 feet long, 296 feet wide and 192 feet high (over 15 stories). It covers over 7 acres (you could play 6 football games at once), and the doors are 120 feet high.

In this pic, Marcel is standing in the doorway with s safety cone on his head!





At 12:30, we left the Museum and made our way to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company. We were under the mistaken impression that it was a cheese factory, but turned out to be a large commercial venture.
"We are an Oregon-based company celebrating over 30 years in business in the Pacific Northwest. There is something here for the entire family. Sample our famous Blue Heron Brie, try our gourmet foods, taste Oregon's finest wines or wander through our unique gift store. We also have a wonderful petting farm for the kids to visit. If you are looking for a fantastic place to eat lunch, try our Blue Heron Deli with fresh baked bread and homemade soups and salads. So take a day off with family and friends and spend it in the country with us."
It was interesting to sample items, but not what we were looking for.
So, it was off to the Tillamook Cheese factory, just down the road.



On our arrival, although we found a parking space right away, the place was crazy packed and noisy!
We'll try again first thing tomorrow morning.




Decided to leave and go  for lunch at the seafood place across the highway. Turned out that they were not taking any orders for at least 20 minutes in order to catch up!

The next idea was to drive the "Three Capes Scenic Loop", a 40 mile Scenic Byway running along the coast, passing 3 Capes.


Once we arrived in Netarts, we came across "The Schooner", a waterfront restaurant and decided to stop for lunch. I had Clam Chowder and Marcel enjoyed a healthy serving of Fish & Chips.

Another change of plans - one has to be flexible, but by the time we finished lunch , it was 3:00, which was too late to drive the "Loop". The nearest Lighthouse is at Cape Meares, so we headed there.







At 3:20, we arrived at Cape Meares State Park.












Oregon's shortest lighthouse stands 38 feet atop Cape Meares and 217 feet above the ocean.

The lamp was first lit January 1, 1890 and the beam was visible to shops decks 15 feet above the sea and more than 21 miles away.
In 1963, the stubby, stalwart lighthouse was decommissioned.



There was a sign for the "Octopus Tree" that we has to check out. Yet another short hike led to this unusually large Sitka Spruce tree aptly named for its unique shape.

The forces that shaped this unique Sitka Spruce have been debated for many years. Whether natural events or Native Americans were the cause remains a mystery. The tree measures more than 46 feet in circumference and has no central trunk. Instead, limbs extend horizontally from the base as much as 16 feet before turning upward. It is 105 feet tall and is estimated to be 250 - 300 years old.
Awesome!

So ended our day.....

Saturday, August 2, 2014

I was up at 6:15 this morning to work on catching up on the Blog. I was 2 days behind!

At 9:15, we left Crown Point RV Park in 20C sunshine. The GPS routed us 1 1/2 miles down the 10% grade, but I later realized that I had not activated the vehicle profile! Oops....Learning curve.......

We headed west on I-85 towards Portland.
By 9:50 we were through Portland and on to US 26 , west to the ocean!

At 10:12 the highway name changes to Sunset Highway, and becomes single lane.
By 10:20 we were climbing to Sunset Summit. Present elevation 500 ft.

At 10:25, we reached 1000 ft. then down, then back up to 1,000 ft.
We reached Sunset Pass (1635 ft) at 10:41

11:13am The Sunset Hwy ends at US 101, the Oregon Coast Hwy.

We arrived in Cannon Beach at 11:20. The town was named for the cannon that washed ashore from the USS Shark, a schooner that shipwrecked in 1846.


We walked around the town and stopped for lunch at the Driftwood Restaurant. Marcel had Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl and I had a bowl of chowder. It was very good. And so the seafood-fest has begun!








The coastline includes the world's third largest offshore inter tidal monolith, Haystack Rock. Towering at 235 feet over the beach, the rock is home to nesting seabirds, including puffins and cormorants.
Hopefully, you can see the Rock framed by the tree.
This was our first view of the ocean!




The remaining drive was uneventful and we arrived at Pleasant Valley RV Park in Tillamook at 2:00. I had booked for one night, but we decided to stay for three nights - power(50 amps) and water, Wi-Fi and 52 channel cable TV!  Settled in......

Tillamook is Oregon's unofficial dairy capital. Much of the county's annual milk production of 25 million gallons is made into cheddar cheese. I sense a tour coming up.......

Friday, August 1, 2014 Lazy (but costly) day

It was overcast with light rain early this morning, but by 10:00 the light showers gave way to sunshine.

After contacting the TireMinder head office (a tire pressure monitoring system) to explain that they were malfunctioning, we went to Camping World. Unfortunately, they did not have a replacement, but gave us a better set for the same price. The extended warranty paid off! All it cost us was $60.00 for another extended warranty.

After wandering around, looking at things, we decided to purchase the Magellan RV GPS. We have been looking at it for a couple of years & after my GPS took us up that 10% hill, figured it was time! With this one, you input the type of vehicle, height, weight & width and it will not route you where you cannot go! We shall see.....

Next stop was for us both to get haircuts, which we did at a barbershop in Gresham.

When we got back to the RV park, it was 27C.

That sums up our exciting day.

Thursday, July 31, 2014, Columbia River Scenic Drive

We set off driving east on the Historic Columbia River Hwy 30 on a beautiful sunny morning. Construction of the Highway began in 1913, and was considered one of the greatest engineering feats of the modern age. The Columbia River Gorge is 80 miles long and up to 4000 feet deep, cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Range.

The first stop was at Chanticleer Point, where we got our first glance of the Columbia River and the Gorge.












The Vista House at Crown Point is an Oregon treasure, one of the the most photographed and recognizable in the Columbia River Gorge.











Built soon after the highway was dedicated in 1916, it offers a 30-mile panorama of the Gorge from 733 feet above he river.












To help motorists navigate the 600 foot vertical drop from Crown Point, a series of "figure-eight loops" were engineered, that gracefully wind down toward the river.

Once back down to the level of the river, we encountered a series of eight remarkable waterfalls in the next five miles.



They were each majestic in their own way and I wish I could post pics of them all, but photos do not do them justice.

The third one we encountered was Bridal Veil Falls, which involved a 3/4 mile hike down to the viewpoint then 3/4 mile back up to the parking lot. It was well worth it.



Next was Wahkeena Falls, a 242 foot (73 m)  waterfall that has a subtle cascading flow instead of plunging directly to the ground. We took the steep 0.2 mile hike which climbed 900 ft to the stone bridge that crosses the main part of the falls. Each of the Falls involved a hike up or down to reach a viewing point!

Next, we reached the granddaddy of the Columbia Gorge waterfalls - 620-foot Multnomah Falls. Only 3 waterfalls in the nation are taller -  and none is more beautiful. A trail from the Multnomah Falls Lodge leads to the lower cascade then zigzags to the top. 

We went to the first stop, the bridge, which offered a beautiful view. The falls plummets 543 feet to the upper plunge pool, descend another 69 feet, plus an additional 8 feet in between to total a 620 foot fall!
 The pic on the right is looking down from the bridge.





The next stop along the highway was at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery, where we went on a self-guided tour.

In the Egg Incubation Building, salmon eggs are incubated beginning in October, after they have been fertilized during spawning.The eggs develop into small fry and are placed in the outdoor rearing ponds the following February.

The rearing ponds are normally used for Coho and Fall Chinook Salmon and can hold millions of fingerlings.







Next was the White Sturgeon pond, home of Herman, the sturgeon that is over 10 feet long, weighs over 450 pounds and is over 70 years old!

Sturgeon like to eat things off the bottom of the river, sucking the food into their mouth, like a vacuum hose.

There were also Rainbow Trout Ponds, which are for the enjoyment of visitors as Bonneville does not raise trout for distribution.

Following the tour, we drove half way across the river to the Bonneville Lock and Dam Visitor Centre. The project’s first powerhouse, spillway and original navigation lock were completed in 1938 to improve navigation on Columbia River and provide hydropower to the Pacific Northwest. A second powerhouse was completed in 1981, and a larger navigation lock in 1993.

There was a guided tour starting five minutes after we arrived.
On display outside was a turbine that was put in to service January 9, 1941 and was taken out of service for replacement July 24, 2000. It weighs 123 tons.
The water churning through the spillway is not presently producing power. Biologists found that a high percentage of young fish survive when they go down through the spillway.











The fish ladder helps the fish gain 60 feet elevation. Adult fish ladders at all eight lower Columbia and Snake dams were integrated into the design of the dams beginning with Bonneville in 1938. These ladders consist of a series of steps and pools which provide a gradual upward climb over the dams for returning adults. To steer the adults to the ladders, "attraction" flows at the downstream ladder entrances simulate conditions that would be found at the base of natural waterfalls. The concept has proved effective for adult fish passage.

There are two powerhouses at the dam, each with eight generators. The total generation capacity of both facilities is 1,227 megawatts or 1,227,000 kilowatts.

This is the powerhouse that we toured. We enjoyed our picnic lunch on the grounds before continuing the drive.








From the dam, we continued east on Interstate 84 to exit 64, Hwy 35 at Hood River, to drive the Mt. Hood Scenic Loop. Along the Hwy, we passed many orchards and fruit stands.  It was getting very warm, so we stopped at Packer Orchards for some cherries and an ice cream cone. Delicious!


A little further along, we had a view of Mount Hood, which rises 11,239 feet in splendid isolation, dominating the horizon for miles around. It looked interesting with the clouds over it - these were the first clouds we have seen in a few days!
The peak is the highlight of the Mt Hood National Forest and the highest point in the state.





We completed the loop after going up to 5,000 ft and down to 900 ft a couple of times. The temp when we returned was 29C and the thermometer in the trailer registered a high of 34C (outside).
Total driven today was 234 km.