All posts by paula

166 - Caspar Beach, CA

The coastline around Ft Bragg

One day while we were staying in Caspar Beach we took a drive up the coast about 30 miles.  We’d already been on that coastline when we came into town, but it was so foggy we couldn’t see anything.

On Wednesday the day was extremely clear, very few high clouds and no marine layer!  So we jumped in the car and drove up to where Hwy 1 turns inland, and then returned along the coastline to see the shore and all the rocks in the water. 

It’s amazing about those rocks!  As I said in a previous blog entry while we were in Oregon, the rocky coastline is a result of the two tectonic plates along the coast ramming into each other, one side gets pushed down and one side gets pushed up.

The coastline is very rocky and in some places there’s a gradual slope down to the cliffs.  We saw several farms and ranches along the shore.  And, some houses perched right on the cliff.  I got a good picture of one of them just above a beach with very large rocks scattered around.

Here are the pictures we took on our coastline drive:

166 - Caspar Beach, CA

Travelling past the huge landslide area on Hwy 101 again

Several weeks ago when we were travelling north towards Washington we drove Hwy 101 from Klamath to Crescent City, CA.  The highway had suffered a major landslide a few months before and it was CLOSED most of the day while workers cleared it.  Overnight and for 2 hours at lunchtime they opened it one lane so there were still delays.  We left very early that morning so we would be past that area before they closed it from 8am-noon.  It was kind of foggy that morning so we didn’t get a real good look at the area.

Now we are heading south through the same area and we learned that it was no longer closed for several hours at a time  So we were able to go through that area a little later in the day and got to see it real well.

It’s a huge, high cliff that slid onto the road!  I can see why it took months to get it cleared enough and secure the cliff enough to allow traffic through it again.  Here are a few pictures:

166 - Caspar Beach, CA

Staying on the beach at Caspar Beach

We’re staying a week in Caspar Beach, CA.  It’s near Mendocino and also Ft. Bragg.  Our RV Park is right on the beach, literally just across the narrow country road.  The beach and the RV park are in a narrow ravine with cliffs right out to the ocean.  The beach area has tons of rocks and also lots of seaweed, so with the cliffs on either side the smell can’t get out. 

One day I had walked over to the beach and when I got back to the road I saw a young deer standing in the road.  When it saw me it moved to the other side in front of the RV park store and I got a picture of it before a car scared it enough to run. The next day I saw him again inside the RV park so it must live around here.  I haven’t seen any grown deer and this one is so young, I wonder if it’s an orphan?!?

Here are pictures of the beach, the front of the RV Park and the deer I saw:

164 - Florence, OR

In Florence, OR again

We’re back in Florence for another week as we make our way back south. Since we were just here a few weeks ago as we headed north, we didn’t do any sightseeing activities here. We relaxed and enjoyed the area. So, no posts. But, I did make a post about a new hobby of painting small rocks which I am leaving at the RV parks. It’s a fun and creative way to spend a little of my downtime since I can’t knit or cross-stitch right now (arthritis in my thumbs!). I made a separate post about that in the “About Us” section. Check it out.

163-Tillamook, OR

Cape Meares Lighthouse

While staying in Tillamook, OR, we took a short drive to the coast to see the Cape Meares Lighthouse.  It’s right at the edge of a cliff at the shoreline and so isn’t very tall.  It was an important location as there are many rocks in the surf that could cause damage to ships.

We were able to drive to about ¼ mile from the lighthouse and park.  Then, it’s a short walk out to the edge to see the lighthouse.  It was sloped down which meant sloping up to get back to the truck but Laddy (who isn’tsupposed to exert himself due to his heart condition) managed it very well.  On the walk back we took it slow and stopped several times.

The lighthouse wasn’t open, no tours or brochures or anything.  But I looked it up on the internet and found that it was the most powerful and brightest lighthouse in the late 1800.  So much so, that birds were getting disoriented by the bright light and hurting themselves running into the cliffs.  The lighthouse was changed to be not quite as bright which made it less of a danger to the birds.

There are often nesting birds on the rocks or cliffs and this is apparently a great place to see whales, but we didn’t see anything.  Wrong time of the year I guess.  But the walk was pretty, the lighthouse interesting and the shoreline with all the rocks was great.  One cluster of very large rocks had two small arches down at the water level.  The arches were so perfect it almost looks like they were manmade rather than made from the pounding surf against the rock.

There’s another attraction right near the lighthouse, Octopus Tree.  It was an uphill walk so we didn’t go to it, but I included a picture of it I got from the internet.  It’s a really unusual looking Sitka spruce.

Here are pictures:

163-Tillamook, OR

A trip into Portland

We had to travel from Tillamook (on the coast of Oregon) into Portland yesterday for a vet visit due to Laddy’s heart condition. Our vet is Banfield which is a nationwide chain and works well for us as Laddy’s records can be accessed from any location.

But, Portland is 1.5 hours away! So, we jumped into the truck with some snacks and plenty of water and headed inland. As is normal nowadays we dropped Laddy off and were told we’d be called when we could pick him up. They estimated 4 hours! Like most every business they are short staffed and doing the best that they can.

So, we drove around a little bit, parked in a nearby lot for a while, and then took a drive to a Panera for lunch. Afterwards we went back to the parking lot and just hung out till it was time to pick up Laddy.

Three things I noticed about Portland:

  1. their road and freeway system is weird! I’m used to driving in big cities, having worked in downtown San Diego for many years, but Portland is just weird. Lots of one way streets which isn’t a problem for us, but to get to a freeway we had to go right for a block, left for two blocks, right, left, up, down, in, out, it just was not straightforward or simple. We had the same situation getting to the Panera which was near the airport. We actually had to go into the airport, circle the parking structure, come back out again, go past the Panera to be able to turn left and circle back around again. At one point going from the Panera back to the vet we changed from one state highway to another and had to exit and travel several blocks in a residential area, left and another left and back through several blocks just to get to the next highway. Just weird!
  2. The homeless situation in Portland is very bad. In the downtown areas there are tents and tarps and piles of junk everywhere! The temperate climate must attract a lot of people. The bad part about the situation is the trash that the homeless people leave blowing around everywhere near them. You can always tell when there’s a homeless encampment nearby because of the large amount of trash along the road, on the embankments along the freeways, etc.
  3. We’ve heard a lot in the past several months about the violent protests going on in Portland. In a facebook group I belong to for full time RVers I’ve actually seen people ask if it’s safe to go to Portland because of all the violence. Hm…we saw 4 people in BLM tshirts holding signs on 2 street corners. That’s all. I know there were some large protests and at least one turned violent (because of ANTI BLM protesters who crashed the party) but we saw a very calm and quiet city.

And, luckily, Laddy vet appointment didn’t give us any bad news. He’s 12 years old and has a heart failure condition called DCM (dilated cardio myopathy) so he’s on medications and has to be kept from exerting himself but he’s a happy good boy.

That’s it from our day in Portland!

Here’s a couple of pictures of Portland, I didn’t take these I got them from the internet:

162-Chehalis, WA

Mount Saint Helens – 41 years after the eruption

We stayed in Chehalis, WA, about 60 miles away from the Mt. St. Helens  observation center, so we drove up there one day to see how the mountain and surrounding areas have changed since we last saw it in 2013.

In 2013 when we came it was really foggy all the way up to the observation center.  Thank goodness it was clear when he hit 4,000 ft so we could get to see the mountain. This time it was high clouds with good views all around. 

The dome is definitely still growing and steam is coming out of it in the same place.  Also, we saw steam coming out of the side of the mountain where there wasn’t any in 2013. 

The visitors center was closed and there were no rangers this visit which is too bad since they had so much information and were so helpful and friendly.  But, Washington State is taking the continuing pandemic seriously, with mask mandates etc. so we knew it would not be the same.

It is still an eerie place to be.  There still so much devastation in the nearby areas even after 41 years you can see some of the downed trees pointing in the same direction.  The vegetation is slowly creeping up the sides of the mountain but most of the mountain is raw and dead.

As we were leaving the observation center we noticed a notch high on a hillside across the valley.  We pulled over and looked through the camera and noticed an arch in the lavarocks along the ridge.  We took a photo which I included.  Very interesting!

Here are some pictures we took: