Heading for the Home Caves

Sunday, September 15, 2013

It was quite warm over night and we didn’t sleep well. Had the windows all open so we could also really hear all the trains going by. We were sandwiched between the tracks on the Oregon side and equally as busy, the tracks on the Washington side. Oh well, who wanted to sleep anyway.

We fueled up and turned east again. There were many RVs and horse trailers coming out of Pendleton. I think it must have been the first weekend of the Roundup. The Walmart lot and others close by were still packed with RVs. We had stayed in that lot during Roundup a few years back, and it was a zoo.

The rest stop at the top of Cabbage Hill was open. Coming the other way there was a closed sign, so we didn’t think it would be open. It would have been much cooler to stay up there overnight.

Taco Bell in La Grande drew us in for a late breakfast/early lunch, and then we went down a back country road, 203, toward Baker City rather than fight the high winds on the freeway. It was a real pretty drive. We checked out the Buffalo Peak golf course in Union. Wouldn’t want to play there in summer. We couldn’t see any trees for shade.

We drove through the parking lot to check out the historic Hot Lake hotel, and then drove through a small state park with camping. It looked inviting, and was inexpensive since there were no hookups. Maybe we’ll try it someday.

Our destination was the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City. We needed to get some stamps there, and never seem to go through at the right time of day. This time we made it. We had been there many years ago, and found it very interesting again.

From there it was about two hours home, so we got in at a decent hour and got most of our stuff unloaded.

We hope to catch you again on our next trip.

Into the City

Saturday, September 14, 2013

There was a troop or two of boy scouts in the campground last night, and they were having a good time. They did seem to observe quiet hours, but just! They certainly didn’t sleep in. But they were having fun, and we didn’t really care if they were a little noisy.

We had breakfast at the picnic table, then got every thing cleaned up to go. We were on highway 6 between Tillamook and Portland. It was a pretty nice road following first the Wilson river and then Gales Creek. Betty wants to take this road more often so she can stop at the cheese factory for ice cream!

Not too many miles down the road we joined highway 26 and headed for Portland. We were glad we weren’t going the other direction. Road construction had them backed up for miles.

We merged onto 217 and then I5 before turning off onto I205. Then it was nine blocks to our destination, the McLoughlin House. It is listed as part of Fort Vancouver, and had some stamps we needed. Of course our route took us right past the car show happening in town, but we didn’t stop. 

As we got parked, a tour was just started, so we joined it. The story of the house was very interesting. Our guide is a vice president of the association for the house, so was very thorough in his talk. In fact, just a little long winded! But he told some good stories about it. Had some actual photos from moving the house from down the very steep hill to its current location, and a lot of history about the family that owned it. Some of the furnishings were more than 200 years old.

After the tour we went into the Barclay house next door to get our stamps. They were having a hands on craft demo, and there were several people sitting around the tables doing some fish scale embroidery. They were using shad scales which are much larger than salmon scales, and embroidering them onto fabric. One of the ladies leading out had some really nice samples of previous projects she had done.

Proceeding on up I205 to I84, we headed east out of the Columbia River Gorge and on to the little park area just below the John Day dam. We can stay the night here if we can stand the heat and the noise from the trains!

Leaving the Fishing Behind

Friday, September 13, 2013
Taking one last stab at the fishing, we enjoyed the river and ocean while we could. We hate to leave. We did leave all the fish behind today, although one woman brought in a huge silver. Everyone around agreed it was probably the biggest one they had ever seen. Lucky her – and it was a keeper, not wild. I think that might have been the only keeper brought in today. As Fred tells it, she made it quite clear that her hubby actually caught it and brought it in. But she was still quite proud of it. There were a number of smaller or wild ones again.
Wilma fixed breakfast burritos and took out so Fred and Barney had to take a breakfast break.
When the water started to change and filled with crud, they came in and we started getting ready to leave.
We stopped by Costco on the way out, and they were having a community awareness day. There were several tables set up. The police had an officer there with a lot of brochures, and the local hospital had a wheel you could spin to win prizes. Betty and Fred both got lip balm and sunscreen, and Wilma and Barney both got a little bag of first aid items. They let us get away with that even though we are from out of town.
Then we had a fuel stop at Freddies before finally heading south. We wanted to check out the next state park south of us, but the sign out on the highway said they were full. On a busy Friday afternoon, you had to believe it, and we didn’t take the time to go down to see it.
There was a little county park on down and we checked that out, but it was more expensive, without even water and electricity. Wilma could see a couple of small campgrounds on the map that were along our route, so we went on.
Lunch was had at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, a grilled cheese sandwich and fries, along with ice cream. It was very good. When we came out of there we had about 40 minutes to get to a lighthouse that we had tried several times before but it was always closed. Heading out there we were taking the long way and were barely going to make it, but we got there in time to go down. It is quite a steep path for about two tenths of a mile, and we hurried as well as we could. You feel like you could just tip over and roll down!
With about four minutes to spare, we entered the gift shop, got our books stamped and they even let those that wanted to go up to the light. We took a few pictures, and very slowly made our way back up that steep path. We were so glad we hadn’t come up with any other delays before getting there! As it turned out we had to go the long way because the other road was closed.
Now it was time to find a camping spot. The first two on the map were both walk in tenting only. The rest stop on the map just plain wasn’t there, and we were doubtful of the last marked campground, but it was good, and we were lucky to get good spots. It seems like a very busy little campground.
It was still warm enough that we wanted to be outside, so we built a fire and roasted marshmallows. Then turned in for a good night of rest. No early rising to go fishing tomorrow.
If I can find them I want to post a couple more pictures to yesterday's post, so you might want to check it again later.

Another fishing day

Thursday, September 12, 2013
Today was a fishing day. We didn’t do much else.
We went out about 8 am. It was foggy and overcast. The clouds remained all day. We enjoy being out on the river because there is usually something going on. Today there wasn’t as much large ship traffic on the river, but there were a lot of larger fishing boats going out. And we got a picture of the Oregon coming in, although it wasn’t the infamous Oregon from the Clive Cussler books.
Fred got the first fish, but it was a smaller one so he couldn’t keep it. Then Barney got a big one, but it was wild so he couldn’t keep it.
They came in for lunch because too much sea grass and junk was coming in. One of the guys out fishing told us he caught 5 fish during our lunch, but they were either too small or wild, so he couldn’t bag any of them.
After Barney and Fred went back out Barney brought in two large crabs, and that was pretty much it for the day’s fishing.
Before we left the river we checked out another area, but that didn’t really appeal to us, so we will return to the same area tomorrow.
We asked about camp sites for the weekend, but they only had one left in the whole campground, so we will start heading home. It could take us a couple of days to get there.
Before getting our water and electric hooked up we decided to go out to the beach overlook and have our dinner out there. Wilma cooked up some of the salmon, parmesan batter bread and potatoes. Betty added a salad, and we were stuffed. We had just been talking about how one order of fish and chips might be enough when we go back to the Bowpicker, and then we ate probably more tonight. Fresh salmon is great!
But we cooked a little too much and had to share some cooked fish and bread with the gulls.

FISH ON!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Barney got a fish today! Probably 26 to 28 inches – very nice. They went out fairly early because he was going to use a smaller rod and spinners instead of the big bait stuff. Pretty nice to bring one in!
Fred stopped for bait and then joined him on the river bank. By the time the tide shifted and it was better for bait fishing, we had been out there long enough and called it a day.
It was very foggy again this morning, but was clearing at the campground and towards town, and then socked in again. The coast never did clear.
We had wanted to get fish and chips again at the Bowpicker, so did that for a late lunch thinking we would have salmon steaks for dinner. It was late enough and we were so stuffed, dinner was not called for. 
Fred needed a new rod, so we stopped at Big 5 and Freddies and got something acceptable. Now to see if we can kick them out of bed early enough for some good fishing tomorrow! That will be a challenge. Since the campground is so quiet in the mornings it is nice to just laze around.
Happy Birthday TJ.

Another beautiful day at the coast

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Location: Fort Stevens State Park, Hammond, OR, sites 220 and 284

It was very foggy this morning, but predicted to be in the 80’s.

Wilma made scones for the road, and we headed out to the fishing hole. As Barney and Betty pulled up there was a lady leaving that had a fish in her bag. Same lady Betty saw leaving yesterday with a fish.

You could not even see if there were people out on the river bank because it was so foggy. The guys got geared up and went on out. We could not see where they stopped. Another person left, so Wilma moved their rig to a better location, and sat back and read for a while.

It was starting to clear as Betty and Wilma went out to see what was happening, but the mouth of the river was still thick in fog. We could hear a fog horn and could see a small fishing boat but wondered how it could have such a might blast of fog horn. Then all of a sudden along side the small boat came a large freighter.  Shortly after it passed we could hear more fog horn, and in came another large freighter.

Then a barge pusher came out from up river and just sat. Soon here came a tug pulling a barge, and once in far enough the pusher got in position and there was a lot of clatter as the tug was disconnected and steamed off. The pusher slowly made it’s way up the river. (Okay, I don’t know what it is officially called – it can’t be a tug boat because it doesn’t tug! – maybe it’s a shover!)

The ship report had said there was a luxury yacht coming in too early for us to see, but you wouldn’t have been able to see it anyway because of the fog. It must have been pretty big and fancy. It had six staterooms and cost $34 million.

The ship report is a podcast we can listen to that tells all about what is going and coming on the river today, and what they are carrying. It’s nice to hear that and then see the river traffic.

Still no luck catching, but Barney had a mighty pull and snapped his line, so something must be out there!

We made a quick stop at Taco Bell, and then stopped at Highlands Golf Course. It is a walk only 9 hole course that is a lot of fun. If you aren’t straight on, you have many hills to climb! Barney may have been the only one to not lose a ball on the scrubby hillsides. But we all had fun, even though it was very hot to walk the course today. The back side is closer to the ocean, so was somewhat cooler. There is a pretty good hill to climb as you go to the 9th hole, and by then you are drooping anyway, but we all made it.

What a great day we had. Hope the same for all of you.