Gold Beach OR / July 4th

Going to try uploading a few pics from today.  These are the views as you turn into our campground.  This is a creek that runs to the ocean and the bridge in the distance is the 101.

We heard there were jet boat races on the Rogue River at Huntley Park, just about 7 miles east of Gold Beach, so we headed off in that direction.   Unfortunately the paper didn't mention what time the races were so I think we arrived too late as all the boats were trailered.

We walked down to the river and found a hidden campsite, although I don't think our rig would make it in.

As we left and headed back to Gold Beach we saw this mama and her two babies! 

We then found our way to another beach access here in Gold Beach.  Lots and lots of driftwood here

We decorated a bit for the 4th - see our flags?

Fireworks started around 9:30pm/10 up here so we drove over to the Port and found a spot to put our chairs.   Wasn't too terribly crowded but they allow fireworks here and people were firing them off everywhere.   Pretty sunset though

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

Gold Beach, OR / Day 4 / Laundry

I understand I have readers who only want to look at pictures so you can skip this post.  We sorta took a day off yesterday.   I cleaned "house" and we went to "town" to do some laundry and then we had our happy hour, then I made my version of enchiladas and they turned out pretty darn good!

I don't have any pics so here's a pic of my cutie pie back in good ole Cali!  

Gold Beach, OR / Day 3 Continued

This is the wreck of the Mary Hume.  I won't bore you with the story, I'm sure it's online.  But the pictures above are the differences in tides.   The top pic we took in the AM while the tide was out and the bottom later in the afternoon. 

We travelled back north on the 101 for a bit to Port Orford and found the Prehistoric Gardens near Arizona Beach.  Caleb can you believe it?   A T-Rex and what's the name of the other one?

Look what we found - a Tsunami siren.  Yup they do exist but fortunately that is not what I heard a few nights ago. 

Pictures from our little road trip today.   Can't get enough of Oregon's beautiful coast.
We did a little shopping and signed ourselves up for a little adventure come Monday - so please stay tuned!   It's going to be way out of my comfort zone.........

When we got back to our site, we took the trail walk to the beach.   It's exactly 2000 steps round trip so that's good for us.   You actually walk on a narrow little trail along the river under the 101 bridge and then onto the beach.  

See the turtle?  That's how the resort got it's name - Turtle Rock RV Resort!  

Gold Beach, OR / Day 3 / Visit to Gold Beach

We explored Gold Beach a bit today.   The morning bought lots of fog, so when we set off the Patterson Bridge over the mouth of the Rogue River here in Gold Beach was shrouded.  But by the time we returned this way the skies had cleared.

Gold Beach / Day 2 / Visit to Brookings OR

Wow was sleeping really good when I heard, even with my ear plugs in, a siren.  It rang a long time  It was about 12:30ish and all I could think was it was a Tsunami warning!   Gary even woke up but he decided it was a volunteer fire department and they were calling people in.  I waited a while for the giant wave to wash us away but it never happened, so I went back to sleep! 

We had to do some banking and bill paying this morning and then headed south to Brookings, Oregon to check things out there.   Another beautiful ride down the coast and Gary took some more pics. Brookings is a quaint little seaside town with a port area and the requisite gift shops and fudge. Gary has been sampling fudge this whole trip!  That man does love his sweets.

We made a stop at Harris Beach State Park and we really liked it there.  So it will go on the list as a future spot to camp at.  Right on a cliff at the ocean - lots of trees and shrubs to give each site privacy.
We saw this berry bush, which I believe to be either a raspberry or blackberry bush.  

We checked Yelp for restaurants and settled on one at the port.   We had fish, of course, and it was very good and a very big portion, so no dinner for us tonight. 

We came back to Gold Beach and settled in for happy hour and then Gary took a couple of loads of laundry to the machines and got them going.    I face timed with my babies but Caleb wasn't really too interested in talking to his MiMi - maybe next time.   It was nice to see their faces and hear their voices.

Here are the roadside pics Gary took and pics from the port in Brookings.  Oh and the raspberry or blackberry bush!

Gold Beach, OR

We woke up about 8 and we were in no hurry to get on the road.   Took our time getting "road ready" then hit the 101 by 10:30am.   We only had 126 miles to go today.   Beautiful coast line scenery again today.    We stopped along the road for a potty break and lunch and Gary took a few pics.

I spotted a deer along side the road, and I could read her mind - she was thinking about crossing in front me!     I was able to slow down just in case she bolted across but she thought better of it and turned around and went back from where she came.   Thank goodness.   Four deer and counting! 

Ms Garmin did great today, we crossed three or four pretty darn big and long bridges today but no issues with the RV.   The GPS in the CRV on the other hand had a problem with the last 50 miles of our route.    GPS referred to it as an "unidentified area" and just flat quit showing me how to get where I wanted to go.   No biggie since our destination was on the 101 but jeez, come on, you just quit giving me directions?     I think I'm going to invest in a Mr. Garmin for the CRV.

We arrived here at Turtle Rock RV Resort in Gold Beach.    I had no clue what this park was going to be like and I have to say it's a pleasant surprise so far.   The site pads are on grass, a first for us, but nicely spaced.  We back up to a forested hill and out to the front is the river which flows into the ocean.  We have cable and WIFI (although Gary's hotspot is better than the WIFI) and FHU.   The ocean access is a short trail under the 101 Bridge, so we will go exploring some tomorrow.  The breeze here is amazing and it was a beautiful 65 degrees when we arrived.   Have I said I love the weather here!  

Side Note:   Foxgloves grow wild along the road in Oregon!   Beautiful purple foxgloves.  Can you imagine and today while setting up our site I noticed that there is a fuchsia growing wild in the shrubbery behind us!    At least that's what I think they are.   There are a lot of beautiful flowers here.   Prefect weather for them. 

Side Note #2:   Marijuana was legalized in Oregon and the law goes into effect tomorrow - July 1. At our road side stop to view the beautiful coast yesterday a young couple stopped in their car and proceeded to light a joint and share it.   They then jumped in their car and hit the highway - yikes!  Scary stuff for sure.  

Pirate Ship for Caleb

Almost forgot!    Papa took this pic of a pirate ship for Caleb.  We didn't see any pirates today but we saw lots of them on the train yesterday.   They were having a Pirate Festival at Rockaway Beach!

Ahoy matey!    Mimi and Pops miss you buddy and lil sissy too!

Woahink Lake RV Park, Florence, Oregon

We again elected to not hitch up the CRV since we had just 126 miles to cover today.   The travel today was the prettiest so far IMHO.   Up until today you really didn't see much of the Pacific Ocean.  Don't get me wrong the green trees and shrubbery are beautiful and very nice to see but today was spectacular as the ocean finally came into view.   We pulled over in a turn-out so I could stretch my legs, potty and have a bite to eat and Gary got some nice pictures.  

We moved on down the road.   Side note:  We have a Garmin in RV that is specifically for RV's.  You set it up with your RV's height, width and tell it what to alert you to, low tunnels, narrow bridges, etc.   It's been great - it softly dings when speed limits change, when there are sharp curves ahead; but today it really threw us for a loop.   We knew that our destination was directly south on the 101 and the RV park is right off 101;  but the Garmin kept trying to get Gary to go east to I-5!   Since the GPS in the CRV was taking us directly down 101, we choose to listen to her, rather than Ms Garmin.  I have to admit it made me a little more than nervous, wondering what Ms Garmin knew about the road that we didn't.   But we kept going and felt as long as we saw large MoHO's coming at us from the other direction, there must not be too much of an issue.   Well we figured out the issue alrighty - a tunnel that was only 11' some odd inches on the shoulder!   We sit about 13' some odd inches but the sign also read that the main part of tunnel was 14' some odd inches.   So we just barreled on through and Gary was careful not to hug the shoulder!   Whew!   I felt so much better about Ms Garmin but she really caused me some unnecessary stress!

We arrived at our destination and have a nice pull through site that has shrubbery on both sides which gives you a bit of privacy.   We are only here for a night so shortly after set up we set out in the CRV to explore a bit.   This is Day 8 and probably because I had to drive today,  I was a bit tired and cranky, so we didn't work real well together.    I was a bit snappy (no you say Verleen snappy?) but we hung in there and found the lovely Woahink Lake.    Wouldn't  you love a house on the lake? Some really pretty spots with their own docks for boats and swim platforms. 

We then drove to see the Oregon Sand Dunes Recreation area.  At least as much as you can see from a car.   Really cool, huge sand dunes and lots and lots of ATV's and dune buggies.  You can rent them or take a tour on what looks like a really neat multi-passenger elevated sand rail.   This RV park sits in front of the dunes.   I believe the dunes run for many miles.    Here's a picture of one staging area we found -

We wandered to the Old Town portion of Florence which sits at a small port.   We found Mo's   Diner,but based on a recommendation from a young man at the gas station, who by the way pumped our gas and washed our windshield, (they still do that in Oregon) we decided to pass on Mo's for dinner. The young man at the gas station
recommended International C-Food.  Get it?   C-Food for Seafood, anyway it was delicious.  First meal we've eaten out in 8 days so I went top shelf.  Had jumbo prawn cocktail and garlic bread for appetizers and then I had grilled lobster, some delish grilled veggies and lovely, tender rice!  Gary had fish and chips but with Halibut instead of his usual Cod.   Yummo as Rachel Ray would say.

 I'm pretty sure that brings me up to the minute.   I'm going to watch my Bachelorette tonight - we have cable here!  Take a shower and hit the hay.   We travel tomorrow a little further down the road but will be stopping for 7 days!   Can't wait to put down some roots and take a day off from sightseeing - haha!   Big problems we have eh?  Oh and I need to do laundry.