This is a continuation of our travels down the Oregon coast. It's from about a month ago.

After leaving Seaside after just a few

Nice stonework roadbed on Hwy 101

days, we packed up and moved down to Pacific City. After setting up, we decided to drive around and see the

Great view of the coastline looking south

place. It was another sunny day and warm. There is really not much to see here beside the beach, no

Our Pacific City campsite with a view out to the ocean

shops to look in, some restaurants and that's about it. Lots of mansion like houses on the

A map of Pacific City

hillsides, so looks like a

ritzy area. We were driving down the road and I saw horseback riding with

running on the beach if you'd like and the hourly rate? $45!!!!! Holy cow! I remember when I paid $10 an hour, what happened??? When we were kids, we'd go to the stables, rent the horses and go out on our own on the trails. These

At the beach in Pacific City

days it seems we have to be monitored and go with a lot of people at once, not sure why, maybe too many lawsuits of people getting hurt? That's why they have waivers to sign, you are riding at your own risk...

We did do some driving on the beach, though. I am being surprised at every turn about Oregon and Washington. Apparently, there are some places on their coast you can actually drive on the beach! So, we went out on the sand, drove around, got kinda close to the waves and took pictures with the Jeep and the waves.

While we were still in Pacific City, we got a phone call from some Boomer friends who used to be fulltimers, but, they have since bought a house in Florence to be near their daughter and granddaughters who live in Eugene.

On the beach

They are the friends we stayed with when I was recuperating from my broken ankles. Anyway, she was inquiring as to when we might be down there and we told her we were trying to change our reservations to come in earlier at South Jetty. So, we made arrangements to meet the morning of the 19th to go kayaking, yippee!! I was hoping we could get together with them and do this and I've been watching the weather down there and it looks like it's going to be perfect for doing just that!

Meanwhile, I was on the computer trying to change our reservations around, but, not having much success at it. So, I finally had to call member services and got it all taken care of. We are leaving here tomorrow and spending three days in Newport, I know there will be more things to do around there, then, down to Florence. We plan on meeting up with the Bornkamps who are down at Winchester Bay catching crabs. I want to see how it's done and see the crabs in person. From what I've seen on FB, the crabs look huge!


We have decided that we probably won't come back here, as there is just not that much to do, unless you like sunbathing a lot. We only stayed the two days and then were on our way down to Newport. The campground is about 5 miles south of town and the internet is very iffy, we couldn't even get out, so didn't even bother.

Our campsite at Newport Thousand Trails

When we got to the campground, we walked down to the clubhouse to see what was going on and they were having tacos, so we decided to join in. We ended up doing some games as well, something we hadn't planned on participating. When it was all done, I was doing something and Ron

walked into the internet room and found Sam & Alice Penney on their computers. We had seen a truck out front with a Boomer sticker on the back window and it said "Penny" on their car pass and I figured it would probably be them. I hadn't seen them in awhile, so was looking for them in the clubhouse. I'm glad we finally found them, so talked with them a bit. They had already been there a week and were up there doing their laundry before pulling out the next morning, so we didn't really get to see them all that much.

On our way down here, as we were passing through Lincoln City, we passed a place where there were all these wind things, I'm not sure what they are called, but, they reminded me of the ones I saw in the movie, "Twister", where the grandmother had them on her front lawn. Of course, these weren't on such a grand scale, but, still, it was great seeing them all. I told Ron that even though it was half an hour back up the road, I wanted to go see them the next day. So, the next day, we drove back up there. It was part of an art gallery and of course, they were all for sale. Ron asked and the guy said they ranged in price from $300 to the very simple into the thousands of dollars. After looking and taking pictures of them, we went into the art gallery itself and saw some really cool and unique items. One of them was a kaleidoscope made of cut glass pieces in different colors, in a kind of oil. Once you stopped twisting the end, it still moved and changed, which was really cool. They weren't that expensive and I should have bought one, but, I didn't.....they had lots of other neat things in there, as well.

After leaving there, we stopped and looked at all the interesting sites along the coast and could see the fog rolling in, the farther south we went. At one point, we saw some whales in the distance. Of course, we didn't actually see the whales, as they were too far off shore, but, we could see them exhaling as they came to the surface. About the time we came to Depoe Bay, the fog was coming in thick and fast. We ate at a restaurant there and again, had the crab sandwich, this time served on

The fog is rolling in....

sourdough bread instead of a croissant. It was good, but, not as good as the one we had in Seaside.

The next day, we decided to stay in camp. While Ron watched a movie, I took a walk along the beach, which was just a little ways from the campground, across the highway. The day was hazy, but, still okay. I have found that if you are looking for whales, watching them from the level of the beach is not a

Being a lighthouse keeper was a lonely existence

good place to see anything, unless you are watching dolphins swim in the surf. It wasn't until I got back to the path and was up a little ways that I saw some more whales in the distance. The problem was, the fog was starting to come in again, so they were right at the edge of it. But, I did

Beach across from campground

see a couple and they were being followed by tour boats, because I could see a reflection of something winking back at me, most likely a camera flash or something. I followed them for a little while before the fog swallowed them up. When we come back this way, I would like to stay at Newport longer than just a couple of days.

The next day, we left to head for Florence. We had a nice drive, but, some of the grades going up and down the mountains between Newport & Florence were almost a bit much for the old girl. We finally arrived safely to our campsite at the Thousand Trails about a mile outside of town.

Our campsite in Florence

We called our friends, Frank & Mary, and then went over to their house to see them and go for a short hike behind their house into the dunes. Their house backs up to a forest of trees and they even have a cute little creek running through it. They've built up the rocks so that they have a little waterfall flowing through and it sounds quite restful. Ron got introduced to Frank's flock of chickens and we both got to meet their new puppy. You know, I had all this commentary written out before I lost half of it and I used to know the name of the puppy, but, now the name escapes me. She is a boxer mix and very cute. She loves to chase balls and sometimes brings them back. She loved our walk, because she got to explore off leash on most of the trail. On our way home, we picked a bunch of blackberries, some blueberries and a raspberry, that Mary is going to make a cobbler out of tomorrow night. We made plans to meet the next morning for our kayak ride.

The weather dawned like it was going to rain, but, we braved the elements and

Heading out....

went anyway. We went to a nearby lake, planning to spend a couple of hours on the lake. It's been five years since we last kayaked, with them,

Remains of an old ship

as a matter of fact. Within just a short time of paddling, Ron was already realizing he was out of shape. I did okay, but, we both agreed that if we'd gone on the last trip we made with them from one of the lakes in the area to the sea, we would not have made it back....funny how five years can make such a difference at our ages. It doesn't seem possible that we were in better shape back then, compared to now and back then, we hadn't paddled in ages...

Sharon looking at the scenery

We had arrived right in the middle of her work schedule, so although Mary had her days free, she still had to work nights, but, that was better than if she'd had to work days.

Lots of stairs to climb from the boat dock

The final day that they were going to be in town, we went beachcombing to a beach we hadn't been

to before, just up the coast. We saw lots and lots of driftwood, but, little else of treasures.

Frank, Mary & their new puppy, Trudy

I envy them living on the coast, because when their big storms

Interesting patterns in the river running into the ocean

come in, they have the opportunity to go out and see what treasures have been brought in by the sea. All around their house, they have little baskets of small glass

Ron and I walking in the fog

floats from Japan, small glass medicine bottles from Japan or Russia, agates, shells, etc. We did bring home a piece

of driftwood which we each signed and

Driftwood log jam

hung on their netting on the side of the house.

On Friday, they left to go camping with their kids at Silver Falls State Park,

Visiting Gordon & Laura in Winchester Bay

which is east of Salem, so we were on our own once again. So, we contacted fellow Boomers, Laura and Gordon, who were in

Catching crabs

Winchester Bay catching crabs. We found it was only 20 miles south of us, but, first, we drove down to Coos Bay, because Ron had always heard

Look at all those crabs!

about it and wanted to see what it looked like. Well, we came, we saw and we were not too impressed, just a

I think this one may be a bit too little...

town, but, not a cute little beach town, because it was on a back bay. So, we just drove through,

Female

turned around and headed back to Winchester Bay.

Male

Had a great day learning all about how to catch crabs in a trap, clean

Look out for those claws!

them, cut them up and then, later cook them. We walked around the area, can't

Measuring

even hardly call it a town, there's a gas station/mini mart, and a small grocery store/bakery/mail room/gift

Cleaning and cutting up

Someone cleaning their salmon

store.They also drove us around the bay area, they had two traps

Laura & Gordon Bornkamp, me & Ron

out in the bay which one of their friends was checking the nets and one off the

Salmon fisherman in the bay

dock. There's a lighthouse run by the Coast Guard and we saw

Checking crab traps

some oyster beds out in the bay. Lots of people in the channel out to the ocean, some were fishing for salmon and

Throwing back a female

others for crabs. We had a late lunch of fresh crab, YUM!!! Then, joined everyone for happy hour. Laura gave us some more crab to take home with us, and the very next night, we had them for dinner!!! I told Ron, I

Oyster beds in distance

Standing on docks looking up into "old" town of Florence

want to come back here and catch my own crab so we can have fresh crab

Looking out towards sand dunes

whenever we want.

Saturday, we stayed home and caught up on laundry and other things, but, Sunday, went off to "old town" Florence and walked around the shops. We found a farmers market and I bought some "sungold" cherry tomatoes, they have a nice sweet taste

Unique window decor

to them and also some squash. We took lots of pictures and even met a mother and her two daughters who had crab traps right off the dock in the bay. They were doing pretty good, considering most of their catch were females, which they had to throw back, but, still, they had a goodly amount of males.

Under the bridge

Another view