Today we went into Astoria. It is a gorgeous city cozied right up to the end of the Columbia River, the filming location for the movie “The Goonies” and a locale chock-full of architecturally magnificent wood residences. Peggy’s family spent some time in Astoria when she was a kid because her dad had some contracts here and I find it easy to discern why she loves the place.

Since Oregon, and particularly the Columbia River, played crucial roles in the now flagging old-growth timber business, all the structures here were built of wood. Not a lot of cast-in-place concrete or masonry buildings can be found in town. However, the craftsmen that built the houses were very proficient at their trades because the hundred year old structures are still standing and they look very spiffy.

We drove our rather large truck up and down the narrow streets of the hill above the commercial district, gawking at the hundreds of gorgeous houses. Only a few people gave us the fisheye for holding up traffic while we were ogling the structures. They were mostly very nice about it. While making a nuisance of ourselves we also spotted many deer living in the abundant vegetation between houses. They were happily nibbling on expensive, labor intensive landscaping bushes and flowers, only to scamper away when we got too close with our noisy truck.

We worked our way up the huge hill above the business district, ultimately ending up at the Astoria Column. The Column should actually be called the Tower because it doesn’t hold anything up. The Column itself is located on the highest point of the surrounding terrain and truly stunning views of the Columbia, Lewis & Clark and Young Rivers watershed areas. Huge freighters, tankers and barges look tiny as they make their ways into and from the ports of Oregon and Washington. The Column itself is spirally decorated with historical scenes from the area although some of the scenes may be interesting to white folks, they may appear to be a sanitized version of the re-allocation of Native American lands into the hands of timber, fishing and mining interests. Either way, it is still very pretty. Spry young people and those in good physical shape can take a long spiral staircase within the Column and arrive at a small observation platform at the top. Just when we looked up at these hardy folks we spotted a bald eagle pair flying above the humans. They had the best view.

On our way out of town, we made a stop at Henderson’s Smokehouse to see if they had any kippered seafood for us to add to our larder. There were several people inside shopping with only one person behind the counter who seemed overwhelmed by making more than one transaction every quarter hour. Fortunately for us, it gave us ample time to check out the prices for smoked fish attractively displayed in the refrigerated cases. Once we spotted prices in excess of $40 a pound for smoked salmon, we faded to the back and finally chickened out. We will continue to search for the kippered snacks we get at grocery stores that have prices closer to $2 a tin.

We took a few photos in Astoria. To see ’em, click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/frnQvHKfuVbH4WVJ7

Today we were pretty boring. We went to Costco where Peg went in and stocked up our larders while I drove into town and bought fuel. We really like the fuel prices in Oregon. Just a couple weeks ago I was paying almost a dollar more per gallon in California. How much money is enough for that state?

We went exploring in the park today. Fort Stevens was originally a military facility which consisted of a myriad of gun emplacements and blockhouses intended to protect the Columbia River from bad guys. I doubt any shots were fired because the Columbia River bar, just beyond the long breakwaters, is a formidable hazard to shipping with massive waves, swirling currents and nearby shorelines littered with wrecked ships that failed in their efforts to cross from the Pacific Ocean into the Columbia River. The fort was used by the Army from 1904 to 1944 when it was decommishioned. When the Army finally gave up the unneeded property, the state turned it into a glorious state park.

The first place we visited was Coffenbury Lake, a gorgeous fresh water lake perched in the sand dunes near the ocean. There are great picnicking sites here with very nice views of the lake and abundant birds. We had just eaten so we then headed for the Pacific shoreline where we could see the rusting hull of the Peter Iredale, one of the ships that had the bad luck to unsuccessfully cross the bar, ending up smashed on the beach instead. The water is quite cold here. I don’t know if any survived.

We also took a spin up to the Columbia River where we could see large oceangoing vessels struggling upstream with lots of frothy wakes but very little forward progress. The Columbia is a monster and drains a huge watershed extending to Montana. All of the water comes out here so there is

a formidable current running toward the sea. Across the river in Washington State, we could see little dots moving around which we determined were cars and trucks. The river must be five or more miles across here at the outflow. At the end of the land in Washington it is called Cape Disappointment which seems suitable, considering the difficulty of crossing the bar offshore.

We also took a spin into the old headquarters area of the fort. Many of the buildings have been demolished but there are some that still remain, most notably the brick guardhouse with thick bars used to keep miscreants inside the brig. There are many gun emplacements built such that the cannons could be fired over the tops of the walls but reloaded by grunts who could hunker down out of the way of any return fire. These were sturdy, cast-in-place concrete structures and still stand in their original condition.

To end up the day, we cruised into the nearby town of Hammond, where we found a fish joint called Buoy 9. My fish and chips were great and Peggy was delighted with her clam strips. Prices were good (about $15) and we found they have WiFi so we will probably return so I can post this blog stuff.

There’s two pix. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/K3ZQkcDTF5Zof1q37

Today was a travel day. Since the Thousand Trails Pacific City Preserve has fabulous scenery but few sewer hookups, our first stop was at the park’s only dump station. This particular dump station has very narrow lanes bordered by yellow painted pipe bollards to protect the drains and hose reels. We know about this because when we visited here 5 years ago I turned just a bit too sharp for the conditions when exiting the challenging conditions and ended up with some of the yellow paint on the very back section of our trailer’s right side wall. We cleaned it off so I wouldn’t look so clumsy.

This time, we got through the dump station much lighter and unscathed and headed for US-101. US-101 is a superb highway but the section from Pacific City to Seaside is very twisty and there is quite a bit of climbing and descending as one passes north through the coast range of mountains. By the time we made it to Hammond, the town next to Fort Stevens State Park, we had taken 3 hours to do just over 90 miles of spectacular highway. Our average, despite the 55 mile an hour speed limit, was 30 miles per hour. It was strange coming across speed limit signs that indicated we better not be exceeding 55 followed closely by cautionary signs with a curved arrow suggesting a proper speed in the upcoming series of turns was probably no more than 30. We pulled over whenever we got more than a couple cars behind us, which occurred regularly.

We got to Fort Stevens SP about 2:00 PM and Peggy headed into the Ranger station to get the paperwork associated with our reservation. We then moseyed down the park roads until we found Loop M and then Space 54. It is a very nice pull-through space with spruce and hardwood forest surrounding it. There are full utility hookups here. What there isn’t is proper phone signal or WiFi. The towns of Seaside, Warrenton and Astoria are all nearby and we figured, incorrectly, that there would be phone and data communications. We were mistaken. Nevertheless, the park is absolutely beautiful with old growth spruce and alder trees, good roads and lots of stuff to see. We rewarded ourselves with cocktails in the shade after our arrival and setup. This is our second visit to this state park, the last time being in 2014 on our initial trip with the Barbarian Invader fifth wheel trailer and our sturdy Ford F-250 truck.

Today we had no set schedule and very little idea what we were going to do. To fill in our day, we decided to do a bit of exploring around Pacific City located about 4 miles south of our RV park. Accordingly, we started out by going north along the coast, checking out the superb views of forests, offshore haystack rocks and shoreline bluffs. After a few miles, we came to Clay Myers State Natural Area at Whalen Island, which is a county park that has a day use area and overnight camping. There are no utility hookups here but that doesn’t bothered the locals who were out in force with their fishing gear. Unfortunately for them, the only fish we saw that anybody had hooked were perch, a notoriously bony and almost meat-free species with large, difficult-to-remove scales and nasty spines on their backs.

This area is not on the coastline and Peggy wanted to take a stroll. Since this is estuary, walking alongside the water occurs not on sand but on mystery mud that is typically underwater. Peg was not impressed so we moved along. Next we went south, through Pacific City, which was almost deserted compared to yesterday. South of town we drove out on a long spit that ends at the Bob Straub Wayside. Bob Straub was a former governor. The little park has facilities for hiking, horseback riding and beach strolling. I climbed up on the berm between the parking lot and the long sand beach and found a seat on top while Peggy continued onto the beach. It is a very nice section of coastline but today it was very breezy; I was sandblasted each time I tried to look into the wind.

We called it quits after visiting the Wayside. We retreated back to the trailer and out of the wind. We also did a bit of prep for leaving tomorrow when we are scheduled to make the ninety mile run up to the Seaside area.

There’s some pix. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/N7Hycv64Vkt3tWdQ8

Yesterday, as we drove here from Florence, we crossed the 45^th parallel which means we are now north of the halfway line between the equator and the North Pole. Although the weather this year is still a bit chilly (nighttime temps in the low 40’s), we are approaching the summer solstice so it does not get dark here until about 10:00 PM. This morning I got up just after 4:00 AM to take care of a personal matter and it was already getting light. This part of the world would probably be a good spot to grow marijuana since there is plenty of sunshine when there is sunshine.

Regardless of the amount of light in the morning, we still got up around 0800 hrs and dawdled away the morning taking showers and having a nifty breakfast. Afterwards, we piled into the truck for some local exploration. Our first destination was BJ’s Quilting in nearby Cloverdale. Peggy popped in for a shopping visit because she likes this kind of store and came out still holding some of her money. I admire her restraint when shopping in stores where they only sell stuff she would happily acquire in dumpster loads if she was not careful.

We also passed through a town which we suspect was called Beaver because they had a shop called Dave’s Beaver Maintenance and another called Beaver Firearms and Grocery. We did not see any beavers there.

We continued north on US-101 to Tillamook. There is an enormous blimp hanger, now an air museum, along the highway south of town. There used to be two hangers but one was re-purposed into a gigantic processing plant where they make compost with the abundant cow poop available in dairy country. Back in the early 1980’s, Tillamook cheese was made here in a small facility where they had a small parking lot for the few visitors who ventured to this remote part of Oregon. When I visited back then, there were two or three others in the small store with me, sampling and purchasing the great cheese. Things have changed. Now the Tillamook cheese factory is enormous with many impressive stainless steel vats, loading docks, huge warehouses and a new, modern facility for the thousands of visitors awaiting their chance to see what happens when milk is mixed with rennet. The parking lot is about the size of Disneyland’s. There were hundreds of people outside, either departing with their loot or waiting in a long line to get in to acquire some. We snapped a few pictures but declined to get in a long line to buy cheese readily available in supermarkets. We did stop not far down the road at a place called Debby D’s Sausage where we picked up some summer sausage and jerky before turning west to head out to Cape Mears.

Cape Mears is the northernmost of three capes along this section of coast. Accordingly, the coast road is called the Three Capes Scenic Route which passes Cape Mears, Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. It used to be a loop but the road inconveniently slid into the sea above Cape Mears and the state has apparently decided to leave it unrepaired. The road is quite serpentine and wanders up and down steep hills. I know why they call the middle section Cape LOOKOUT! The coastline and offshore rocks are stunningly beautiful and home to lots of sea critters, We spotted many types of sea birds that have established nests on the abrupt, vertical basalt cliffs at the edge of the Pacific. There are also lots of sea lions who have hauled their chubby bodies out of the water on long sand spits and set up colonies that look like a bunch of logs or fat joints, pointy on both ends.

We eventually found our way back to our RV spot near Cape Kiwanda where we rewarded ourselves with cocktails. It was a very nice drive today.

Click the link to see pix. https://photos.app.goo.gl/P5jJQb1P8H4y8Ndt7

This morning, we gathered up our chairs, antennas and bird feeders and loaded them into the trailer for travel. Since Thousand Trails South Jetty has almost no sewer hookups for it’s guests, we got to pull into another unoccupied campsite to dump our tanks because their regular dump station is allegedly being upgraded. It looked like the upgrade, currently, is some faded yellow construction caution tape gaily strung between the former water piping in the contemplated dump station demolition. No evidence of work or progress on this facility was evident during our stay at this sewer-piping challenged campground.

We turned north on US-101 and took a gorgeous drive up the coast through Florence, Yachats, Newport and Lincoln City before turning off for a short drive to Pacific City. Here, we found another Thousand Trails facility with many campsites but few with sewer, 50 amp electrical or decent roads. We took a trying drive through the park, including one turnaround with barely sufficient space and much steering wheel wrenching before settling on space F5 which we were able to slither backwards into with only a moderate amount of cursing. There is naturally no sewer in this site. The satellite antenna works very well but there is no data service, WiFi or phone. The last time we visited this campground, in 2014, I clumsily rubbed the rear right corner of our trailer against one of their dump station bollards protecting some gravel and making exit difficult. This left a small yellow badge of incompetance on the rear skirt that took a long time to rub out. I hope to avoid a repeat performance when we leave this year.

This morning we engaged in our usual, rather sluggish start before jumping into the truck for a short drive to Darlingtonia Wayside located about 5 miles north of Florence. Despite what it sounds like, Darlingtonia is not a NASCAR track or a city in West Virginia. Darlingtonia is scientific-speak for a pitcher plant, also called a cobra lily. It is a strange looking plant that grows in boggy areas but it has a weakness – it needs certain nutrients that can’t be obtained from the bog so it has evolved a unique strategy. It captures, kills, dissolves and absorbs bugs through clever characteristics involving smell, vision and stupidity on the part of the bugs.

Not being bug fans, Peggy and I can truly appreciate any form of life that devours bugs so they can’t devour us. We noted that, as we strolled the short trail from parking to viewing, there were plentiful flying, squirming and crawling insects. However, once we got on the wood walkway and viewing deck surrounded by the Darlingtonia, there were no bugs. I grin every time I think about the nasty creatures that formerly occupied the airspace and ground around these plants. I hope they died slowly.

After finishing up there, we took a spin around nearby Mercer Lake where some fortunate Oregonians have nice houses overlooking the cedar-lined pond. I drove Peggy to a quilting store and sent her inside but she took mercy on me and was only in there for about 5 minutes. We also went to a place called B.J.’s 48 Flavors Ice Cream where some strange things happened. Peg ordered some of their homemade Jamocha Almond Fudge and was quickly served with a small cup of some stuff she described as “Lysol flavored” and with one almond that could not be cracked by expensive dental work or a claw hammer. I tried to get some regular old chocolate ice cream but the girl behind the counter told me that today, as it turned out, they only had 47 flavors. We were not overwhelmed with our success.

We fueled the truck on our way back to South Jetty and our traveling home because tomorrow we will sod off and continue our northward trek.

See the weird plants. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/QgHQjXZGygKtRA4H7

Today we did the laundry.

It was pretty boring.

It is also our daughter’s birthday. Happy B’day! Dana called us while we were trudging through the wash cycles and we had a nifty conversation. We could be there to celebrate with her but we are here, instead. This retirement stuff is quite nice.

Today was moving day again. We left what I consider to be the nicest park we have stayed at in our travels in Remote. We pulled out of the park onto OR-42 which we followed northwest for 42 miles through Myrtle Penis and Coquille before merging onto US-101 about five miles south of Coos Bay. We continued through Coos Bay, North Bend, twenty miles of beautiful highway, Reedsport, another twenty miles of beautiful highway and pulled off the road into South Jetty TT in Florence.

South Jetty seems to be an older park and management is currently involved with allegedly fixing issues of past poor maintenance. They seem to be approaching the problems in a mysterious fashion because the roads are still lousy, most RV spaces do not have sewer hookups, numerous sites are closed and unoccupied, the WiFi is only available at the Activity Center, the regular dump station is closed for renovations where no renovations are in progress but the old business office has been coverted into a nice sales office. Their laundry, however, is superb with plenty of washers and dryers.

We got a spot with a gap in the trees south of our RV such that we can use our TV satellite dish which needs a clear shot towards south. I doubt there are more than five percent of our fellow campers that have a signal. We made up a big pot of beef stew for dinner. It was great because it is a lot cooler here than down where we stayed in California and stew seemed to warm us right up.