There is an Eddie Bauer outlet store on the corner not far from our campground and Peggy convinced me to take her over there to check out the prices. Since I hate shopping just a bit more than root canals, I did not go into the store but Peg did and seemed to have a real nice time. She returned to the truck only $10 poorer and I had to send her back into the store to try harder. It didn’t work and we then left since she had not found a way to spend more.

We then went on a short drive through Seaside to see if we could see the sea. Seaside has very narrow streets that only have parking on one side and/or are one-way. Sprinkled along the streets are some gorgeous beach houses and retreats but getting to them is probably easier for those familiar with the traffic patterns. It may have many spots that you cannot get to from here, regardless of where here is. Nevertheless, the houses we spotted were very nice. The drawback of Seaside is that it is a resort town and the tiny downtown tourist section was infested with out-of-towners like us that clog up the skinny streets by driving their vehicles into the maze. There are not many spots where you can see the sea from town, unless you walk down the beachfront promenade.

Seaside pix available if you click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pphwpsw62acf6fNb8

Today we went to the Costco in nearby Warrenton. The last time we hit a Costco was in Mount Vernon about a month ago and it was definitely time to re-stock our larders. We also went to eat at a great fish joint in nearby Hammond called Buoy 9 and the food was just as tasty and reasonably priced as the last time we were in Fort Stevens which I think was back in June or July.

The rest of the day we spent watching the birds squabble over access to our bird feeder stuck on a prong next to our trailer. There are very pretty Steller’s Jays, hawks, redwing blackbirds, chickadees and my favorite – nuthatches. Once all the songbirds discovered our feeder, there has been almost continuous activity and we have to fill the feeder daily.

Birdie pix. Click linhttps://photos.app.goo.gl/sDN1vEjrH2WdKuV4Ak.

We were surprised to awaken this morning to only partly cloudy skies and some sunshine. Our previous 10 days have been filled with funky weather and we were delighted not to hear the little drops drumming on our slide-outs today.

We took advantage of the nice weather by driving a few miles south to Ecola State Park in Cannon Beach. The road going into the park is sort of hidden in a residential neighborhood but we persevered and found our way onto the serpentine, single-lane access road. The road has no guardrails or striping and once over the edge, life would be short and bleak as your vehicle tumbles down the steep canyons alongside the access. The road also passes through an outstanding primordial forest with massive trees, scant sunlight and lots of moss.

Soon we came to an iron ranger that took $5 for us to enter. We coughed up the electronic money and continued on to what is described as the “viewpoint.” The viewpoint is actually a large grass expanse with a few nice benches for sitting while awestruck at the stunning views of the Pacific, waves and the Oregon coastline. The big grass area is where they filmed the scenes involving a restaurant occupied by the evil Fratelli clan in the Spielberg movie The Goonies. The view from here to the south is a spectacular scene of massive offshore rocks called haystacks (as a matter of fact, the biggest one is unsurprisingly called Haystack Rock) and the view to the north is of the Tillamook Point lighthouse which is built atop an offshore haystack rock with a large, turbulent section of ocean keeping tourists at bay. It looked like the only safe access is by helicopter or parachute. Boating looked right out.

The $5 we spent to get in soon seemed like an excellent deal. This park is breathtakingly gorgeous and gets 5 stars on our unofficial guide to nifty places.

For Ecola pix, click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/bx2CLBsdc7K8eUH96

Last night it rained and it kept it up this morning. I thought we were going to be blessed with a wet departure, including wet heads, hair and clothes but about 8:00 AM the rain quit. We quickly shlepped outside and made final preparations to split. By just after 10:00, we were coasting down the hill from Paradise TT to US-12 where we turned west about 20 miles to I-5. We turned south to Longview and Kelso and exited the freeway, crossed the Columbia River and continued west on OR-30. No sooner had we turned onto OR-30 when we came upon a vehicle wreck blocking part of the other side of the divided highway. It appeared than some inattentive soldier had flipped his heavy Army vehicle into the ditch such that it ended up on its side pointing the wrong way. Many other brave warriors were lingering alongside the road as another Army vehicle tried to crane the now-ruined truck and mobile machine gun platform from the muck. The ruined rig looks like it will now provide parts but not transportation. Maybe an hour later, we passed through gorgeous Astoria and continued on OR-30 a bit further where we got onto US-101 south to Seaside. Not far off 101 we pulled into the Seaside Thousand Trails for another nearly-free stay at one of our membership campgrounds.

Seaside TT has full hookups and decent sized spaces but no WiFi. Our satellite dish works well here. The campground is right on the west edge of town and abundant shopping and touristy stuff is nearby.

See the Army. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/NhzmMBTq3mEQNpeG6

Still raining and dropping little Fir cone bombs on the roof. We prepped for departure, cleaning up all our outside stuff, filling the water tank and dumping the waste tanks. Peggy generously went down to Paradise TT’s laundry and knocked out a couple of loads. We might as well do mundane, miserable but absolutely necessary stuff since it’s raining anyway.

The weather is keeping us pretty close to home. It has been alternating between cloudy skies, darker skies with substantial rain and wind. We are currently set up on a gentle slope covered with Douglas Firs and although the ground is relatively clear, the canopy of branches blocks almost all upward views. Little fir cones keep dropping on the roof of our trailer and, since they are falling out of very tall trees, they make a fearsome noise when they hit. We are glad they are little bitty Douglas Fir cones instead of the more cantaloupe-sized Sugar Pine cones.

We ventured out to the nearby town of Ethel to fill one of our two removable on-board propane tanks that keep our stove, water heater, fridge and furnace happy. We were trying to time our journey, acquisition and purchase so we wouldn’t be caught outside while filling the tank and enjoying the benefits of cold, wet clothing. Timed perfectly with our arrival at the first gas station, in Silver Creek, was a furious deluge so we chickened out and went over to look at nearby Mayfield Dam. By the time we got there – a distance of about three-quarters of a mile – the rain had quit so we turned around and headed back. By the time we got there it was raining again. It’s been like that all day.

Undefeated in our quest for diesel and fuel gas, we turned west on WA-12 to the town (gas station & general store) of Ethel where they had a very shiny and spiffy propane delivery system. Our timing was great because we didn’t get wet. To show what psychics we are, we felt we would be very lucky and we drove back to the Silver Creek gas and diesel station where I filled up on slightly cheaper diesel. We didn’t get wet there, either, but by the time we had gone the 1.5 miles back to Paradise TT, it was raining and pretty much stayed at it until bedtime except for a brilliant flash of sunshine right before sunset. The effect of dazzling sun through the shady grove of mature Fir trees is stunning.

It has been raining, sometimes quite alarmingly, since yesterday afternoon and we would typically hunker down in the Barbarian Invader until the wetness passes. Today we broke with routine and got up early, had a large container of fortified coffee and then hopped in the truck to make the half hour drive over to Centralia to eat at a place called Berry Fields.

We had spotted this place on the internet but once we arrived, we realized it was in the same building as some antiques stores Peggy has visited before. The antiques stores are a half flight of stairs down in sort of a basement while the restaurant is a half flight up in the first-and-a-half floor. The flights are outside and today’s rain ensured we were damp before we got inside.

The breakfast menu was extensive and many possibly yummy meals were available to us but, for some reason, we were unable to put in our order for quite some time. One server gave us two glasses of water and Peggy’s coffee but then the service went south. There seemed to be ample staff and the joint had some open tables; I started to think we might be funny-looking because waitresses just kept passing us by. Just about time I was going to leave, a skinny gal showed up and finally took our order.

It is fortunate that we waited because my chicken fried steak and eggs were great and Peggy’s eggs, bacon and French toast were all very good. Peg generously let me have a bit of the French toast and it was luscious. Getting some syrup to put on it was problematic but we finally prevailed and got to eat it before it went cold. The prices were pretty good – we got out for less than $30. Berry Fields seems like a great place to eat if you can get by the atrocious service.

After a delay getting the staff to take my money, I wandered back out into the hard rain to play Solitaire in the truck while Peg went downstairs to do some antique shopping, a practice I find intolerable and without possible purpose. She emerged not much later with only some stuff, none of it usable or necessary for us but Peg defeated me by explaining the stuff was for the kids and I was welcome to dummy up. I complied.

Peggy had me take her to the local ScabMart where she picked up enough grub to last until we get to Seaside (next week) and enough self-destructing RV toilet paper to last until we get back to California. Leaving ScabMart, I turned the wrong way but, after only about 10 minutes of confusion, we were able to find the freeway and our way back to our cozy trailer. Well, actually, it was only cozy after we ran the heater for a while. It’s getting colder. Time to continue south.

The recent weather has been overcast skies with intermittent rain. These disappointing conditions have kept us pretty close to our trailer which is currently parked in space 107 at Paradise Thousand Trails Resort in Silver Creek.

Fortunately, there was a lull in the rain this afternoon so we took a spin along the banks of the Cowlitz River. After just a few miles west from our campground on WA-12, we arrived in the town of Salkum. There’s not much in the downtown area but they do have a nice regional public library with speedy internet. In Salkum, we turned south until we arrived at the banks of the Cowlitz where there is a little side road to a salmon hatchery. There is a nice big parking lot for boat trailers and RVs, the hatchery ponds, mysterious pieces of fixed equipment behind fencing and the gorgeous emerald green waters of the Cowlitz as they tumble over a barrier dam and fish ladder. Because of the extremely slow nature of our wanderings, we were able to linger near the barrier dam where we soon spotted very husky salmon jumping up the waterfall and into the upper reaches of the river.

Our next stop was just a few miles further west along the riverbank. We pulled into the Cowlitz’s trout hatchery. We visited this facility on previous visits to the Cowlitz and the last time here we spotted a pair of bald eagles perched in the riverside alder trees. They would have a superb view of the trout- and salmon-filled water rushing by below, allowing them a wide selection of fish dinners.

Our friends weren’t there today but we’ll be checking back.

We continued downriver until we got to the village of Toledo where we crossed the river to the south bank. The road on the south bank is quite different from the road on the other side. There are some very nice houses concentrated near Toledo, but the further you go upriver, the less there is to see. The river is only visible from a few spots and the road eventually craps out in an enormous expanse of stubby reforestation and a view of only the gravel. We turned around when we ran out of road and headed back through Toledo to our cozy trailer. Not long after we arrived home, the rain started up again and it was open for business. We are glad we have sealed up all the leaks.

There’s 2 pix. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/bYsXsnHsFEjANsRp6

The rain quit early this morning so Peggy and I went to a place called Ramblin’ Jack’s Rib Eye over near Chehalis for breakfast. They serve a pretty good breakfast although it ain’t cheap. Their chicken fried steak was okay but Peg had a Denver omelet that she said was quite good.

We took the back roads on our return trip to Paradise TT. It is very nice to drive the rural routes here. There is almost no other traffic. Sometimes we would not see another car for ten or fifteen minutes as we skulked our way through this magnificent combination of farm and forest.

Today, as we left the Paradise campground, we looked out to the east and could see three volcanoes above and the beautiful Cowlitz River Valley below. The weather was delightfully clear this morning. About in the middle of this staggering view sits the town of Mossyrock, famous for nothing. It is surrounded by plentiful farmlands and nursery facilities and not far from the edge of Mayfield Lake, actually a reservoir backed up by Mayfield Dam.

We started east on WA-12 but as soon as we crossed the lake, we turned east and south onto some very narrow but almost traffic-free rural roads. Many other folks must also admire the scenery around here because we passed by some attractive places folks have built for themselves overlooking the magnificence. Neighbors are scarce, the lakes are gorgeous and the mountains beyond are stunning. Smart builders have installed large shaded porches and comfy seating on the fronts of their houses and those porches offer unbeatable views of the gorgeous lake and pasture environment.

After considerable zigging and zagging, we emerged in Mossyrock. We have been there many times before and we suspect the local economy must be improving because there were many old structures we thought were going to die of neglect that have recently been purchased and renovated by the locals. Mossyrock seems to be on a comeback.

Leaving Mossyrock, we took another back road and were able to make a visit into Ike Kinswa State Park on the shore of Mayfield Lake. Unfortunately, there was a sign at the gate indicating that although the water and areas away from the lake were okay to visit, there was some problem with areas of exposed shoreline lake bottom that the Ranger was suggesting was nasty. We didn’t investigate.

This afternoon it started to get cloudy and in the early evening it started to rain quit vigorously. The drumming of huge raindrops on our white fiberglass trailer slide-outs was almost biblical and a few times during the evening the rain got so intense that it blocked the signal to our satellite antenna, killing TV-based entertainment for part of prime time. Since there is hardly anything we want to see in prime time, it was not much of a crisis. We have books, DVDs, movies and shows on thumb drives and an auxiliary hard drive and a PS4 with Red Dead Redemption II so our entertainment options are varied even if the TV programming takes a dump.

There’s a few pix. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/tJMy5M7i9WLA45VR8