What an entrance we had arriving into the state of Oregon from California. First off, the weather dramatically changed to overcast and damp. It was beautiful in an eerie vampire type of way. It was one of most memorable drives that we can now laugh about, but at the time it was no joke. The windy turns and dips in the road along the 101 were quite a feat for our 31 foot trailer and we were pretty stressed out wondering every few minutes if our trailer hitch and front end of the trailer itself would hit the road. Once we pulled in to a gas station where we discovered you cannot pump your own gas anywhere in Oregon (its actually against state law), we did in fact bottom out 3 times trying desperately to get out of the gas station! The entrance and exits were sloped pavement inclines unnoticed by cars or anyone not towing. Man did we look ridiculous pulling two 10 point turns with a trailer and yelling at each other trying to find the least grade to get out of that bloody gas station. It was definitely not meant for trucks or trailers. Then as we mosied along getting over the recent scratch of our hitch along the gas stations concrete, we hear Lennon tell us he HAS to go #2 NOW!. At this point we are on a barely 2 lane winding mountain road with no shoulders to pull over and no gas stations or towns for the next 30 minutes! So desperate times call for a thick plastic bag and a man-made latreen in the backseat of the truck all the while Alex is concentrating on not driving off the cliffs edge or bottoming out on the not so trailer friendly road! lol After all that road trip drama we arrive in Sunset Bay campsite only to discover there is zero wifi and zero cell signal anywhere. In fact most of Oregon campsites are complete dead zones. Hence the very late Oregon blog as we got quite behind on our blog and way behind on netflix shows! lol However, Oregon was a beauty! Despite the few hiccups that we now chuckle about (Lennon proudly tells everyone he pooped in a bag in the truck) we really loved the outdoor wonder Oregon had to offer! From tide pools, lush greenery, dune buggies, mountains and tons of water falls! Check it out! The tide pools were definitely the highlight of our Oregon stay. The kids LOVED poking anemones to see how sticky they feel, catching tiny crabs and sea snails, to splashing in the tiny pools of water the tide left behind. The star fish spottings, the waves crashing, the seals on all the coast lines and the dramatic misty, low cloud cover falling over the densely lush forests that lined the coast. It was amazing! The weather turned around for us too during our stay as we got a few hot sunny days as well as the dark misty ones you come to expect from Oregon.
We rented dune buggies in Honeyman State Park and of course that was a TON of fun! That state park was a great campsite with an awesome kids park and close to the small picturesque fishing town of Florence. We walked around Florence and enjoyed talking to the local crab fisherman and sampled local produce as well as window shopped of course. I really loved the fresh local produce and it was interesting to see the medicinal marijuana shops everywhere we drove. The laid back outdoorsy feel we got from our time there was really nice. Though at times frustrating to have no connection to our devices, to me it was nice and quiet evenings, Alex on the other hand started to twitch after a week. lol Oregon is beautiful for sure and really has a ton of outdoor beauty to explore for free. My favourite spot was Cape Cove where we spent the entire day exploring the tide pools, the beach itself and the caves along the shore that were tucked underneath the old and scenic Heceta lighthouse (built 1888) that watches over the cove. Cape Cove also had a great little hike out to the tide pools and two great spots; Devils Hole and Thor's Well. Both these places look amazing with the powerful waves crashing in and around them. I even managed to get way too close to the Devils Hole and got absolutely drenched when a HUGE wave came crashing in! Lesson learned...we all had a great laugh and Alex of course captured the entire event on his iPhone LOL. Shortly after Cape Cove, we ventured inland to Silver Falls State Park near Salem. This was a wonderful park with some really spectiacular hikes. They are famous for their 11 waterfall hike which takes some crazy amount of miles to do...so we opted to visit the first three which took us about 3 miles and it was absolutely stunning! All in all, Oregon was a wonderful place!! |
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