Rainier OR - Hudson Parcher County Park

OK, it's the 4th of July weekend, and we couldn't find available campsites anywhere. Luckily, we stumbled on Hudson Parcher County Park in Rainier OR during a Google map search. It's not an easy find, so they still had availability for the holiday weekend. Yea!!! So we journey northwest from Memaloose for 125 miles to our next stop. 

The reviews online made it sound rustic and in need of some maintenance. So imagine my surprise to find a quaint, beautiful little park with a woodsy feel and huge campsites. It even had full hook-ups. I love this place! 

Hudson Parcher is across the Columbia River from Longview WA. Longview is a fair-sized port city, so we were able to go into town for a groceries and a meal at Hop-N-Grape Smokehouse Pub. Hop-N-Grape is an interesting place with a portion of the establishment stocked as a wine shop. However, with a name like Smokehouse Pub, at least I went there for the beef!

Our neighbors were a wonderful couple named Josh and Kirsten, who had just started full-time RVing. Josh and Kirsten are not the typical retired folk who are full-timers, but a younger couple who have saved up to take this journey for a year or two. We had a couple of nights enjoying campfires and sharing what we'd all learned in our lifestyle journey so far.

Josh and Kirsten's rig

But now that we’ve gotten past the dreaded July 4th weekend crowd, it’s time to head on.

Mosier OR - Memaloose State Park

Time to leave the shade of Home Valley and move south and east to a slightly more arid region of the Columbia River Gorge, Memaloose State Park near Mosier Oregon. This requires crossing the Hood River bridge, for me, one of the more terrifying experiences of the trip thus far. When I saw the sign saying no wide loads, I didn't think anything of it. Once on the bridge, we found out this means about 6 inches from the yellow line (and two-way traffic) on one side and 6 inches from the guardrail (and the river) on the other side. (No pictures...I was too busy leaning in to the left--which of course keeps the RV from heading to the right and driving off the bridge into the river.)

We'd wanted to spend some time exploring the Columbia River Gorge and managed to cobble together five days at Memaloose state park. Memaloose (like many of the parks in the gorge) is sandwiched between Hwy 84 and a set of railroad tracks. I had read reviews on this place and found us a couple of sites about midway between the hwy and the tracks. In retrospect, if you're in an RV, opt for the sites close to the tracks. Those sites give you a fantastic view of the river, and the noise from the trains (they don't sound their horns in the area) that pass sporadically is a lot less than the constant highway noise. Inside the RV you aren't really aware of either sound.

Our first outing was to the Bonneville Lock and Dam, which includes the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. At the dam, Tom wanted to see the lock the boats use to pass through the dam. He also managed to latch us on to a tour to the hydro-electric power station.

On the way, to the power station, we also passed the fish ladders. There's some viewing windows downstairs. Most of what was passing was shad and lamprey (ick!) I'm glad I'm not a fish; they have to work awfully hard to get up that ladder! 

Unlike Tom, I am all about the fish hatchery. We saw the salmon fry but no adult salmon.

Who knew trout (steelhead) got so big!

My favorite, the sturgeon. Herman the sturgeon lives at the hatchery. He's 75 years old, over 10 ft long, and weighs about 450 lbs.

Our next excursion was on the Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge. The sternwheeler is an actual paddle wheeler that leaves out of Cascade Locks and heads west down the Columbia River.

We took the Landmarks of the Gorge Cruise. The only day the cruise was offered turned out to be the windiest day of that week. So with the wind whipping through our hair, cruised under the Bridge of the Gods.


We briefly took cover inside for breakfast then went out to witness the passage through the lock at Bonneville Dam. It was amazing how quickly the lock emptied and how far down the boat was lowered.

The transmission towers might give you a better idea of scale of Beacon rock

Once past the dam, we cruised down past Beacon Rock, which gave us another perspective of the hike we took a few days ago.












We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, searched for osprey nests, and even got to see a few great blue heron before finally reaching Bridal Veil, Multnomah, and Mist Falls (our turn around point).

We took refuge inside for lunch until once again reaching Bonneville Dam and the ride up the lock. Just as with the lock being lowered, the filling of the lock was remarkably fast considering the size of the volume of water that is needed to fill the lock.

One last little treat on the return to port was seeing all the cute, little sailboats that were being used for a sailing lesson. Initially, I thought they were windsurfers!

The next day, we decided to tackle the Historic Columbia River Highway Trail. As the name says, the trail use to to be part of the Columbia River Highway but has been closed off to cars and is now a hiking/biking trail between Mosier and Hood River. 4.5 miles of paved bike trail! Yea!...Wait! That sign says "moderate to difficult," and I've barely ridden a bile since I left Davis 30 years ago!

Well, off we go...uphill...downhill...ah wait, it's uphill. I didn't make it far, but I did get through the twin tunnels. Well, Tom got a little exercise, and we did get some pictures.

Final morning at Memaloose (Wendy's birthday), we head into The Dalles for brunch at Petite Provence. This time, I get the berry french toast. Tom will have to settle for the savory french toast.

Then we are off to our layover for the 4th of July, Hudson Parcher County Park.

Stevenson WA - Home Valley Park Campground

South end of the Gorge from the Washington side at a wide spot in the road

Well, I guess summertime camping in the Gorge is popular because we had a heck of a time finding a campsite. We've booked five days in Memaloose State Park starting on Sunday, but today is Friday, and we haven't found a site to book anywhere!

The options we scouted out yesterday: some DNR land off a very rutted unpaved road (I [Wendy] nixed this early on), the Skamania County Fairgrounds (there's a blues and brews festival there on Friday and Saturday...maybe go to the festival, but camp there...no), some disbursed camping near the John Day Dam, but it's farther east than we planned to go), and the Home Valley Park (that I called creepy).

Home Valley Park campground entrance

We head downhill from Timberlake to the base of the mountain and look for a spot in Home Valley Park. The campground hidden from view at the back of the park. Yesterday, it was totally empty (with the exception of the camp host in his psychedelic van and teepee). Today as we drive through to pick our site, lo and behold, there are families camping here!

We picked a spacious campsite near the entrance with a view of the Columbia River! We drag our chairs across the road to have lunch and watch the river flow by. Then we see soaring birds! Osprey! There are osprey nesting around here. One disappears from sight, then shortly reappears carrying a fish almost as large at it is. Although I tried, they were too fast, and I was never able to get a picture.

As the day wears on, we find this campground seems to be a well-kept secret for the locals as kids little league teams come out to play, families show up for picnics, and the locals fill all the campsites.

After a hard day's "work" setting up camp, we rewarded ourselves at Andrew's Pizza, half combination and half sausage, pepperoni, jalapenos, and pineapple.

The one negative turns out to be the train noise. Trains are required to blow their whistles at public intersections, and, apparently, the entrance to Home Valley Park is a public intersection. Trains run along the Columbia Gorge day and night, and boy, was it LOUD!

While we were on the Washington side of the Columbia, we hiked (it was climbed, if you ask me) Beacon Rock. Lots of impressive views.

Stevenson WA - Timberlake Campground & RV Park

After leaving Roamers Rest, we had reservations for the Marine Park campground in Cascade Locks, a little town in Oregon in the Columbia River Gorge about 45 miles east of Portland. There is a height restriction due to a 12' train trestle you have to pass under to get to the campground. Results of that test are shown below:

Does it look like it would fit? AKA - Do you feel lucky... well do ya... punk?!

...Sooo we canceled the Marine Park reservations. Now, it's late in the day, and we're scrambling for a place to stay. Based on information from the Marine Park about what's close by, we crossed the Bridge of the Gods into Washington.

The Bridge of the Gods was so named for a massive landslide that created a natural dam of the Columbia River around the year 1450 (still plenty of discussion about the actual date). Click here for some interesting information on this huge landslide and the Native American legend.

Does that skinny thing look like it can hold 26,000 pounds of RV and car?

Personally I think its more likely that the Bridge of the Gods was named because of its narrow and spindly look as it hangs WAY ABOVE the gorge. This has the unsettling effect of giving you a bit of a tingle in the nether regions (if you know what I mean) and can cause folks to invoke their deity. As in "Oh GOD, please get me off of this bridge!"

Once the good spirits of the bridge allowed our safe passage, we found ourselves safely deposited on the Washington side of the gorge. A short drive east and an uphill climb we end up at the Timberlake Campground & RV Park.  There was another uphill climb to find our campsite. The campsites are carved into the side of the hill with some of the numbers posted at the rear of the site, so they were hard to see.

Our site was very narrow with barely enough room to get in and out the door without falling downhill. Well, at least the campground is in the forest and shady as we're hitting near the 100 degree mark. There was one scary moment when someone's pick-up lost traction on the gravel, and their truck and trailer started sliding down the hill.

Our original plan was to spend several days of dispersed (first come first served) camping around the John Day Dam on the east end of the gorge. But temperatures were forecast to reach the century mark, and the east end of the gorge is quite a bit drier with relatively few trees, so that became a much less attractive option. We spent the next day sightseeing and scouting for our next place to stay in the gorge.

Tualatin OR (Southwest of Portland) Roamers Rest RV Park

OK, to whom ever is listening, I take it back! I'm sorry I complained about it not being flip-flop weather!

In search of relief, we visited the downtown Portland riverfront (Tom McCall Waterfront Park). If you don't know your way around, we'd suggest doing a little research on parking before taking off. It was the first time I had ever seen Google Maps using negative arrival times. The waterfront was a good call.

The waterfront was cooler and bustling with activity. From one vantage point, I could see nine bridges crossing the Willamette River, railroad trains across the river, light rail trains, cars, trucks, boats, planes, lots of bicycles, and lots of people walking.

Voodoo Doughnuts storefront

I had been a little miffed with Tom for making me miss out on Voodoo Doughnuts in the morning, but he more than made up for it when he discovered the shop was only a few blocks away from the waterfront and took me there. For those who may not have heard of it, Voodoo Doughnuts is a funky, well-known doughnut shop in Portland. It's open 24/7, and is known to have lines wind around the corner in the mornings. Tom and I picked the perfect time (4:45 PM) and only had to wait about 10 minutes. I had the Pot Hole and Mango Tango. Tom had the Raspberry Romeo and Chocolate Coconut Cake.

Some of the doughnut selection

One of the Four seems to be missing... hmmm

We spent Tuesday afternoon and early evening in downtown Portland, walking around the waterfront, going to Voodoo donuts, playing in the water fountains and otherwise wasting away the late afternoon until dinnertime. We had a couple of options on our list and make a last minute decision to go to the Oregon Culinary Institute restaurant. (Pok Pok will just have to wait for another trip.) The meals are prepared and served by current students. We had a superb four-course meal for $22! What a deal.

I started with the roasted carrot soup because I'm not a fan of goat cheese. However, I must admit, Tom's Grilled Broccolini with whipped goat cheese was better.

Then I had the Shaved Summer Vegetables because I don't like radicchio (Yuck!). Tom had the Radicchio Salad. Who knew radicchio could taste good? Must be the manchego combination...








Our entrees were Pepper-Crusted Hanger Steak and Grilled Pork Loin, both very good.

Pepper-crusted hanger steak

Grilled pork loin

Then we both finished with the OCI Chocolate Dream Torte, delicious! (I tried to take pictures before eating, but...)

If you do try them, reservations are required.

It was the Best of Times, it was the Worst of Times...

A Tale of Two Cities by Tom King

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…
(If the first lady can do it, so can I!)

Prologue 

This literary mini-epic takes place largely in and between two cities: the coastal city of Lincoln City Oregon and the inland city of Tualatin Oregon. The time period was circa - June 2017. The main characters' names have been changed to protect the innocent. Any similarity between them and real people is purely coincidental.

The first of two main characters are the good Captain Dom - a dashing (it's my story; I'll write it any way I want) yet quiet, (and some say) quixotic man, and Mendy - a beautiful, raven-haired woman, who has been reluctantly spirited away from her calm and predictable life in the hamlet of Macramento. They are joined by their trusty 2nd mate Tank - a hairy fellow with a very pronounced nose, who never seems to have much of anything to say.

Chapter One

It was the best of times...

Captain Dom and his first mate and navigator Mendy have been sailing their good ship - the HMS Winnebago, up the California and Oregon coast for the past month. Braving the occasional sprinkle and breeze but all in all, smooth sailing and very fair weather was had, all along this picturesque coastline.

it was the worst of times...

SOMEONE had the bright idea to head inland to take on supplies at the huge metropolis of Port o' Land, and then, after a few days layover, they would continue on to the fabled lands of the Gorge of Columbia. Since Port o' Land was such a big and crowded place, there was no room to dock the HMS Winnebago, so they decided to stay on the outskirts of the Port in the little borough of Tualatin. Unfortunately for the hero and heroine, their arrival to the Port coincided with a heat wave, the likes of which Dom and Mendy had never felt before... well not for at least the last month!

it was the age of wisdom

Why don't we just turn back to the coast they pondered...

it was the age of foolishness

Naw, we planned on seeing the Gorge of Columbia and BY JUMPIN JEHOSEPHATS, we're GONNA SEE IT!

it was the epoch of belief

This heatwave will be short lived, won't it? It can't last... this is Northern Oregon and Southern Washington after all.

it was the epoch of incredulity

After two days in PortLand, we've sailed on an easterly now to the Gorge of Columbia. Tomorrow they are forecasting temperatures to hit the 100 degree mark?? ARE YOU FRICKIN KIDDING ME?? 100 DEGREES?? It's not even going to be THAT hot back in Macramento! What the heck is going on here?!

... to be continued

Lincoln City OR - Premier RV Resort

I was reflecting today on how unpredictable Oregon weather has been. When we started this adventure, Tom said we would use the flip-flop barometer. (This might not have had an impact on me because I wear flip-flops every day of year, summer or winter...although admittedly, *** FASHION POLICE CONFESSION *** sometimes with socks). But the flip-flop barometer implies that we would be following the warm weather. Well, today was the first full day, since we left Redding, that I have worn shorts the whole day (shorts with a jacket for brief periods, but still shorts).

Lincoln City is a nice sized town of just under 8,000 people. about 26 mile north of South Beach.

The Premier Resort sits on a hill. One evening we walked across the street to the Inn at Spanish Head, and had dinner on the 10th floor at Fathoms restaurant. Remarkable view.



We spent Sunday (Fathers Day) driving down the coast and sightseeing. We went down thru the Siletz Bay National Wildlife Refuge...











and thru the town of Depoe Bay. By chance, we then turned onto a great little one-way side road called Otter Crest loop which runs south off of the ocean side of 101. It is an absolutely gorgeous area.

Otter Crest Loop

Cape Foulweather

The Lookout at Cape Foulweather

Otter Bay

Newport OR - South Beach State Park

Our two days at Beachside are up, so, reluctantly, we move north 16 miles to South Beach State Park. The campground are not as shaded/protected as most of the other Oregon State Parks that we have been to but the sites were spacious and flat.

The campground is also about a quarter of a mile from the beach. The trails to the beach are paved and perfect for riding your bike. There is interpretive signage along the way and riddles painted on the pavement to teach you about the area. Walking on the beach path, I've gotta say that South Beach has some of the most voracious mosquitoes we have come across so far! Make sure to pack bug spray if you visit this park!

One of the things I thought was interesting was about the jetty at the north end of the beach. The jetty contributes to sand being deposited and building the beach. The shoreline has grown significantly over the years because of the jetty.

We saw a sailboat headed towards the harbor and raced it to the jetty. This river entrance was the calmest one we've seen. It was fun to watch a sailboat come in.

Newport Harbor is just beyond the bridge in the distance

South Beach is near the town of Newport. On our last morning at South Beach, we headed into town to Fishtails Cafe. On the recommendation of a friend, Tom had the marionberry (a variety of blackberry) french toast. I had waffled between the peanut butter pancakes and the pumpkin pancakes. I opted for the peanut butter. Now we need to return, so I can try the pumpkin pancakes (the owner says they taste like pumpkin pie) and my own marionberry french toast.