Our trip up the west coast from San Francisco to Lincoln City Or.

First of all before you read this you need to get in a comfy chair with a nice cold drink of your choosing because this is a long one. But it is mostly pictures so it should't be all that long a read. I hope you enjoy.

It's interesting. Traveling across this great country of ours,not really having to be anywhere at any specific time, at least we try to travel that way. We have learned that if you want to get a nice park, or any park, over the various holidays throughout the year you need to book in advance. Otherwise you could end up at Wal Mart for three days and they frown on that. Luckily we haven't had that happen to us yet.

What's interesting is that there is no real demand on our time. We can usually stay as long as we want where ever we are and take our time seeing the area.There are times we are lazy and just hang around the house for a couple of days in a row but we don't stress about it. We know that we won't see everything in the area we are in, but there is always our next lap around the country. We see the highlights that we are interested in. If you have been following our blog I'm sure you have figured out where our interests lie. National Parks, museums, being on the water and the unique things in an area. But living life in this way is interesting. You should try it.

Now I am going to be lumping several of our stops in this one post. Mainly because even with all my good intentions I have not been able to keep up with the posts. There are several reasons. One of the biggest is the lack of good WiFi at the parks we stay at. They may say they have WiFi but it is usually slow, inconsistent, or it's a hot spot by the office. Another reason, and I must admit the main reason, is that I am just being lazy. Hey I'm retired. Give me a break.

So here are 7 destinations from San Francisco to Portland covering about a 2 month period from April 14th thru June 12th. I hope you enjoy them. We did.

Olema RV Park, Olema Ca.

Olema RV Park is just outside the Point Reyes National Seashore. The park was nice and open and the Seashore was outstanding. Here are some pictures.

Our campground.

Just down the road is the San Andrea's Fault. In the photo you can see how the ground moved 20 feet. That used to be one fence before the earthquake of 1906.

Amazing seashore, Northern California Coast

The fog rolling in. 

Point Reyes National Seashore.

Of course you have to go to San Francisco and we did. Twice. The ferry system and bus system is wonderful. A half hr drive to the ferry and a half hr boat ride. Trolley's, buses and Uber to get around once you're there. And the people were wonderful as well. Ask us about the time we missed the ferry home. A good story but too long for here. Here are some pictures of our San Fran trips. 

Leaving the ferry terminal.

San Quentin. And the yard is full.  

No comment necessary.

And yes we did. 

These guys were hysterical. They kept  pushing each other off of the piers. This is behind Pier 39. 

We had dinner in Chinatown. Great food. 

 

The ferry terminal. Very cool. 

Now if or when you ever get to San Fran you absolutely have to take the tour of Alcatraz. The best self guided tour we have ever taken. Correction. The best tour period. Check it out.

 

This cell was the one where a famous escape occurred.  He cut a hole in the wall and climbed up the pipes behind the walls.  This was very similar to the recent New York escape....wonder if they made the connection?

Next stop Ancient Red Woods RV Park right on the Avenue of the Giants. This was another beautiful stop. The forest with these giant Red wood trees some over a thousand years old. And the small towns and off the beaten path road to the lost coast. A great adventure.

This is a truck that was made out of a Red Wood and toured the country to show off the size of the trees.

The roots of the fallen redwoods were huge!

The Dyerville giant. 370 feet tall, (a 30 story building), 17' in dia., 52' circumference, and weighted approx 1,000,000 pounds.

Some of the Victorian homes in the great little town Ferndale, CA. 

Take Mattole Rd out of Ferndale and it will take you to the Lost Coast. The road will take you through the mountains to the coast then south along the coast then back up through the mountains and finally ends in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It is a windy up and down road passing through some very remote towns. I would highly recommend this trip. 

Some rock art on the beach.

A narrow bridge leading to a small town on the road to the Lost Coast. 

Mom and her pup. 

A nice cove where we hiked among the rocks. 

There be whales out there. We saw them but they were too far away for my camera. 

The next stop along the west coast is Klamath Ca, and the Klamath River RV Park. One of our favorites with great views, on the river so easy access for kayaking. Here are some pictures from the park and adjacent areas.

Up river.

Down river to the ocean. 

Our room with a view. 

Where the river meets the Ocean. 

What was interesting is that there were Harbor seals in the river right by the park. No they are not in the picture, or maybe they are. 

a nice paddle up the river checking out an Osprey nest. 

Right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor the army built these farm house looking buildings. They were actually radar installations with 50 cal anti aircraft machine guns. This is the only one of this type remaining of an entire coastal installation. 

Another place nearby was the Redwood National park. We could not get enough of these magnificent trees. 

Some very big trees. 

Finally some wildlife. A heard of Elk. 

One of our goals as we travel is to hit some of the obvious tourist traps. Behold the "Trees of Mystery". To be honest it is a beautiful area with some nice trees. My best description of the walking tour is this. You're walking through the woods and you see an interesting tree. You say to yourself, "Gee that looks like an elephant" Ta da! You are now looking at the elephant tree. And on the trail goes. To be honest I couldn't see half of what they saw. But the highlight was the Sky Trail. Ride the gondola up to the top on the mountain and get some great views. Check it out.

They had a lot of wood carvings following the story of Paul Bunyon.

I made a friend. I thought he would be taller. 

See what I mean. 

The views from the top of the Sky Trail. 

More carvings. 

This is the cathedral. They rent it out for weddings. When a big redwood dies new trees start to grow around its base forming a circle.  

Oh yeah, Paul and Babe were there too.

Next Stop Coos Bay OR. at Oceanside Beachfront RV Park. And when they say beachfront they mean it. The only thing separating us from the surf was a sand dune, which is where the tent camp sights were. A little on the pricey side for us but we decided to splurge a little. This was our morning and evening walk area. 

It was beautiful the first 3 to 4 days but then the jelly fish starting washing ashore. There were also clear cigar shaped jelly type things on the shore also. We found out that they were squid egg casings each containing 100's of baby squid. It seems that the winds were pushing everything ashore. Oh and no I don't have any pictures. I have movies but I have yet to figure out how to post them on here. 

The Oregon coast here in the Coos Bay area is absolutely gorgeous. I think I even like it better the California. At least the parts that we saw but we traveled Hwy 101 not Hwy 1. Here are some pictures.  

Just south of Coos Bay is Shore Acres State Park. This used to be a private estate belonging to one of the lumber barons in the area. The only thing that has survived are the gardens which are now part of the state park system. Enjoy.

The Japanese Water Garden 

Part of the Rose Garden. We were about 2 weeks too early. They were just starting to bloom. 

The Main garden. 

The fountain in the middle of the garden.

Just inland along the bay is the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. Great hiking trails and a plethora of interesting wildlife. (Did you like that. "Plethora" I impressed myself ha ha)

Looking at a Steller's Jay. (not pictured)

One of the great trails.

I love this guy.  

Skink

And the ever popular Banana Slug.

One of the many streams. 

All along the coast there are parks, wildlife refuges, Dunes and tidal pools. To list each one that we hiked and wandered through would make this even longer then it already i,s so here is a collection of pictures from all of these fabulous destinations.

The first 5 are from the Coquille Point Nat. Wildlife Refuge.

Here are three from the Oregon Dunes Rec Area. 

4 from the coast around Coos Bay.

And finally some from the tidal pools in the area.

Interesting rocks

Find the crab hiding in the picture. 

After the Coos Bay area our next stop was the Coyote Rock RV Resort on the Siletz River in Lincoln City. Another great coastal town except that our park was right on the river about 5 minutes inland.

Our view 

The river. 

More great coastal scenery. 

At this point we headed inland to Portland to visit some friends. We stayed at the beginning of the Historic Columbia River Highway. That however will be a whole new post all on it's own. So that's it for now. I hope you made it to the end without falling asleep.

As always, see you down the road.