We left Tillamook area and headed a bit inland. We are staying at the Meadowlark RV Park in Creswell, Or. It isn’t easy getting a place to stay near the coast during the summer months, but it is pretty here too. This is a nice place with level sites, but we are right on the road. A busy road. Oh well!
We took out to hike the Ridgeline Trail and using our Alltrails app. We hit the trail and decided it was too short, there is another larger loop showing on the app so we decided to take the longer route. The views were great and we ended up in a neighborhood. A very nice neighborhood too. But the trail on the app showed to continue and go right back were we started. So off we went. This part of the trail was not a maintained trail and we could tell that, but we followed the app and continued on until the turn the app makes is really just a pig trail. We are talking about some stomped down grass, obviously not a real trail. So, we discussed going back the way we came but it was a constant and very steep slope that we would have to travel back up, we had come down it to get here. So the road was just right there, we decided to take it and it would only be .3 miles to the truck. This is not the first time Alltrails had led us astray, but normally it does really well.
We found a place called Owens Rose Garden that I wanted to go see. Who doesn’t love roses, even though this is not the peak time to go see them. It wasn’t a large park, but it was very pretty, especially had it been in full bloom. There were people everywhere enjoying the day, having picnics under some trees, just very pleasant. Of course I needed the bathroom and they have facilities so I headed that way. Next to the building with the public restrooms there is a tent and a bunch of crap around it. I couldn’t believe they allowed a homeless person to live in such a beautiful setting as this park. I actually took a picture of the tent and then we walked on. They had a trail running along the river we were gonna walk. Out of no where this homeless lady starts yelling at me that she wants $3 or $5 dollars - pick a number lady!! She said she saw me taking her picture. She was certainly not in any of my photos and I told her so and we walked on. I didn’t have to tell her I did get a shot of her tent did I? Anyway . . .
Look at all the bees in this flower. They were everywhere at this garden.
The park in actually in Eugene, Oregon and on the way there we went past a long overpass and there was the largest homeless community I think I have ever seen. They city had put in potty potties, dumpsters and there was even a police light and camera unit as well. It really looks like they cater to their homeless here.
The walk along the river was really neat. Again, lots of people out and about, families swimming in the river, cyclists and just people sitting on benches visiting. Geese and ducks galore.
If we hadn’t walked so far I would have gone to this market, but I would have had to carry my prizes all the way back to the truck.
We stopped to have lunch at a sports bar around the corner from the park and they have this creative little living space parked across the street and this sign on their door. The waitress said the recycle center is literally a block from the restaurant so a lot of homeless are in the area. She said the city does a sweep every couple of weeks to clean up the streets, but they all just come right back.
Our last stop in Oregon is in O’Brien and we stayed at the Lone Mountain Resort Glamping and RV. They have the coolest Teepees here and I just had to have a look inside. Don’t worry, I asked permission!
They have a spring fed swimming hole
Great public area with bbq pits and horse shoes.
This is the place we were jolted out of bed by people banging on our RV yelling fire! It was just at the end of the street inside the RV Park and this was 4AM.
Our rescuer - he was driving a unit called “The Beast.” He said we were very lucky the night was so calm. They had the fire out in no time, but never did figure out what, or should I say who, started it. It started in the middle of the woods between the park and the neighborhood behind us.
There were people staying in one of the teepees on the night of the fire and with all the commotion (sirens and Diesel engines) they never even woke up.
Next stop - California with its foggy coastline and the Redwood Forest.
It is really pretty funny, we went through the record breaking heat wave in Washington and not far down the road are these foggy and cold coastlines of Oregon and California. It is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I am on the coast. Not my normal coast, I do declare. I cannot wear shorts to the beach or if I do I must also have on a jacket. Just a tad weird for us. But I love the rocky coast and my hair is actually curling again in this damp air! Woohoo!
The Redwood Forest was absolutely everything we thought it would be. We had an amazing time trekking through them and talking to all the other tourists enjoying nature. Dennis got recognized as Santa again in the forest, but in his defense, he did have on a red t-shirt. This family with his 8-9 year old kids had found a nice spot to stop for a snack and as we passed the grandfather said, “I think Santa just walked by.” We all had a good laugh about that.
We couldn’t quite fit through the drive through tree.
They have an entire park called the Trees of Mystery with carvings and canopy walkways, but we just got the picture of the outside. We are kinda tired of being that kink of tourist.
Besides, that place was packed 24/7.
This guy had a lot on his mind.
You can tell by this sign that not all are liberal
in California.
This is at the lighthouse. All those floats! Kinda cool.
Rocky shore,, but the rocks are really beautiful.
Stumbled upon a beautiful resting place near a scenic overlook.
We found this near the shore too. It is a fake farmhouse. There are two pretty close to one another. Apparently, the Japanese had subs off the coast of California during WWII so the great USA built these fake farm houses to put radar equipment in so they could keep tabs on them. A park ranger even told us that the Japanese shot some type of fire bombs onto shore, but the redwoods don’t burn, they actually will self extinguish. So that didn’t hurt much at all.
A simple observation here: Northern California has a different type of homeless problem. We saw the RVs and motor homes lining neighborhood streets in Oregon right along side the tent cities and here you find people living in cars. Some of the cars don’t look like they are in bad shape - fairly new models, but others have broken out windows and flat tires. But they are full of someone’s stuff. They are usually off the beaten bath, near the scenic overlooks or on country roads. We are not in any big cities here in NoCal, so I am sure this is not the norm in those places, but I find it interesting that the majority of these homeless actually have cars. Usually we see the tents, tarps and those make shift RVs. They also cop a squat at the rest areas. There was one I was not sure I wanted to use the restroom because there were so many RVs, vans, and cars that have not moved for a long time and it was obvious someone was living in them. But I went and it was clean.
It was in this area we saw so many car houses. It is so beautiful,
I guess I would want too park my car house here too.
So all those sunami warnings along the coast I thought were strange, but apparently, Cresent City, CA has had 32 sunamis since 1933. Did you hear about a sunami on US soil. I don’t remember hearing about that. Thought that only happened in Sri Lanka and places like that over in the Indian Ocean. But I am wrong. The most recent sunami in Crescent City was in March. 2011.
Things that make you go HMMMMM. . . . .
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