Saturday, October 15, 2016, Typhoon Songda

The "Storm of the Century" was hammering the west coast from Seattle to northern California.  We got a lot of rain at Turtle Rock in Gold Beach (the four day total was more than 10 inches) but the worst of the wind gusts were tempered by the hill that anchors our RV park.

We donned our rain gear and walked to the highway 101 overpass a few times to see the storm surge at high tide.  The turtle was completely surrounded by water.  Hunter Creek broke through to the ocean and the calm lake like water was replaced with a swollen torrent.

We are standing under the 101 highway overpass and having to brace ourselves when a wind gust made it hard to stay upright.

Looking east, the sleepy Hunter creek had broken through to the ocean and is now flowing with the tides.

We got to experience standing in 80 mph winds.  It was not a good idea to be standing in the blowing sand.  I'm sure if I needed paint removed from something it would not have taken long.

Silly me, I tried to walk on the beach when there was a break in the rain.  The wind kicked back up and I was being sandblasted.  Since I was in shorts, it felt bad enough that I ran back to the shelter of the highway overpass.

As the waves crested, the wind whipped the water into a fine spray that looked like smoke.

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

A few miles south of Brookings we explored the McVay Rock State Recreation Site. McVay is a well-hidden park home to the only "off leash" dog park in the Brookings area. Sam stayed on his leash - I was not sure how friendly the 100 pound beast inside the fence was and I didn't want to find out.

The beach was covered with smooth, colorful rocks with very little sand.  Of course, we found another 20 pounds of treasure to add to our collection at home.

Just about 9 miles east of Brookings on North Bank Chetco River Road (Oregon Highway 784) was the Redwood Nature Trail, the world's northernmost redwood grove. It was on the left less than a mile beyond the Alfred A. Loeb State Park and the Rogue River - Siskiyou National Forest. The trail was just over a mile in length and was one of the quietest hikes we have made in quite a while. There was only one other hiker on the trail. Most of the time there was near absolute silence - it was almost eerie and beautiful at the same time.

Coastal redwoods (Sequoia sepervirens) up to 250 feet tall and 10 feet in diameter. Some may be as old as 800 years.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

We drove into Gold Beach for a couple of things at the grocery store, but instead of rushing back home we decided to do a little sightseeing while we were out.  Highway 101 has so many spectacular bridges. Patterson Bridge, completed in 1932, spans the Rogue River with a total length of 1,898 feet.

The Mary D. Hume, below, was built in 1881, retired in 1978 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.  It could have used a good bilge pump a few decades ago.  Now it will need a little extra elbow grease to get it back in ship shape. We saw a nice framed picture of the same boat in a bookstore.  Extrapolating between that picture and today made me believe there are only a few years remaining before the whole thing is under water. 

Don't you just love the architectural detail in every part of this bridge? The moon rising over the railing was just a happy coincidence adding a little extra artistic flair.

Out on the Rouge River North Jetty, we found this creative little project for housing feral cats.  Volunteers feed them, spay them, treat them and try to find them homes.  So far, they have rescued about 2000 cats.

A few Gold Beach volunteers built and maintain this feral cat sanctuary.  "The Cat Lady" feeds the residents nearly every day.

Saturday, October 8, 2016

The four of us (Kate, Mike, Joani and I) took a little drive down the coast.  South from Gold Beach along highway 101 was the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor.  There were many overlooks and parking areas providing access to some of the most beautiful coastline. 

We started from Turtle Rock in some pretty dense fog but knew it could change within minutes.  Sure enough, just a few miles south we drove out of the fog.  There was still a pretty stiff wind and it was interesting watching the fog racing over the hills and beaches.

The parking area for Arch Rock gave us access to a loop trail through some nicely forested landscape.

Before we completed the half-mile loop the fog blew in and we found the forest magically transformed.

Another few miles south was a turn out for Natural Bridges.  We only walked 50 yards to an overlook for a few quick pictures.  The trail continued on.  Presumably, there was access to the beach below as well as a trail across the bridges.  I might be a little crazy but there is no way I would hike across that fragile looking ribbon of rock.

Just before we reached Brookings we stopped for some beach combing at Harris Beach State Park.  There were tide pools and pretty rocks (but still no agates) galore.

The fog was still racing along offshore weaving in between the rocks.

Tuesday, October 4, 2016, Happy Birthday, Jon

We didn't go anywhere or do anything special or even take any pictures.  But it was a special day because 35 years ago our son, Jon, was born.  So just a little throwback tribute to say Happy Birthday, Jon!

Below, I got rid of the hair on my lip to try to look younger when I hit the big "five-0". Jon had said for a while that he would shave his chin whiskers if I shaved my mustache. Joani felt the need to document her two clean-shaven men. 

Sunday, September 25, 2016

We met some nice Oregon people on the road a few years ago in Capitol Reef NP in Utah and later we met up again in Casa Grande, AZ. We were now in their neck of the woods and planned to meet in Corvallis for lunch.   There was a big craft fair in Central Park, so Cynde and Joani combed through the interesting booths while Rob and I talked house restoration and motorhomes.

44th Annual Corvallis Fall Festival

Vicki Green took the time to explain her process to achieve the murrine millefiori in glass.  Fascinating!  But is it still called millefiori when glass rods are not used?  Instead, it is a process of glass plates (multi-colored) stacked in a special kiln, heated and then pulled through a hole in the bottom.

Ok, my google research says this is murrine (murrini, murrina).  If you grouped these rods to make flowers, it would then be called millefiori.

I appreciated Artist, Barton DeGraaf's whimsy.


These books looked amazing!  We talked to the author and begged him to do a digital version for RVers, but he said that will be up to his heirs.

After a few hours, we figured we had seen most of what the fair had to offer and we headed to a nice little micro-brewery pub for some lunch. Block 15 Brewing Co. had some interesting and unique beers and delicious burgers and sandwiches.  Rob had to get back to work on a deck with a deadline looming, so we went our separate ways by about three.  

Hope to see you on the road again soon!

We reveled in the sunny 89-degree weather a little longer before heading back to Tillicum beach.  After a month on the coast, I had not realized how much I missed the warm sunshine.  It really was surprising how much different the weather was just 45 miles west on the coast.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Mornings like this make me happy I have a dog who demands his early morning exercise.  The trees were so thick at the Tillicum campground (part of the Siuslaw National Forest) that it looked dark under the trees at midday.  I also walked under the trees in a light rain and never felt a drop.  I'm just saying the trees were thick!

With a little better planning today we returned to Cape Perpetua at high tide.  The waves were very active. 

A lot of folks were willing to get up close and personal with Thor's Well. Maybe they worked for National Geographic.  I'm sure most of them got pretty wet.  I'm afraid my timing was off - I never caught one of the big sprays.

In the next inlet over, another hole in the rock would spout like a whale when waves blasted water up from below.  Appropriately enough, it was named the "Spouting Hole".  Again, my timing was never good enough to catch the really big blow, but it certainly was impressive to watch live.