Trip Memories 2 – some previously unpublished pictures

Yesterday’s post we covered the first part of our Washington trip from the Port Angeles area through La Push.  Today we start with South Beach, were I will start with a panoramic sunset…nothing like a sunset over the ocean, and we had some real nice sunsets in South Beach.

South Beach where the campsites have no boundaries, camping is cheap ($7.50 with senior discount), and the campers are as friendly as can be.

   

Where people come to walk, fish, relax and just kickback listening to the ocean, basking in 72 degree weather.

And the sunsets can be out of this world…

And we have now exited Olympic National Park…but we have the rest of the Washington Coast and half of the Oregon Coast to go…

Our next stop was at a Casino in Ocean Shores where we were surrounded by Seahawk Fans, but it gave us a chance to do laundry.  Then we had an overnighter in Long Beach (above), and all of our stops from here on out are one-night stops until we reach the Sacramento area.

Besides, after spending all that time with the Seahawk Fans, EVERYONE else looked pretty friendly.

Our next stop was in Tillamook, and we had some nice ocean views…

….and some very nice taste buds explosions.

Next we went to Newport, and on the way, Marcia was surprised that we stopped at one of her favorite Ocean views…this little waterfall to the right off-set by the motion of crashing waves all around.

Even the birds enjoyed the view….

And Newport brought our last sunset along the ocean.

On our way to Coos Bay we got a dose of reality again as to what some Ocean Days look like.  Thank goodness we had seen this area back in 2012, but it would have been nice to enjoy to its fullest again this time.

Inland we find I-5 near Roseburg, and we find a couple of covered bridges in the Tri-City area.

And although we had not encountered smoke from the fires yet, we did encounter some helicopters which are fighting the fires.

But as we get close to Medford, and on into California, the smoke is thick at times…yep, the fires are bad, real bad.

There are many reasons we choose going to Washington and visiting Olympic National Park and cruising down the ocean shores.  We had not been up into Washington like this before, we knew it would be cool, we knew it was doable in four weeks, though five or six or even seven would not have been enough to get a full feel of it all.  But high on the list was that it would get us out of the heat, and had we known that so many fires were going to blow up in the areas, staying away from the fires would have been high up there too.  Along the ocean the fire dangers were there, but not as high as east of I-5 was. Overall, we enjoyed the trip immensely, and are in awe of that which has been provided to us for enjoyment.  Next trip will be a number of week away as we spend time with family, and with mom’s surgery next week.  But something tells me that our next trip might also be along the coast…because I am fairly sure these fires will still be burning….

To Tri-City Oregon

As we were getting ready to leave Coos Bay, 10:30 am, the skies were overcast with patches of blue showing through.

It remained that way for about 50 of the 90 miles we traveled from Coos Bay to Tri-City.

   

Marcia does a good job getting sites along the way.  My motto is, “If you don’t take the picture, then I can’t use it.”  She takes many pictures, and I pull out the best ones that I can.  In the upper left is a view of Cedar Point.  On the right is the Coquille River about 40 miles toward Tri-City from Coos Bay along state highway 42. 

By the time we get to the Tenmile Community, the sky is blue, the wind is light, and the temps are going up.

Our route takes us by the On the River Golf-RV Resort where we stayed back in late May of this year.  We could have stayed here again I suppose, but we are just looking for an overnighter with electricity because we are not use to the 85-90 degree temps after nearly three weeks of being away from such temps.

We pull off the freeway at 12:30 and I know the park office closes at 12 noon for lunch…I thought they reopened at 1 pm.  So I pull off at this pullout along old Highway 99 in front of this bridge.  Marcia sees these kids down under the bridge and wonders if they are skinny dipping.

At first I said no, but then I said, YEP…as I see the girl on the right put her grey top back on.  With her top on, I don’t mind taking a picture…before it just gawking…I mean, casual viewing with the naked eye (pun intended).  But what I am really wondering is….the bridge. 

(Later I take this picture of the bridge as I go out to the store…all nudity has left the beach.)  Anyway, as we were sitting there earlier gawking, I mean, admiring the bridge, I say, “I wonder if it is a Conde McCullough bridge?”  Marcia, seeing this plaque along the roadway, says, “Get a close up of that plaque”.

Yep, I was right. I have developed an eye for Conde’s bridges…we first admired them in 2012 and continue to admire them to this day.

We are at the Tri-City RV Park, a Passport America park…$14.14 per night.  I was wrong as to when they opened after lunch, it is really 3 pm.  (So we sat there admiring the naked bridge for nothing!)  They have a real nice “self check-in procedure” for when the office is closed, so we found us a site, and checked ourselves in. 

Those of us who have used Passport America enough know there are good parks, and bad parks, and everything in between.  This one has a dog run, self enclosed, only thing missing is grass.  Overall, this park is a good park, for $14 it is a great park.

When I was with the dogs in the Dog Run, without my camera, I saw two helicopters take off and head east over the mountain…it was easy to see, with the long cord hanging down with a water basket attached, that they were fighting a fire.  Since I needed to go to the store, and the small municipal airport was along the way, I went over to it and saw this helicopter landing.  Not a fire fighting helicopter in the sense of dropping water, but I think it has something to do with surveillance of the fire. 

   

This helicopter was part of the fire fighting for sure. 

It is part of the Coulson Group, a Canadian group and this helicopter is down in this area on contract to fight the fires east of Roseburg.  You can see the big orange bucket laying in the foreground.  Unfortunately, I never did get one of these taking off and headed back to the fire.

On my way to the store, after getting pictures of the naked bridge, there is this sign that says, “Covered Bridge”, and the arrow points both ways.  We had already seen the one which is right along Old Highway 99, so I took the detour to find the other one.  This is is…the Neal Lane Bridge, built in 1939 (which makes it 75 years old…don’t ask me why that did not take any math to figure out).  It is the shortest covered bridge in Oregon at only 42 feet.

Here it is from the other side…I was surprised that you could drive through it.  However, 3 ton limit, which is 6,000 pounds…so only cars and light trucks and SUVs.  It CREAKS when you drive over it!!!

But the wood work is something else….

The other bridge, which we saw on the way to the RV park, is called the Horse Creek Bridge, and is now a foot bridge. Although it is longer, I think the other bridge is in better condition.

Tri-City is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Douglas County, Oregon. With a population of 3,900 in 2010, the community is named for the three cities among which it is centered: Myrtle Creek, Canyonville and Riddle. The Tri City School District probably originated the name, which was later adopted by the local sewer district.  Douglas County has a population of around 110,000, so these three communities and the area known as Tri-city make up a small portion of the counties population.