Sequim & Port Townsend, WA - Jul 05 to 10

We make the transition from Portland up to the Olympic Peninsula and land at the Rainbow's End RV Park in Sequim, WA (pronounced skwim) on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

And then for the final day we moved over to the Point Hudson Marina RV Park in Port Townsend.
We have decided to leave here via the ferry from Port Townsend.

Our first day of touring was spent in the seaport town of Port Townsend.  It's an interesting little town with lots of unique old buildings and shops.

We got a tip on a restaurant and wound up at Sirens with an upper deck that overlooked the harbor.  Pretty good food, really good beer and a great view!

They has a really nice Scottish Ale but the glass was especially interesting.

The next day we the town of Sequim itself.
The weather forecast called for 80% rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day.

And a good day for Wine Tasting which turns out is really good!

Day three we headed the other direction to the town of Port Angeles primarily to do laundry and wound up with another forecasted rainy day that turned out beautiful instead.

Normally we would have also headed up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park but the mountain tops were socked in.

So we stumbled onto Downriggers overlooking the Victoria Ferry landing and had another really delightful lunch.

On Sunday we move over to Hudson Harbor Marina in Port Townsend and manage to grab an RV site pretty much right on the waterfront.

It's a wonderful site for lunch and dinner watching the traffic in and out of Seattle on the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

We watch three cruise ships heading out to sea as we eat dinner.

And take a really nice walk along the shoreline after dinner.

Portland - Fairview, OR - Jul 01 to Jul 05

After a whole lot of searching for a place that could provide us with a spot over the Holiday weekend, we make our way up to an RV Park in the Portland area at Fairview, OR near the Columbia River.

On Saturday we meet Shelly and her kids MacKenzie & Michael for a pretty nice day at the Portland Zoo and pretty much wore ourselves out.

And on the way home take a tour of the Pittock Mansion that overlooks all of Portland.  The house was built in 1909 by Henry Pittock who was the publisher of the Oregonian newspaper.

Sunday we head down to Oregon City, a ways south of Portland.  This is the town that marks the End of the Oregon Trail.

It also is the location of the Willamette Falls of the Willamette River.  The photo here is from one of the tour brochures that described them as being the second largest falls in the country, and we were really looking for to seeing them.

Not to be overly negative but we were quite simply stunned at the current reality.
The falls have been almost totally blocked off and are just barely visible.

And the level of disrepair of all of the adjacent industrial buildings is shocking.
It became pretty clear to us why the Willamette Falls are publicized as little as they are.

I guess there is quite a lot of History to be proud of but the destruction of the natural environment is too bad.

On July 4 we had a nice holiday lunch at another McMenamin's restaurant at Edgefield.
This is a major area concert venue.  We had wanted to visit it for quite some time and spent a while exploring all the building and gardens of this former "poor house" from the depression era.

Definitely not a poor house today!

McMinnville & Silverton, OR - Jun 26 to Jun 30

We depart Forest Grove and begin our Northwest summer wanderings.

First stop is at the Olde Stone Village RV park in
McMinnville and nice evening and dinner with Rich and Peggy Rouse.

Then it's on to the town of Silverton, OR.

We discover that the there is a Frank Lloyd Wright home here: The Gordon House.

It is one of his Usonian designs and is a really interesting tour.

The next day we spent the entire day at the Oregon Garden.
Our Phoenix Botanical Garden membership got us in here for free.

This was one of the primary reasons for heading to Silverton and we totally wore ourselves out walking all over it.

They have an actual lodge as part of the garden with a really nice cafe.

Lots of interesting sculptures









And lots and lots of flowers.

The Oregon climate is just perfect for a gardening and growing just about everything.

The other major attraction near Silverton is Silver Falls State Park, the site of Mary's granddaughter's wedding last October.  We hiked here two years ago but missed a lot of waterfalls.  This year we finished the hike.  Another really full day of hiking in the glorious Oregon woods.

Winter Falls             Middle North Falls

Drake Falls



Double Falls

Lower North Falls




South Falls

Lower South Falls

And Lots and Lots of Big Big Trees !!

Depoe Bay, OR - Jun 14 to 17

Two years after putting down the deposit, we finally make our return to the Sea and Sand RV Park right of the edge of the Pacific Ocean between Depoe Bay and Lincoln City, Oregon.












We are located right on the edge of the sandy beach and are listening to the continuous thunder of the waves crashing on the shore.

First order of business is just a little bit of wine time.













Having just a wee bit of trouble picturing actually going swimming but that's what's happening!

On Wednesday, Rich and Peggy Rouse come to the coast to visit.
First was nice lunch at the Wildflower Cafe in Lincoln City.
Then a sweet afternoon and dinner in the trailer listening to the pounding surf right out front.
And yes, John needs some lessons on Selfies ....

Thursday we spend some time at the Outlet Mall in Lincoln City.

And then a good long walk on the beach.

And a really beautiful end to the day and our short stay on the coast.

Forest Grove, OR - Jun 8 to 26

We are parked alongside Mary's daughter Shelly's house in Forest Grove, OR.

The house comes with a pretty fancy shelter for the RV

And we installed our own pretty fancy Sun Screen to block the late afternoon sun.
It doesn't get dark up here until well after 9pm.

Dennis and Gloria Brousseau visit from Phoenix and help us enjoy the amazing back yard Raspberry bush.

Talk about getting into the Raspberries!

We go on a really nice Wine tasting excursion with Dennis & Gloria.  As a vineyard owner Dennis brings these visits to a whole new level.
The Willamette Valley is loaded with wineries and Dennis wants to learn more about Bio-Dynamic viticulture.
The Maysara and Montinore wineries are a real treat.

The next day we visit Portland's Hoyt Arboretum to get out in the really big trees.

And tour the Japanese Garden

We spend quite a bit of time just enjoying Shelly's beautiful back yard.

This is view we get from the inside of the trailer.

That's the Raspberry bush behind the ladder.

And I guess we can't forget the dinner outside at Pat's Corner at the nearby McMenamin's Grand Lodge.

On The Road - Pagosa to Oregon - Jun 1 to Jun 8

So the time has come to head North to Mary's daughter's home in Forest Grove, Oregon.
A stop in Flagstaff allows for a quick drop into Phoenix (without the trailer) to look at the house and pick up a few overlooked items.  Also a really nice lunch with John's daughter Jenn who will be staying in the house this summer.  We camped at the Black Bart's RV Park.  Not the greatest facility ever seen but it happens to be in just the right spot.

Dinner was at the Black Bart's Steakhouse Saloon & Musical Revue and what a pleasant surprise.  It's kind of spendy but as it happens, most of the wait staff are NAU students in music, opera and theater.  There was full time music with the staff taking turns singing Broadway show tunes, etc. and these kids were terrific.  Who Knew?


And then Friday was a full day of visiting with friends in Flagstaff.  Nice to link up again with Arctic Fox RV friends John & Kathy Schmadeke out at the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument Campground where they are Camp Hosting for the summer.  We hadn't actually seen Rick Ruess and Diana Henry in a whole lotta years going way back to our Sierra Singles days when we first got together.  And finally a wonderful dinner with Shawn Mahoney, Brigid Dineen & Rowan on their amazing patio in the woods above Flagstaff - many thanks guys!



Saturday and Sunday were back on the road again heading for Bakersfield where we are scheduled to pick up Mary's grandson Michael to take him up to Oregon.

Checked into the Bakersfield River Run RV Park which turned out to be a really nice place.
Many thanks to the Nunn Family for a really nice lunch at the local BJ's Brewhouse with Daren and Cheryl Nunn, Darion and Demi Nunn and Savannah Wedemeyer.  It felt really nice to be so welcomed to Bakersfield.

We got a really nice look at Mt. Shasta on the way north in California

And then it's trails end for this segment of our travels alongside Shelly's house in Forest Grove, OR.

Electric, water and protection from the elements - nice.

And the view out our giant rear window is really sweet.