Day 27-31 ~ The Oregon Coast

It is hard to believe we have been gone for so long. Monday we had a relaxing day in Portland. It started with Chig's visit to the local Honda dealer. The Fit battery was checked and again pronounced "dead". This time it was replaced. Finally! I fixed "Taco Dinner" that evening at Kevin & Leslie's home.

On Tuesday we left Portland for a scenic drive to the coast where we traveled South of Cannon Beach on Highway 101 to our Oregon State campground at Nehalem Bay. The highway is VERY narrow and my side of the motorhome felt like it was suspended above the ocean. Our site backed to a large dune covered with trees and vegetation. After setting up, we took a walk to the beach. It was beautiful and expansive with many families strolling, building sand castles, playing in the surf (burrrrr) and flying kites. Later we had a nice fire and enjoyed the outdoors.

Wednesday morning we continued down the coast to another state park, South Beach, just South of Newport. Irene followed us in her car. When we arrived at the park Irene called to say she was still in Newport and had been involved in a minor accident. While attempting to merge from two lanes to one lane, at the approach to the Yaquina bridge, she was sideswiped by a large dump truck. Her car suffered significant damage to both driver's side doors. Fortunately, she was not injured and her car is operable. Not a scratch on the dump truck. The park at South Beach was not our favorite. We didn't like the beach, it was foggy, chilly and there were lots of mosquitos.

The Jaquina Bridge from Old Town Newport

Thursday we continued 17 miles south to Beachside. Our RV had an ocean view - well almost. The fog continued. This is one of our favorite stretches of beach on the Oregon Coast as it is a great place to search for agates. We don't really know what we are doing but we have fun finding pretty rocks, and just maybe, some of the rocks are actually agates. They all end up in our Rock Garden at home.

Today, Friday the 13th, Irene left us to visit with Sacramento friends who recently relocated to Grants Pass. We continued our trip 100 miles south to Bullards Beach. Enroute we stopped for lunch at a nice day use park in the Dunes area south of Florence.Once set up at our site we saw a 3/4 mile trail to the beach. Off we went.

The Sandy Trail

This was not a hike but a trudge! We went up dunes and down dunes then back up again. The path was made up of soft sand - and the mosquitos were back. It was worth the walk. Once we got to the beach we found agates! I even found the energy to make it back to our RV.

Chig filling his pockets with agates.