Tillamook, Oregon

We took off for Tillamook Elks Park on a Thursday before a holiday weekend.  Thank goodness Dixie, the host of Elks Park, had a space for us.  We have stayed at this Elks Park about 3 times.  It is South of Tillamook about 4 miles and located well off Hwy 101 so that we did not get highway noise.  There were 21 older sights and they are adding 16 more.  Some of the sights were used for the Holiday weekend.  The picture to the left shows the expanded area.

We continued to have some smoke in the air during our 11 day stay but not as bad as Bend.  One morning the sun was that orange ball again.

During our stay we meet up with some Boomers.  Lonnie and Ellen Riddle were staying at the Elks Park along with Tom and Marjorie Mahoney.  Georgia Griffiths was staying at an RV private park located about 5 miles away.  She invited us to a Labor Day picnic at her place.  She cooked chicken and we provided the side dishes.  She has two dogs she just adopted and they are a handful!

Georgia, Lonnie, and Dean at the picnic.

Dean and I stayed close to the Elks during the holiday weekend.  I picked blackberries, walked over an hour daily and practiced my ukulele.  We did not want to venture out on Hwy 101 during this busy time.  After the weekend we did some exploring.  We drove to Girabaldi, a small fishing town north of Tillamook, and took a hike and checked out the RV parks and fishing charters.  

Dean and Chica walking the hiking trail in Girabaldi

On Tuesday night we celebrated Ellen's birthday at camp.  I provided the cake, Georgia brought the ice cream and several Boomers showed up to celebrate.

Ellen Riddle celebrating her birthday.

Joe, Debbie, Dean and Georgia around the fire at Ellen'e birthday.

On Wednesday, Dean and I drove to Coastal Trail head near Netarts, Oregon and did a 5 mile hike.  It was a very nice hike starting off level with great views then turning into tree roots and some grade changes.  It lead to an overlook which was not too impressive and then we returned to the trail head.

End of the trail

Chuck and Jan Moore joined us on Thursday afternoon.  She brought produce from her sister-in-laws in Washington.  She split this huge head of cabbage with me.

Patsi Green and Mark Borseth came over Saturday and the girls went to the Farmer's market in Tillamook and then to the Dahlia festival close to the Elks.  Beautiful flowers.

Patsi, Jan, and me at the Dahlia festival.

On Sunday the 3 couples went on a short hike to Munson Falls.  This is a very pretty hike very close to the Elks Park.  After the hike we had Happy Hour and a pot luck dinner.  On Monday we finally left the Elks Park after 11 days.  

Mark Borseth, Patsi Green, Chuck and Jan Moore, Judy and Dean

Bend, Oregon

We had planned to stay at Bend for a week over Labor Day weekend.  We made reservations at Newberry RV park in La Pine, about 10 miles south of Bend .  This is probably the tightest RV park we have ever stayed in but we were pretty desperate since it was the holiday weekend.  We paid for a week at $37 per day (weekly rate).  The first day we drove to the Lava Tube but it was closed because of a fire in the area.  Then we walked around the Sunriver resort just to get a little walk in.  We went to the LaPine state park and did a walk along the river.  The smoke was getting pretty bad.  We walked to the Old Tree - the oldest Ponderosa Pine tree recorded.  When we got back to the campground we both decided that we definitely could not stay here for a week.  We called the office and said we wanted to leave after two nights because of the smoke.  They were very nice and said that we could get our money back.  

Walk along the river.

Smoke on the road between Bend and LaPine

The Oldest Ponderosa Pine ever recorded

The next morning the sky was so full of smoke the sun looked like an orange ball in the sky.  We tried to see some sites in the Bend area.  We could not see the mountains and really did not want to be outside much.

So we went to Bend and had a nice lunch at Greg's Grill in the Old Mill district and then walked around there (shops restaurants along the river).  We went to the High Desert Museum.  We could walk around inside and see the exhibits on the Indians, settlers, and military in the area.

A collared lizard at the museum.

One of the Indian village displays in the museum.

Next we drove to the Lava Tube where we could not go the day before because of fire.  They put the fire out so we were able to walk the 3/4 of a mile walk in the tube.  This tube is very big, very dark, and a pretty good hike to get out of the smoke.

We left after 2 days - besides the smoke in the area this closeness really did not appeal to either of us.  It made Dean very nervous on how he would get out but he pulled her out very smoothly.  

Our rig is on the right of the picture and our neighbors slide out is inches from the side of our rig.  Way too tight!