Winchester Bay

This is our last evening at Winchester Bay. Tomorrow we leave and go to Medford to see some of my relatives. The marina is filled with sailboats and fishing boats. This is a view from our trailer.

We have had a busy and fun 10 days at the Crab Feast with the Rovin' Rods. Dean has crabbed everyday - 2 days from the dock and 8 days on a boat with 3 other guys. They pulled in an average of about 9 to 10 'keepers' everyday. Most went to the group dinners but we got to freeze a few. Our freezer is full of crab, salmon, albacore tuna (which we bought from a local fisherman), and blackberries. Wish we had a bigger freezer. The picture below is Dean and Bill Underwood cleaning crab at the fish cleaning station.

Every night we either had a happy hour with heavy appetizers or a potluck. I haven't had to cook much and we sure have eaten well. They should rename this group from Rovin Rods to Chowhounds. We have had 3 fantastic potlucks and have eaten out 3 times. The picture below is our travel buddy Jan Moore with Fran and Bill Rayner at one of the happpy hours.

So tomorrow we take out of here and travel 175 miles to Medford. It will be sad to leave the ocean and the wonderful seafood.

Crabbing at Winchester Bay

Dean did it! He finally caught a crab. We have been at Winchester Bay with the Rovin Rods for 4 days and he has been crabbing everyday (two days on a boat and 2 days off the pier). finally he came home with 2 nice crabs. Hopefully we will get more in the next week.

We are having a great time with the

Rods. We have a happy hour each night and last night we all went into Reedsport to the Eagles for chicken fried steak. My diet has been totally blown apart on this trip. Tonight we are having a crab potluck. Everything hasbeen great except for the weather. Wonderful mornings but then the wind picks up and the afternoons are very windy and cold. Oh well, we can't have everything.

This is Jan and Chuck enjoying their breakfast at the marina where we are staying.

Tillamook to Winchester Bay

We finally made it to Winchester Bay and the Roving Rods Crab Festival. We got here today and Dean has already started throwing his crab pot in the water. He caught a lot of crabs today but couldn't keep anything because they were so small. Maybe tomorrow!!

We stayed at Tillamook for four days and did some interesting things. After one day of

just getting things done around the rig like cleaning, reading, and computer stuff, we rode with Chuck and Jan on the Three Capes Scenic drive to the Cape Meares Lighthouse and

the lovely beach of Oceanside. This is us sitting on the beach enjoying the sunshine.

Then the next day we went to the Air Museum which was really interesting. They have a lot of planes, some old and some new, in this

hanger that was built to hold 9 blimps during WWII. This picture is taken from our RV park which was close to the big hangers. At the museum we watched a video of the history of the building and then we walked around the airplanes. Dean and I would highly recommend this museum.

After the museum we went to the seafood market and bought fresh halibut and clams. That night we had a feast: Chuck and Jan provided salmon and salad and we provided clams and halibut. The picture below is our camp at the Airpark of Tillamook looking thru the blackberry bushes which I spent a lot of time picking fresh blackberries.

On Wednesday we drove to the Three Rivers Casino in Florence, OR to meet up with a group of Boomers (RV group we belong to)before going to Winchester Bay. The Casino has free parking and provides each new visitor with $10 playing card. Dean and I came out ahead - after using our $20 we had $6.32 extra. We probably closed the casino with our big winnings.

South Beach to Tillamook

We stayed at South Beach until Friday. This has turned out to be our favorite campground so far. On Wednesday we drove with Chuck and Jan around the Quinault Lake and saw some really big trees, waterfalls, and great views of the lake. Dean is actually standing inside of a large cedar tree in the picture below. On Thursday we bought coho salmon from the local fishermen at Queets. Then Chuck and Dean cleaned them and Jan and I vacuum packed them. We have a lot of salmon!

We left South Beach on Friday

and drove to Aberdeen for supplies and

stayed the night in the Elks club parking lot.

On Saturday we drove South thru some neat little fishing towns We stopped at Long Beach and visited the Kite Museum and then walked the beach watching the people flying kites. We meet a really interesting kite flyer, Chuck Blevins, and sat with him while he flew his kite in circles, squares and dives. Then we left Long Beach and drove South along the beautiful coast of Oregon.

We ended up on Saturday at Tillamook and the first stop we made was at the cheese factory. We are staying at the Airpark near the biggest wooden building in the country - a hangar turned museum that was built for blimps during WWII.

The above picture is our campground at South Beach on the Olympic Pennisula. The four of us have enjoyed a campfire every night. But there is rain today in the Olympic Pennisula. Of course, they get 140 " per year. Yesterday we had gorgeous weather: sunny, warm and clear. We are in the big town of Amanda Parks today, using the internet and making phone calls.

We have been at South Beach for 3 nights and no internet or cell. But it is beautiful.

Tuesday Dean and I went to Ruby Beach and to look at a very large Cedar tree. We have bought fresh salmon from the local Indians at

Queets and I am picking blackberries every chance I can. Life is great.

Yesterday this was our sunset.