The Oregon Coast

We finally made it to the beautiful Oregon Coast and will be here for 4 nights, 5 days, staying at Cape Lookout Campground.  The “cape” is a huge lava flow, about 2 miles long that extends out into the Pacific Ocean near here – a hiking trail, the Cape Trail, takes you to the end.  We hope to do it, but maybe without Lucy, as it could be a bit much for the old girl.  

We did go on another coast hike today – maybe 4 miles out and back – a trail that took us from the campground to the intersection with the Cape Trail.  Lucy did well, but now, she is passed out in the trailer.  It’s raining now, so we are holed up with a cup of tea and our “devices”.  Thank goodness we have a full hookup so we can keep them charged….. but, alas, no wifi.

Last evening was lovely here.  After we arrived and set up camp, we sat on the beach with our camp chairs and a bottle of wine.  Think I can see why so many rave about the Oregon Coast.  Quite a place. 

The next day was rainy, so we took a drive down the coast to Newport, stopping at Depoe Bay on the way back and at Pacific

Newport:  "What the?"

Depoe Bay

City both directions.  On the way down, there was a wonderful farmers market where we got loaded down with fruit veggies and other goodies.  On the way back, we stopped at Barnacle Bill’s for their home-grown smoked salmon and marinated herring.

Depoe Bay was cool, because it boasted the smallest harbor in the world, I think.  The Coast Guard has a station there and the opening to their marina is tiny.

We did do the Cape Trail hike, with Lucy – at 13 ¾, she was awesome – probably 4 miles of up and down trail, and a smile on her face the whole way.

Portland and Willamette Valley

We have spent a few days in the Portland area with friends who were kind enough to put us up at their beautiful home in Lake Oswego.  Yesterday, we strolled around the city and today, we visited a couple of vineyards in the Willamette Valley, south of Portland.

What the....?

Family of seven

Before we hit the Pearl District of Portland, we stopped by the Willamette River Park to let Lucy stretch her legs.  Nothing too exciting there, but we were amazed to see a family of geese, two adults and five goslings on one of the docks.  It was impressive to watch this family unit make there way from the dock into the water, one-by-one, with parents watching over them.  In the same vicinity was a contraption, the likes of which I have never seen - a combination of small catamaran, bicycle and paddle boat, I think.  It was suggested to me that this sort of thing was "very Oregon".

The Stoller vineyard

Lucy saying goodbye to Luna

This morning, we left Lake Oswego and drove south to the incredible Oregon pinot region of the Willamette Valley.  In Dundee, we visited two vineyards, Stoller, recommended by our local oenophile friend and Torii Mor.  The Stoller wines were excellent, and we were thrilled to find Toriii Mor, as we had enjoyed one of their pinots maybe a decade ago, but was never able to find them at Applejacks or anywhere else.  

Chris sampling a lovely rose

Later we drove to McMinnville, which is supposed to be the heart of Willamette Valley.  We lucked out, as on Thursdays (today) there is a farmers market in town.  Got some great veggies for the road.  

Off to the Coast tomorrow.  Our stay here was very enjoyable, especially with the company of our friends, but we also look forward to the next segment of the trip, where we will stay in 3 locations for 3 or 4 nights each.  Slower pace.

On to Oregon

The night before we left for Oregon, it poured, all evening, all night.  I thought I'd never see the sun again.  But there it was the next morning, sharing the sky with the usual cloud bank.  We headed back through Walla Walla and got on Route 84 through Northern Oregon and along the Southern bank of the Columbia River.  But first a note about the young wheat fields around Walla Walla.  I had never seen anything like it - rolling hills of a rich grass green - the young wheat shoots uniformly laid out, so it looked like huge manicured estate lawns.

As we crossed the state line into Oregon, the Columbia River Gorge walls rose up on either side of the river.  At first it was a desert environment with sage dotting the landscape and rock walls on either side of the river.  Then it gave way to a temperate rainforest climate with trees and plants growing like weeds.

What the....

We camped in the rainforest and hiked among trees, rocks and branches covered in a mossy green.  I kept looking for a gnome to pop out, or Frodo Baggins.

Wining in Walla Walla, Washington

Breakfast at Bacon and Egg, Walla Walla

Grape vines

We've just spent a couple of days in the Walla Walla wine country, in Southern Washington.  I'll make this quick because it is Lucy's supper time on Sunday, May 15.  We ran into some friends yesterday evening for a glass of wine and then went to Henry Earle tasting room in downtown Walla Walla.  We chose it because it was pouring rain, the place was open and it served food. Turns out, we knew the sommelier because he used to work at Cru in Denver on Larimer Street.  Nice evening.  This morning, we waited in line for breakfast at the locals' favorite, had a great breakfast, then walked across the street, tasted more wine, really liked it, so bought some for the trip.  Then we drove outside of Walla Walla to check out the vineyards.  By then we had had enough, which wasn't very much, but, well, we're old.

View from Northstar Vineyard

Lolo Pass

It’s a lovely morning in the Wilderness Gateway Campground on Route 12 in Idaho, down the hill from Lolo Pass.  It’s so gorgeous here, with many hiking possibilities, that we decided to do a “layover” here, before heading to Southern Washington.

Two mornings ago, we said goodbye to our buddy, Tim, and headed Northwest, via I90, to Boseman, MT for lunch and a walk-around.  Very cool town.  Looks like a quieter version of Breckenridge and is an hour away from Big Sky, the ski resort.  Then we continued on I90 through Butte and up to Missoula.  Missoula looked like a decent enough town – bigger than Butte – and we hit it during rush hour, so although it certainly wasn’t Denver, the roads were sill clogged and trying to find the Loaf and Jug there was challenging and a nightmare to enter and egress with a 23-foot trailer. 

But soon after, (whew!) we escaped the congestion and headed West on Route 12 towards Idaho.  We pulled into a very nice, very quiet campground with spacious campsites and a well-manicured green lawn – we knew it was maintained well, due to its appearance and because of the two riding lawnmowers buzzing around us as we enjoyed our coffee the next morning.  Maybe they wanted us out of there to make room for longer-staying guests?  Besides that, it was perfect.  The campground also boasted a square-dancing center, which we thought might be fun to observe.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, there was no dance the evening we were there.

The Rig at camp outside Missoula

The next morning, we headed up 12 towards Lolo Pass, which is the boundary between Montana and Idaho.  Beautiful drive through pine-covered mountains and on the Idaho side, the road paralleled the Lochsa River, a gorgeous, clear, rushing river, strewn with boulders.  We passed many folks with rafts and kayaks, probably heading to the Selway down the road.  Caused me to long for our canceled permit on the San Juan in a couple of weeks…..

Hike along the Lochsa

Also on Route 12, we are paralleling the route that Lewis and Clark took during their journey in the early 1800’s.  Realizing that I know very little about this important American expedition, I was gratified to find lots of information about these guys at the USDA center at the top of Lolo Pass.  So we picked up Ken Burns’ documentary about them at the center.  Two rangers at the center gave us brilliant directions about where to find a good hike and then where to camp along Route 12.  Chris had learned from the Good Sam chat room that the campgrounds along Route 12 are mostly closed, but that the Forest Services folks would know which camps had their gates up.

Stock bridge across Lochs

For the suggested hike, we pulled off the road on the right, crossed over the highway, and then on to a very well-built livestock bridge over the roaring Lochsa River to the trailhead.  The trail took us up the other side of the drainage through a partly charred cedar forest and back down again along a tributary of the Lochsa, similar in length and elevation gain to our routine hike on Spruce Creek, but longer.  Perfect!  I am so concerned about turning into a lard-ass, living as trailer trash with no exercise.  So the more we can find hikes like this, the better!

Cedar and flowers

Later, we found the camp that the rangers mentioned – large, beautifully laid out with only one loop open – but not officially opened until late May (ergo, no fees!).  So we waltzed in, picked a lovely spot on the river and settled in.  We positioned our camp chairs overlooking the river for cocktail hour, and later, watched the first half of the Burns documentary.  A great day.

On the Big Trip, starting in Montana

Hi, Folks!

This is the fourth day in our month-long trip in Moby, our 23-foot travel trailer, short for Moby Dick, so named because it is large and white (large by our standards anyway - looks like a giant icebox on wheels).

We are currently staying at our friend, Tim's, rented cabin in Roberts, Montana, half-way between Billings and Red Lodge, a cool little town near the Beartooth Mountains.  We arrived on a gorgeous evening on Sunday - 68 degrees, sunny, so enjoyed some wine on his deck while he was still in Glenwood Springs for Mother's Day (long story).  The sun on our faces felt wonderful, as we had endured weather akin to a good portion of the West on Saturday - torrential rains most of the way from home to Thermopolis, Wyoming.  And then then we had just left the snow in Summit County.

Enjoying Tim's deck who wasn't here.....Roberts, MT

Let me backtrack:  we tried to outrun a storm on Saturday as we headed North from Blue River to Thermopolis.  It caught up with us about two-thirds of the way there.  And the downpours seemed to occur every time we had to get out of the Jeep.  There was a gorgeous camping area in the Wind River Canyon in Wyoming, but with the dodgey weather, we opted for Eagle RV Park in Thermopolis with full-hookup.  Worked out fine.  We endured the rainy evening by watching the 4 first episode of Northern Exposure!

On the way from Wyoming into Montana, the weather improved and we stopped in Cody, WY for a sunny stroll through town, some lunch and a couple of bargains at Sierra Trading Post!

Now we've been hanging out in this delightful cabin on 3 acres in Roberts since Sunday evening.  Yesterday the weather was awful again, so it was a perfect time to hole up and do computer stuff - emails, notes, BFF movies.  And it snowed last night... fortunately not very much.  Later today, it lightened up, so we went on a hike South of Red Lodge on the Lake Fork Trail, along a large, roaring creek.  Good to get out and get the limbs moving.  Lucy was thrilled.

Happy kid on the trail and out of the trailer!