How to say Oregon

Yesterday here at the State Park we met someone who said he could tell we were from the East Coast because of how we pronounce Oregon: Or-e-gone. Out here he said it's Or-e-gun or just Or-gun, so he claimed. Was he pulling our leg or not? Oregon followers, help us out.

Today we welcome (3) new followers: Wild Blue Wonder, Dave & Susie and Russ Krecklow. Thanks for comin' on board; we look forward to your comments.

Despite the rain today we ventured out to Cape Arago where we were pleasantly surprised.

We knew we would find the Cape Arago Lighthouse in Coos Bay, but were surprised to hear hundreds of sea lions barking when parked the car at an overlook near by. Most were far away but with binoculars we could see dozens in the water and on the rocks.

Another nice surprise was the Simpson Estate Garden in The Shore Access State Park.

The main entrance to the garden.
The gardens and the Lily ponds' shore have many exotic species of trees from all over the world.

The original caretakers' cottage; the Simpson mansion burned down some time ago.

The light rain seem to add to the experience, giving everything a fresh, clean appearance.

A Birthday Shout Out!

Thinking about Zach as he celebrates his 21st birthday far from home. Looking forward to partying with him when he gets back to the good old U.S.A.!!!

Happy 17th Birthday Happy!

I can't believe it was nearly seventeen years ago that we picked out Happy at the Humane Society in New Milford, CT. Happy was born to a litter of seven kittens, all named after The Seven Dwarfs. Happy turned out to be an outdoors cat, which is why we never considered taking him with us. It's almost certain he would have escaped from the motorhome at some point to look for his old home. Happy now resides with our son and his girlfriend in Norwalk, CT.

40 Miles of Sand Dunes

Until 3 days ago the only sand dunes we had ever seen were in Cape Cod, Mass. The dunes out here are amazing; some are like small mountains, complete with pine forests growing right out of the sand.

Tsunami Siren in the dunes just 200 yards inland.

When we arrived at The Dunes National Recreation Area the parking lots were completely full of people unloading every manner of dune buggy, ATV, OHV and motorcycle there is. We had no idea this is such a popular sport here.

The Umpqua Lighthouse sits high up on the dunes. It's colored light is suppose to shine across the dunes at night; we will have to check it out.

Roosevelt Elk are easy to find at the Dean Creek viewing area just east of Reedsport, where we presently are.

Lovin' Hwy 101

The Yaquina Bay Bridge has to be the nicest bridge we've seen so far.

Here in the Northwest were everything seems larger, we found the world's smallest navigable harbor. That's it, the whole bay:

Not far from the smallest harbor is the world's largest sea cave. From hwy 101 this looks to be pretty commercialized, but once we went down inside we were impressed with its size and natural beauty. The elevator took us down 20 stories to the cavern floor which is just above sea level. Lucky for us, there were two sea lions, though at times there are hundreds when the weather is bad. This time of year there are usually none.

From inside the cave we could look a half mile north to see the Heceta Head Lighthouse. Again we were lucky, as we were leaving the cave the fog rolled in and we couldn't see a thing.

Back to the Coast

Our business with Northwest Cummins in Eugene concluded, and Dessy given a clean bill of health, we headed west back to HWY 101, southbound. Our behemoth motorhome seemed to drive smoother and have a bit more umph on the hills as we wound our way up, down and around towards the coast. Could a freshly lubed and happy motorcoach drive that much differently, or is it all in my head?

The Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport.

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, Oregon.

Another lighthouse we could climb to the top.

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Isn't this sweet!

What's for Dinner?

We're spending one more night at Coach Care waiting for a generator part due here tomorrow AM. Dessy's check-up was all good with only a couple minor issues.

Just down the road a bit we found very fresh sweetcorn for just $0.20 an ear and cantaloupe for only a $1 ea..

I stopped boiling corn some time ago, preferring roasted corn, and recently read The Youngest Snow Bird's blog on microwave corn which I thought was a good idea. Instead of a wet paper towel as she recommended, I left the husk on and soaked the corn (photo above) before putting it in the microwave.

Success! 6 minutes in the microwave and you have corn-on-the-cob with a handle!

Co-ho Salmon, Pinot Noir, what could be better?

Camped at Cummins

Tomorrow morning Dessy goes in the shop for her annual check-up at Coach Care here in Eugene. As a courtesy, Coach Care provides overnight parking with water and power hookups. No excuse to be late for this appointment!

What's for dinner?

Angels on horseback. I wanted to try these back in Washington but we had to leave town before "oyster night" at a seaside restaurant there. Anyway, there not all that difficult to make at home. Just wrap some small oysters with thin bacon and put them on the grill. I had them on skewers at first but they didn't turn all at the same time, so next time I'll try toothpicks. They were delicious, I love the name as much as the taste.

Newport Sea Lions

While exploring the Yaquina Bay waterfront we kept hearing barking sounds before we even got out of the car.

It turns out these California Sea Lions spend about ten months of the year here, except when they go to California for mating season.

They hang out on the jettys and some docks provided for them.

This one seemed to want to pose for me.

The Spruce Goose

When we learned that The Spruce Goose was at The Evergreen Aviation Museum just 75 minutes away we had to take a look.

When we pulled into the driveway of The Evergreen Aviation Museum the first thing we saw was this 747 on the roof of one of the many large museum buildings.

This turned out to be the totally enclosed water park. Inside you climb stairs up to the 747 where you pick which water tube you want slide down in.

The tail of The Spruce Goose is 80 feet high. Note The Spirit Of St. Louis parked underneath.

What a behemoth this is, the wing of The Spruce Goose is so thick that a person can walk out to the most outboard engine without bending over. These engines are Pratt & Whitney, 3000 hp, 28 cylinder, R-4360s; 8 of them!!

Even today, it's still the largest wingspan plane ever built.

Inside the fuselage looking aft; note the human figure for a sense of scale.

There are some hands-on exhibits such as this giant radio control flight simulator.

There many nice old war birds as well, though The Spruce Goose steals the show.

Coastal Oregon

Oceanside, Oregon. What Bisbee, Arizona would look like on the ocean.

So, you're exploring the beaches near Oceanside and you really want to see the next beach. You might get around the large rock outcrops at low tide but why wait?

No need to get your feet wet, just climb through the tunnel. This is fun!

For our four days and nights at The Jetty Fishery this log always had these Cormorants on it.

Lighthouses

The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse as seen from The Lewis & Clark Interpretative Center. The Interpretative Center is a wonderful exhibit we thoroughly enjoyed.

The Cape Meares Lighthouse was vandalized in 2010 by two young men with rifles. The 120 year old lens from France was destroyed, but the vandals were caught and are making restitution.

This is what a lighthouse lens looks like.

Tillamook Cheese and a Nice Salmon

Today we moved further south to The Siletz River. As we were backing into our site this 26 lb. Chinook was brought in from the river. This is a native as are the Silvers here in this river. What a beauty!

We couldn't pass through Tillamook without a visit to the cheese factory.

The free samples are a popular part of the tour.

Even though the tour and samples are free everyone spends a good deal in their store, as did we.

Workers slice up 40 lb. aged blocks into smaller retail sizes.