Big Stay

Well I'm stilll in San Diego, seeing a travel doctor on Friday for anti-malerial meds and some take with antibiotics and whatnot, THEN I'm hitting the road again for a few days. Or not.

Big Trouble

Haystack Rock - where the puffins nest.
And cormorants, and murres, and other
birdy creatures (saw them all through binoculars and got close up viewing and photos later on at the Oregon Aquarium where they have an aviary with local birds). It was windy and cold
really fascinating to see all the tidal
pool critters in addition to the birds.

July 8. San Diego. My long anticipated visit with old friend went somewhat awry. So on Saturday July 4 I was looking for available camp sites in gray, cloudy, not exactly warm (average temp 64) central Oregon coast but, alas, they were apparently all spoken for. So I gave up and decided to retreat to San Diego asap. I found that the wide open, drive like bats out of hell, travel from Sacramento to San Diego was less irritating than the long, slow, traverse of endless mountain roads. But I must say, if you've not yet had the opportunity to tackle California highways you are missing the biggest thrill ride(s) ever! They squeezed a few "sweet jesus's" out of me. And then I hit Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m. (I'm really good at arriving in cities during rush hours) but I needed the break, so the hour and a half crawl through wasn't so bad. Did get my brakes tested a few times but we all managed to miss each other somehow.

Since then I have been hanging out with my sons, getting my car serviced (I've driven about 7000 miles since leaving Colorado), walking on the WARM beaches,washing clothes, cooking on a stove, and getting lost in the warren of roads and highways in San Diego.

My middle son, Drew, is a photographer and last night (Friday) he had his first solo show. So my turning up out of the blue was sort of serendipitous. Things went well and everyone is a little calmer now. But I looked around at one point and noticed that none of us (even Mr. Photographer) had managed to bring a camera...what a sorry bunch.

July 14

Finally. I think all my travel arrangements, flight reservations, visa requests and so on are taken care of. Later this week I'm off to San Fransisco for a few days; I will probably take the train up there from San Diego so I won't have to worry about (and pay for) parking in the big city.

Weather here has been fabulous and I've been having such a nice time hanging out with Joe, Drew and friends. This afternoon after hitting the Fedex office to ship my passport off for visas I went to the local library. Sigh. Withdrawal from PPLD standards and expectations is really challenging. Time sure goes fast when you're doing nothing of consequence :) Take care dudes.

While here I'm taking care of ticketing, visas, insurance and so on for the next phase of this little jaunt. Next few week will get around to checking out other parts of California.

So, I'm regrouping in San Diego, taking care of my airline reservations, visa business and such, and will be using this as the base for exploring the rest of California until August 8.

Backtrackin'

Camp #9, Dunes Recreational Area, coast or Oregon.

Somewhere along the way I decided that being in the general area I ought to visit Mt. St. Helens. So I took a deep breath and backtracked through Portland and north;on the southward run from Seattle I didn't notice the mountain at all. Going north it's kind of difficult to figure out how that was possible. Both Mt. St. Helens and Rainier are very prominent. The problem with visiting all these cool out back of beyond places is that you have to drive, and drive, and drive to reach them. I have taken to stopping at visitors bureaus (or whatever they're called). These people go crazy trying to tell you everything! And usually have some good tips re where to stay and etc. So the Eco Resort Park was highly recommended and there I went. A beautiful place out out there on the road to Mt. SH. It became memorable because I had my first nightmare (that I remember) There was a big earthquake and something cold and wet was pouring on my head. It was very real. Decidedly creepy. In the morning, packed up, had breakfast at the Resort restaurant and set sail for the mountain. Wow.

Crazy cool to look at knowing what happened but even more so after seeing a film about the eruption and hearing 2 ranger talks. Glad I visited but probably wouldn't ever stay at Eco again.

Following the afternoon at the Mt. went back through Portland (I'm really good at hitting during rush hour and mostly by dumb luck managed to get on my target route back to the coast. There's an interesting winery corridor on Route 18 west, southwest of Portland. It would be worth a visit rather than a drive by.

One really irritating thing in Oregon, other than gas station attendants, is the 55 speed limit on secondary roads. Aggghhrhhgh!

On Tuesday set up Camp #8 at Beverly Beach. This site is a little farther from the beach so not so windy and a little sunny. The beach, though as gorgeous as any, is considerably more windy and no fun at all so I went exploring all the nearby towns and scenic overviews. Saw whales; in Depoe Bay by the Whale Watching Center (hmmm)!

This morning when I woke up my first conscious thought was, "I want a gun." It was 5:45 a.m and the crows were carrying on about something. Then at 6:30 the kids one space over were out riding their lazer scooters and there's a whiny screamer. Was fixing breakfast when I ran out of propane; that's not supposed to happen. Packed up and took off for the next spot down the coast around 11:00. My first order of business was to get my car washed. Somehow I wasn't surprised when the guy said he's have to charge me for "extra dirty". We feel so much better now. Then I had to brave Wal-Mart again hoping that they'd managed to get my docs ok for a RX refill. Finally. So I'm headed south to check out the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They're rated 10th best in the country and deserve it. This is a totally awesome facility. Left there around 3:00. This trip down the coast via 101 is really turning out to be all I'd hoped for. Saw (another) lighthouse today (Heceta Head), crossed a bunch of fantabulous bridges, more bays, more beaches. Life is hard. Tonight I'm camped somewhere in the Oregon Dunes National Rec area in a nice little campground where the featured activity seems to be running dunebuggys.

Tomorrow and for the next few I'll be visiting with my old friend Penny somewhere outside of Eugene. Happy 4th to you all.

Finally back on the coast. It took a little while to find a state park with camping. Currently staying at Beverly Beach which is a lovely park - as most of them are. But the beach is relativley inhosiptable - gorgeous but so windy and cold that it's not much fun. Today decided to visit a bunch of viewpoints and tourist spots in the area. Saw whales - right by the Depoe Whale Watching Center; found out that Wal-Mart doesn't carry hatchets

Finally back on the coast