Leaving Brookings, we started to really enjoy the Oregon
coast with the myriad chunks of rocks sticking out of the ocean, as far out as
3 miles. Howard remembers going down the coast on
Blue Bossa, staying as
far out as feasible, just to make sure that he was clear of those dangerous
rocks.
Climbing up and over the coastal mountains reminded us of so
many roads that we’ve driven before – Highway 9, Bonnie Doon, Big Sur and more.
The rain came and went, as we wound through the mountainous
coastline. There were a surprising
amount of tourist traps, including wild dinosaurs, enchanted forests, and other
oddities. As well, there were numerous places to pull off the road and admire
the beautiful scenery.
Finally, we made it to Florence, where we found a nice
little camping spot right on the harbor/river.
Because it’s so out-of-season, we had no problem getting a spot with
electricity and everything. Oh boy, a
chance to camp out in our car-top tent.
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| Setting up the tent in Florence |
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| Getting "frosted" |
After enjoying a nice dinner at Mo’s on the boardwalk, a
short stretch of the legs from our campsite, we couldn’t help but notice how
cold it was getting. Dressed in layers from long underwear to fuzzy caps, we
crawled into bed with Django cuddled up with us and slept. We had enough
blankets and clothes to stay warm, but that habitual trip to the john in the
middle of the night was a real chore; stumbling in the darkness, getting up and
down the slippery ladder, we realized that this tent is probably designed for
younger people and warmer, dryer weather.
When we got up in the morning, the frost was thick from the ground
up to the top of our tent. The temperature was hovering around 32 degrees, and
changing clothes was, well, interesting. When putting the tent away, we had to
deal with frost on the top and sides of the tent.
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| Chuckita and the dinosaurs |
We initially were going to go all the way up the coast, but
since we were scheduled to be at Howard’s brother’s family in Bend for
Thanksgiving, and we had a lot of places to explore, we decided to head east to
Highway 5 to cover more ground and get to Seattle to visit some friends of
Celina.
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| Seattle driving |
After going a long ways, we made it to Seattle, just in time
for rush hour.
Say what you like about
Seattle, it’s a great town, but its rush hour is just as bad as L.A.’s. Suffice
to say, we got to Michael and Veronica’s place a little late, but still in time
for dinner.
After 10 years of not being in touch, Celina and Veronica behaved
as if they had never been apart. The child with whom Veronica was pregnant 10
years ago, is 9 year old Rowan. His little brother, Hawthorne, is 7. What
beautiful, sweet, funny and engaging boys. Django and they hit it off right
from the start. The evening was filled with lots of laughs, great conversation
with Michael and Veronica (who look as young as the day they were married) and
Chinese food that really hit the spot. We sacked out in Rowan’s room and got a
good night’s rest in a warm bed under the generous roof of the Wood family.
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| Looking out from Anacortes |
This morning, we left Seattle and drove to Bellingham. The
weather was clear
and cold, in the 30’s. After doing a little shopping, we
headed South and then West to Anacortes, where we got a room after checking out
the Ferry schedule for more exploring, this time, of the San Juan Islands.
Turns out that not too many places are dog friendly on the islands, so we opted
to stay another night here at Island Inn, who ARE dog friendly. We are having a
nice adventure and it hasn’t even been a week on the road yet.
Passing Port Orford was an interesting change from the other
harbors. Whereas most harbors along the Oregon coast are connected with rivers
(very much like the Santa Cruz harbor), Port Orford was really a nicely
protected point with a big cement pier where the local fishermen haul their
sizable boats to keep them safe from south-easterly storms.
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