2017 West Coast Road Trip

A 37-day adventure by Sam & Samantha Read more

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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Dunes and tide pools
August 3, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
We started our drive up the coast in the morning. This began what felt like a somewhat rushed push - with several hours a day in the van. It seemed like everything took longer than what google maps was saying. Looking back, we did see and do quite a bit, but it would nice someday to return to the Oregon coast and see it at a slower pace.

We stopped at a couple spots to look at the dunes - but decided to heed the advice of one of the river guides who told us that the dune surfing was fun for about 10 minutes and then became exhausting.

So we put pushed on to Cape Perpetua. The coast line was so rugged and striking. We hiked down to the tide pools to watch the crashing waves and climb on the lava rocks.

One of the the features was a hole that filled and drained. We learned later at the visitor's center that it is called Thor's well - but we'd already given it a different name - so it became, for us, Thor's Toilet.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Cape Perpetua and a place to stay
August 3, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
We drove up to the view at Cape Perpetua. We could see the toilet flushing down below and the sun sparkled off the water.

But we were all tired and didn't have a campsite reserved nearby - our schedule having changed because the van had been driven to the end of the rafting trip.

So we considered boondocking for the night. We tried a logging road suggested to us by a ranger but it seemed spooky because of all the clear cutting.

So we drove to a few more campsites but everything was full up and down the coast. With 100+ temperatures just a few miles east, everyone was hightailing it to the cooler weather by the beach.

Finally I found us a spot in a tiny RV park. The nice lady let us park right next to the car wash for the night. The place seemed a bit sketchy at first but it turned out to be a nice evening. There was a good pizza place across the street, the bathrooms were clean, the showers were hot, and Franklin got to power wash the trail dust off the van the next morning. Win, won, win.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Another try at crabbing
August 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We left the car wash in good spirits and drove up to the public pier in Newport. We set our trap and then went over to the very cool Marine Science Center.

There was an excellent movie about cuttlefish and their cloaking ability. We also met a couple of octopi.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
The beast!
August 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C
When we got back to the pier there were no crabs in our trap 😞

However, we'd been chatting with a nice family who was having success with turkey legs and they gave us one to add to our trap. We also started using the snares on the fishing poles. We caught a couple of crabs with the snares and traps - but no keepers.

But then it happened - we got the beast! Over 7 inches! Made the whole day worth it - even the locals were impressed!Read more
TravelerGlad to see you're in cool places! Love, Peg
8/9/17Reply
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
The feast!
August 4, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C
We drove up to Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Oregon side. It was a huge campground with lots of families and kids running around.

But we had things to do - cook George! (We know you aren't supposed to name your food but the name just stuck).

We stopped to get more Corona and limes. The Old Bay we already had.

He *barely* fit in the pot - we had to flip him upside down and fold all his legs in. He'd been on ice since we'd caught himRead more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Minnesota 1st
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
After the usual breakfast chores we drove over to see Fort Stevens itself. While we waited for the truck tour to begin, we got to spend some time with Civil War reenactors from the Minnesota 1st.

While I talked family history with an older guy, Franklin enjoyed being shown a rifle demonstration. The actual shot the soldier fired was quite loud!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Fort Stevens tour
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
We had a tour on the back of a 5 ton truck to learn all about the fort. It was the one place in the lower 48 that the Japanese fired on in WWII. A submarine fired several shells at the fort. The fort did not fire back, the new officer in charge being somewhat confused about how to respond.

We enjoyed the story about the time dignitaries and the press corp came to view a demonstration of some anti-ship mortars. The whole battery of 8 mortars were fired at the same time - each firing 1000 lb. solid shot. The resulting sound broke windows up to 8 miles away and all of the visitors had to return to town in shredded clothing!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Maritime Museum
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
Over in the town of Astoria we had a quick lunch at the aptly named Pig 'n' Pancakes and then headed over to the excellent Maritime Museum.

The lifeboat pitching on the waves was one of the best museum displays I've ever seen!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Cape Disappointment
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
We finally crossed the bridge into Washington - our last state! Oregon did go by in a bit of a blur - more so than California - but looking back we did get to see a bunch of things... and we caught George!

We drove over to Cape Disappointment - so named because an explorer coming south to find the mouth of the Columbia stopped just short of it and turned around.

There was a good museum about Lewis and Clark at the visitors center but we arrived late and only got to look around for a few minutes before closing. No time to even take a picture.

However, Franklin spent $40 on a nice wind-up replica pocket watch he's very excited about. It is Swiss made!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Dead Man's Cove
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
On the way to the lighthouse we found the beautiful dead man's cove. A fun scramble down revealed a pretty little cove which would have been a pirate's paradise!
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Cape Dissapointment Lighthouse
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 14 °C
We finished the walk up to the lighthouse. We debated which was taller, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse on the outer banks which we climbed last summer or Cape Disappointment (including the bluff). Turns out it was close - tbd former 210, the latter 216!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Another RV Park hit!
August 5, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 14 °C
We needed to keep moving north to make it to the Olympic Peninsula so I called a couple camping places but everything was full - if being Saturday night and the interior in the midst of the heat wave.

Eventually I found an RV park just outside Aberdeen, WA. The neighborhood looked a bit sketchy and I was nervous it was more of a trailer park. Yet, after turning off 101 onto a little road with ramshackle houses and junked cars on blocks, we arrived at a lovely little place with a nice spot right on the river. It wasn't an actual RV spot, just a place to park for the night. But the bathrooms and showers were clean and we did our laundry and had a great night.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Arrival at Hoh Rainforest
August 6, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
We got up early and made our way north to the Hoh Rainforest in hopes of finding a good campsite at the first-come first-served campground at the end of a 20 mile road.

Turns out we got a great, huge site near the Hoh river which colored slate blue by the stone dust in the melting glacier at its source.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
An afternoon of gaming and relaxing
August 6, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Having spent so many days driving and pushing ourselves it felt great to just spend the day relaxing and playing games.

Samantha said of Netrunner, one our current favorite games "We have to play Netrunner. Once you know about Netrunner, you have to play Netrunner."Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
We meet Bob
August 6, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 20 °C
Towards dinner we were relaxing and still playing games when a huge Elk came by and started browsing on the ferns between us and the river. He was very calm and didn't seem to mind the small crowd he drew.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Bob comes through
August 6, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 18 °C
Not content to just forage by the river, Bob decided to walk right up the path to our campsite and nibble some of the tasty plants next to our van. He was so big he seemed to dwarf the van itself!

He walked across the road and through our neighbor's site and then stopped just outside the men's bathroom door. The group of us watching him were just waiting for someone to come out of the bathroom and walk into him - but no one did. Still, the whole event helped us connect with our campsite neighbors and have a laugh.Read more
TravelerWow, that is SO cool! Bob is beautiful.
8/11/17Reply
He's huge!!!
8/16/17Reply
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
A GoT Miracle
August 6, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 15 °C
Conspiracy theorists will insist there is a pattern here but nothing could be further from the truth! Here are the facts:

After the first night in Dinuba, we have only skipped sleeping in the van 3 times (not including the rafting trip)

Tuesday 7/18 - we stay in a motel near Lake Tahoe, having fled the smoke coming over the Sierras from a big fire. I watch Game of Thrones season 7 episode 1 which came out a couple days earlier.

Sunday 7/23 - we stay in a motel in Williams, CA on the way to Covelo. We have just come from over 10,000 feet at Lassen into the brutal heat of the valley. I watch episode 2.

Sunday 7/30 - we stay in a motel in Grant's Pass the night before our rafting trip. This part of Oregon is in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave - by Wednesday the temperature will be 115! I watch episode 3.

See? There is NO pattern here!

Now I haven't been able to upload any pictures / blog posts here while in Hoh because the Verizon coverage is very weak. However, I discover that if I rest my right elbow on the hood of the van and face the moon I can get a very slow download speed to get going. In theory, if I stood in that position for over an hour spanning midnight I could download a fairly large file.

I watch episode 4 starting at 12:30 am.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Rainforest Walk
August 7, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C
We took a lovely walk in the Rainforest that started near the visitor's center. We learned that the ferns we were seeing can grow to 14 feet but none were higher that about 4 feet because of what we called "Nature's Lawnmower" - the Elk!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Building the grand canal
August 7, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 24 °C
We decided to play in the river after lunch. The main river current was pretty strong and seemed to dangerous for the kids. But we found a little side channel fed by a trickle. We thought we could modify it into a swimming hole by channeling in some fresh water via a canal. Another family joined us and after a LOT of digging we got it done!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Bob comes by again and dinner
August 7, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 23 °C
I was standing at the kitchen at the back of the van when our neighbor called over "Look to your left" - I closed the door, and not 5 feet away - Bob! I backed off before taking pics. So much for my Elkdar!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Another rainforest loop
August 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 20 °C
We walked the short "Hall of Moss" trail after breakfast. Lush and pretty. We really liked the nurse logs where a fallen tree becomes an opportunity for new plants.

The Sitka Spruce were huge! But there are many fallen trees from storms.Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
More loop, then lunch and games
August 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 21 °C
We finished the loop, including walking on a fallen 210 foot tall Sitka Spruce. Lest all the smiling pictures give the wrong impression - there are plenty of petty annoyances and grievances by all of us. It has been a long trip and the end is in sight. We're tired and dirty and beginning to talk about what we'll do when we get home.

However, troubles are usually short-lived and we bounce back well. I prepared lunch while the kids played a Netrunner. I played Franklin after lunch and he made a brilliant play at the end to win the game on his last move down to his last credit. The kid's got skills!Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Ruby Beach walk down
August 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We left around 3:30 for the 45 minute drive out to Ruby Beach. We went so late in the day to get there as the tide was going out and thus have a better chance at tide pool exploration. I also thought it might mean smaller crowds....Read more
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Ruby Beach driftwood
August 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
A neighbor at our campsite suggested we turn left at the bottom of the trail for a better beach experience. We never found out what was to the right - but left was magical!
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2017 West Coast Road Trip
Ruby Beach tidepools
August 8, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
The tide wasn't quite all the way out and it wasn't a particularly low low tide (if it had been we would have been digging for geoduck- an item still on my bucket list).

But the kids had fun playing with the sea anemones and the little fish. Sadly no giant Dungeness crabs were trapped by the tide.Read more
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