Pacific City, Oregon

Landing again in Pacific City, Oregon several days ago for a two-day stay was a return to a place from which we have a number of fond memories with family and friends on past visits: walking the amazing beach; the view of surfers against the background of Haystack Rock; clamming (we watched several years ago in amazement as a friend found and dug the clams, we cooked them, then all joined in the eating); an home-made sushi feast a few years back; a "welcome here" salmon dinner just a few months ago prepared on the fly by son John; sharing beer and conversation at a local bar, and coffee and breakfast in a local eatery after a storm took out the electricity in most of the surrounding area.

Things are changing here, new buildings going up, new businesses sprouting; while it's good to see a small town be healthy and vibrant, I worry that the type of building and new businesses coming to Pacific City will make it forever lose its small beach town charm and personality.  In reviewing the photos I took while visiting here, I realized I stayed clear of documenting any of the incipient growth taking place around me; I turned my back to it all and just took photos of the places that made this town dear to my heart.

 

This trip we had the opportunity to experience a totally different aspect of this region - its rivers.  Our son took us on a brief rafting trip on the Wilson River, which we had seen briefly in passing by short sections of it on the road to Pacific City.  Experiencing it from the water, rather than the road, was amazing! I LOVE, love, love the forests of this area: the huge old trees hung heavily with mosses of various types, the underbrush heavy with ferns, the numerous small streams and waterfalls emptying into the river, bubbling over mossy rock beds. I cannot help but expect fairies and gnomes to appear at the riverside as we glide by.  But those fairytale figures eluded us, instead we passed a few fishermen who were experiencing a beautiful, sunny day with no fish to speak of.

Starting the launch down a steep bank

And....the raft is in the water!

I could live here..... 

Little streams rushing into the river...

Moss-covered rocks, small and (in this case) large....so beautiful!

HUGE, moss-covered, wind-formed old tree - SO beautiful (the photo does not do it justice).

Hard to see in the photo, but this tree spans the area where the water has washed away the sand between roots so that the tree is in effect sending down roots on each side of the rushing water; the tree bark is covered with mosses and ferns.

THANK YOU JOHN H. GREENFIELD for being our host, our guide and wonderful son!

Westward Ho!

We're on a westward trip this spring, and have seen such incredible natural scenery between Michigan and Idaho so far.  I will share some photos of those views below. While it is frustrating to find State and National park campgrounds full or nearly at capacity this early in the season it is also encouraging to see how many people visit these parks, stay at their campgrounds, and appreciate these natural resources. It is clearly confirmation that these nature reserves are used, revered, and valued.  These are always our "destination campgrounds" - the places we choose to call home for several days to two weeks when we travel, but they are also beautiful places to stop overnight as we have done on most of this trip.

My heartfelt hope is that the governmental agencies that oversee the managment of these resources and the elected officials who designate funding for these sacred places continue to recognize their irreplaceable value and fight for the funding and manpower needed to maintain them as the national treasures that they are.

First night of travel we spent at Cherry Glen Corps of Engineers campground in Iowa (detailed in previous blog entry.  The second night we had pushed through a long day of driving and just wanted to get off the highway, so stayed at a private campground, named - aptly enough - I-80 Lakeside Campground; while there were traffic noises from the nearby highway, overall it was a nice-enough little campground for on overnight stay.

Our third night on the road was spent at a Wyoming State Park, where the sky was magnificent and the park beautifully maintained; we could have easily remained here for a number of days just to relax and enjoy the scenery, but on this trip we are more destination-bound than most trips, so just one glorious evening it was.

On day four of our drive we entered Grand Teton National Park and were so blown away by the beauty that we decided to spend two nights and the day in between just savoring the scenery.  When we started our drive that day, the temperature was in the high 50's in the morning, by the time we had wound our way up into the still snow-covered mountains it had dropped to 37, then climbed again to high 40s and low 50's by the time we reached the Colter Village RV Campground in the valley of the park.

 

Cherry Glen Corps of Engineers Campground, IA

On the road again for our first extended trip in months!  We've lucked out with a beautiful first day of travel yesterday, starting at home (Richland, MI) and ending our day at Cherry Glen, a beautiful US Army Corps of Engineers campground on Saylorville Lake in Johnston, IA, located a bit north of Des Moines, IA.  As has been the case with most Corps of Engineers campgrounds we have visited in the past, this one is beautifully maintained and set up in a way to provide visual privacy and reasonable space between sites in a lovely, heavily treed park.  With our National Parks Senior Pass (cost of $10 once for a lifetime card), we pay half-price at all National Park campgrounds.  Last night's camping cost was $10 compared with $40-$50 for a private campground which would have much less privacy but include amenities such as pools and rec. rooms which we do not use. These National Parks are a bargain indeed, even when we only stay for the night when passing through the area while heading to our ultimate destination.