A Day Among Giants and Our Old Friend the Ocean

Highway 199, known as the Redwood Highway in Oregon and the Smith River Scenic Byway in California, makes a great day trip from Grants Pass, OR. Yesterday we took it, crossing the coastal range into California and stopping to walk among the giant redwoods of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

Then we continued on, North on highway 101, back into Oregon and the beach town of Brookings where we had an excellent lunch at Vista Pub and took in the Pacific ocean for the first time since leaving San Diego last January.

Here's a look at our day walking among the giant redwoods and enjoying the coast for a few hours.

Morning sunlight seeps into the Simpson-Reed grove.

Fallen giant sprouting new life.

Tree love!

Alien fungus!

Delicious lunch at Vista Pub:
incredible bacon-wrapped albacore skewer, albacore sandwich w/crispy onion rings.

Along the shore at Harris Beach State Park.

Reconnecting with the immensity of the ocean.

Maidenhair ferns along the Myrtle Creek Botanical Trail.

Pitcher plants.

Seen at the incredible "It's a Burl" gallery in Kerbyville, OR.

Campground Review: On the River Golf and RV Park, Myrtle Creek, OR

On the River Golf and RV Park lies an easy three miles West of my daughters house, making it our home base during any visit with her. It's a pretty, friendly little park right on the banks of the South Umpqua River.

Roads are paved, sites are gravel, each site has a picnic table. They have 48 full hook up sites plus 5 water/electric pull throughs. Our site, 29, had a rather small grass strip separating us from the neighboring sites, but other sites have better separation. During our week long stay in October we only had neighbors one night. The river back in sites were well separated and seemed to be filled mostly with long term RV's (which were very well kept).

Amenities include: laundry, restrooms/showers (for a fee), wifi, golf (very small course for a fee), fishing (catch and release) and hiking on the parks property. We had good Verizon 4G signal during our stay.

The hiking is essentially walking the dirt roads through the 130 acres of the property on the hill behind the RV park. Nice views of the surrounding area up on the hill, plus you get to see the beautiful Scottish Highlander cattle the owners keep. During our stay the river was quite full due to the recent storms so it was too muddy to walk along the edge of the river.

The park is a couple miles from Interstate 5 (so no noise from that), and sits on fairly busy local highway 99 which makes for a bit of road noise during the day. The park is about half a mile from a lumber mill and you can hear a hum from their 24/7 operations at night...it was really a white noise kind of sound, nothing grating. Trains pass by occasionally going to and from the mill but they did not sound their whistle.

We liked this park. It is very pretty and green, lots of trees and flowers...I can tell the owners like to garden. Even though it seemed like a lot of the residents were long term, folks were friendly and every site was clean and well kept. Close to the freeway and the local highway for ease in getting around; about 10 miles South of Roseburg for major shopping. At $175 for a week it was a good place to stay.

Site 29 has a small grass strip, some sites have a larger grass strip for more separation between the sites.

Sites on the left back up to the golf area, we are in the middle pull throughs,
sites on the right back up to the river.
The leaves are just starting turn on the liquid amber trees.

Ducks on the golf course.
On the left, RV's back up to the course.

Koi pond, RV's back up to the grass and ponds on the right.
You can walk all the roads up the hill behind the park; steep but great views.

The park owners raise Scottish Highlander cattle and you can see them when you walk the hill
behind the park. This one is a really cute youngster.

Adult Scottish Highlander.

Hanging Out in Our "Home Town"

When we decided to make Oregon our home state, my daughter and son in law, Chantal and James, were so kind to agree to be our address and mailing service. We've spent the last week staying at On the River Golf and RV Park in Myrtle Creek, OR just three miles from their house, and Chantal had the week off from work.

The stormy weather that hit the Pacific Northwest has doused this area too, greening the hills up a bit before the first frost and giving us cool and cloudy days for the first half of our stay. There are not many formal trails in the Roseburg/Myrtle Creek area, most of the land is privately owned, but the North Bank Ranch Habitat is a former ranch now managed by the BLM as a Columbian White-tailed Deer and native plant habitat along and overlooking the North Umpqua River.

Mother and daughter enjoying the expansive views at North Bank Ranch.

We introduced Chantal to disc golf at the excellent Whistlers Bend disc golf course. Hans reviewed our play there last year just before we started fulltiming, and we still think this is the best course around for scenic beauty and variety of terrain on the course. Camping (for smaller rigs and tents) and day use is available as well, all right along the North Umpqua River.

The longest hole has you throwing from a hill into the meadow far below.
All of our discs landed near the thick pine in the near center of the photo.

We searched high and low for Hans' disc, and finally found it in this tree.

It was a very difficult tree to climb, but we saved the disc!

AND, last but not least, I got to play in the dirt...with my daughter, no less! I love gardening. It's therapy for my soul, and the one thing I miss most while living on the road. Luckily I have a daughter and a mother who love gardening too so I get to help them out whenever we visit them in Myrtle Creek or San Diego respectively.

Hans caught Chantal and I doing end-of-summer garden clean up.

We set up a new compost bin and path too.

Weed burning bonfire!

It's been a wonderful week hanging out with Chantal (and James in the evenings). Today she goes back to work and we'll have one last dinner with them tonight. We'll miss these kids...but we'll be back! Tomorrow we head on down the road to Grants Pass for a week.

Campground Review: Crown Villa RV Resort, Bend, OR

By far Crown Villa RV Resort is the fanciest RV park we have ever stayed at. But the neat thing about it is, it may be fancy, but it's not snooty! Everyone is welcome...no matter the age or size or type of rig, and the staff is friendly.

The park has over 100 GIANT full hook up sites. Just a few are pull throughs. Each enormous site is made of pavers and has a small table with two chairs, a storage shed and trash can (emptied each day by the staff, during the summer months only). Separate asphalt parking for your tow or towed vehicle at each site. Wide expanse of grass between each site as well as behind each site.

Amenities include: beautiful restrooms/showers, clean and reasonably priced laundry, hot tub, lounge, exchange library, wifi, complimentary coffee/tea, putting green, tennis court, horseshoe pits, fitness center, propane for sale, concierge service, enclosed off leash dog run (but dogs are allowed, leashed, throughout the park). We had good 4G Verizon signal during our stay and the parks wifi was excellent too. There is a small park model for rent, which Hans parents stayed in for a few nights...it's quite nice.

The park is one mile off highway 97, so there is no highway noise. Our site backed up to a fairly busy surface street so we had some road noise during the day but it was quiet at night. There is a train track nearby, we heard trains occasionally, and they did blow the whistle. There is a "nature trail" accessible from the park as well as neighborhood walking nearby.

The night we arrived was the last Sunday night potluck for the summer, along with excellent live music. Turns out there are a lot of folks living at this park long term, and everyone seems to be very comfortable and happy to be there. Walking around the park, you could only tell the long term rigs by the number of potted plants around each rig.

This park is not cheap. We paid $800 for our one month stay, and that is the shoulder season price (effective September 1st). We stayed in site 445, one of the Silver Tier sites which are closest to busy Brosterhous Rd. There are also Gold and Platinum Tiers...each are more expensive than the last. I am not sure what additional perks you get in the higher tiers other than you are further from the road. During the summer months the nightly and weekly rates would be prohibitive for us, but the monthly rate made this high end park reasonable.

This park is convenient to everything Bend has to offer. While there are many national forest parks within 20 miles of Bend, many of them are too small for large rigs and have no hookups for longer stays, and in some cases no nearby dump station.

I have stated in the past that I prefer rustic over manicured...but if every park provided the site separation and quality service and amenities that this park did with the friendly, welcoming atmosphere, I am certainly more open minded about well manicured parks!

Site 445, Silver Tier.

That's a storage shed that we can use, on the left. 

Wrapping Up Our Stay In Bend, OR

We like Bend, OR so much it's one of our top choices of places to settle down if we decide to buy a house again. It's got a cute and vibrant downtown and some cool older neighborhoods. No matter where you are in town you are only minutes from an incredible variety of outdoor recreation in some gorgeous natural settings.

The existing 2 year college will become a 4 year university (part of the Oregon State University system) in the next three years. The excellent medical industry is slated for expansion in the next few years too. Bend is already considered a retirement destination; we spoke to several couples who were here looking for property during our stay.

That said, Bend does have some drawbacks. It's population, and housing prices, have exploded in the last 20 years and is predicted to grow from 81,000 people to 115,000 by 2025. The city is working furiously to accommodate this growth; with the accompanying traffic and construction boom that must happen as well. City planners have already shown they are keen, and able, to provide walking/biking trails as a key part of the new infrastructure.

We'll keep Bend on the back burner, let it simmer for a while as we continue our travels (we've only been on the road for a year!), knowing we can visit any time and enjoy its many pleasures from the comfort of our home on wheels.

Here's what we've been up to during our last couple of weeks in Bend:

Fantastic metal buffalo sculpture in the Old Mill District.

There's great mountain biking on Phil's Trails, on the West edge of Bend. Hard packed dirt single track through the forest. From the main trailhead all trails head West and slightly uphill, making the return ride a fun, flowy slightly downhill joyride! The Deschutes River Trails dirt trails are prettier, but these trails are lots of fun.

Phil's Trail system.

Mountain Bike Art!

Fall colors are popping up here and there around town.

The Lava River Cave is cool...42 degrees year round! This cave was found when part of the lava tube collapsed. Today you can walk about a mile into the tube, lights are necessary and can be rented at the entrance.

You walk through the collapsed portion of the lava tube to enter the cave...

Lime green rocks at the entrance!

Once inside, the first couple hundred feet are very rocky, then the floor smooths out.

We enjoyed Smith Rock so much a couple weeks ago, we returned to hike around the mountain. This hike was about 7.5 miles, with a climb on the back side of the range. We searched for otters in the river, having heard about them on our previous visit, but did not see any, perhaps the drastic change in weather had something to do with that. The views on this hike were incredible. The recent weather system had left the local mountains enveloped in white.

Mt Bachelor, the local ski destination, shines in its cloak of white.

In my previous post on Smith Rocks I was enamored with this rock formation.
Turns out it is named Monkey Face!

From left to right: Broken Top, South, Middle and North Sisters, all dominate the Western horizon.

Mt Jefferson bathed in sun and clouds.

The uphill part of the hike was a series of gentle switchbacks...with views!

From the top we looked down on the Crooked River canyon walled in by Smith Rocks.
The snowy peaks of the Cascade Range in the distance.

The weather was quite cold during our last week in Bend (40's - 50's during the day) and the last couple of days have been rainy and that kind of weather always gets me in cooking mode. I made a new batch of Harissa, a delicious Mediterranean condiment that goes on anything you want to spice up: meats, vegetables, eggs, grains, beans, breads...the uses are many. Here's my version of Harissa, I made it pretty spicy, using dried chiles we bought in New Mexico, but milder chiles will make a less piquant sauce.

I made a neat version of biscotti as well using this delicious recipe from The Way The Cookie Crumbles. I used only whole wheat flour, only brown sugar and omitted the lavender (because I didn't have any). This recipe is a little less fussy than traditional biscotti by making them into bite size pieces instead of long wedges. Yummy!

Today is our last full day in Bend and it's supposed to be a rainy one. We'll try to sneak in one last walk along the beautiful Deschutes River and perhaps hang out in the library for a while, which happens to be in charming downtown Bend...a nice place for a stroll.

Tomorrow we cross the Cascades for a visit with my daughter and son in law, Chantal and James, in Myrtle Creek, OR. So looking forward to seeing them!

Following the Bend Ale Trail

Craft beer, it's all the rage these days and Bend, OR happens to be a hub for craft brewers. There's so many breweries here that they've come up with the Bend Ale Trail. All you have to do is visit a dozen breweries, get a stamp from each, and collect your prize at the Bend Visitor Center. Luckily we had a month in Bend so we didn't have to hit twelve breweries in one day!  ;-)

We started off at the newest brewery in town, Worthy Brewing Co. Opened in February of 2013, Worthy boasts a huge new facility, a small hops and herb garden, and sells delicious brews and food. We enjoyed the Worthy IPA and a wonderful beet salad.

Those are hops plants on the right.

Next stop, our RV buddies Jen and Deas, the Nealys on Wheels, happened to be in Bend for a few days of our stay so we met up at Crux Fermentation Project one evening. We enjoyed the Off Leash Session Ale. Good beer, decent food.

Meet up with the Nealy's on Crux Fermentation Project's dog-friendly patio.

Next we visited one of our favorite chain organizations: McMenamins. McMenamins is not your typical chain...the company buys historical buildings and restores and renews them into unique bars, restaurants, hotels, theaters. Plus they hire local artists to create some amazing art that depicts the buildings history. They also have live music at many locations on a regular basis.

The Bend location is McMenamins Old St Francis School, a former catholic school. We went for music and beer one evening, enjoying the Ruby, a light, slightly raspberry flavored ale. This location has music two or three days a week so we went several times during our month long stay in Bend.

Intimate music venue at Old St Francis School.

For our fourth brewery we stopped at 10 Barrel Brewing Co for lunch. This may very well be our favorite. We shared the 10 beer sampler and had a pizza and salad. We liked every single beer and the food was very good too. Hans especially enjoyed the OG Wheat IPA and I loved the Apricot Crush.

10 Barrel's 10-beer sampler. 

#5! Old Mill Brew Werks. Deas and Jennifer joined us at this stop for their last evening in Bend. We really like sharing the samplers to get a taste of several beers.

#6: Boneyard Beer calls itself the anti establishment brewery. It's housed in a former auto repair shop, brews with other brewers used equipment and only sells tasters and growler refills. It's truly a funky place in a funky part of downtown Bend and I forgot to take a picture...the beer was very good though! In fact, we were able to enjoy their brews at other eating establishments in town during our stay...good beer!

Brewery #7 followed a day full of lava and forests and water falls along highway 242, SW of Sisters. Three Creeks Brewing Co lies at the East end of Sisters and has a cozy mountain cabin vibe going on, making it a fine place to end a day of exploring. We shared a sampler and cheered the Chargers on to their first win of the season.

Our 8th brewery was our respite from a day filled with insurance calls, truck damage estimation, rental car shuffle...and it just so happened that Monday was $3 pint day and $5 for two fish tacos! Silver Moon Brewing really hit the spot and its Hopknob IPA is a winner.

Mural at Silver Moon Brewing.

#9, Goodlife Brewing, ended up being great place for a fulltimers meet up. Tim and Amanda were in town and we planned on knocking a brewery off our list together and it just so happened that Brian and Maria of The Roaming Pint arrived in Bend too. TRP knows their craft brewing - all over the US. It was fun to share good beer and sandwiches with fellow roadies.

Our #10 stop was the largest brewer in Bend: Deschutes Brewery. Well known for their top sellers, Mirror Pond and Black Butte Porter, they have both a pub and the huge brewery in town...we opted to take the brewery tour. It's a thorough tour of the premises with a knowledgeable guide and includes tasting time both before and after the tour. Sounds like the food at the pub would be good too, they use some of the spent grains and hops in their breads and other tasty sounding items.

Giant brewing tanks at Deschutes Brewery.

Adding hops to a batch of Inversion IPA.

#11 on our tasting route was Bend Brewing Co. I failed to take pictures here and, in fact, was a bit underwhelmed by the place. Though the beer was fine and other folks food looked good, the atmosphere didn't make me want to spend much time there. Had it been a nice day so we could have sat on their patio I might have felt differently.

Last stop, Cascade Lakes Brewing Co. We shared a beer sampler there, and fish and chips. All were drinkable and edible but no real stand outs.

Happy to finish the Bend Ale Trail!

Lastly, we stopped at the Bend Visitor Center to collect our goodies...including the extra credit for going to Three Creeks Brewery in Sisters: two sili-half pints and two stickers. The sili-half pints are made out of silicon, perfect for RV travel, though it remains to be seen how they feel when drinking out of them! I thought the stickers were pretty lame as "extra credit" prizes!

All in all this was a fun exercise, it got us out trying new beers (which we enjoy doing anyhow) and visiting places we might not have visited otherwise. Plus it provided a fun way to meet up with other full time RVers...as if we need an excuse! Though you don't have to purchase anything to participate, it can get expensive drinking and eating at twelve locations.

Our favorite was definitely 10 Barrel Brewing. Good venue in a neat neighborhood, excellent beer and food. Every beer in the 10-beer sampler was very good! We also thoroughly enjoyed Silver Moon's beer and their Monday night bargain; Bone Yard was super funky but their beer was delicious and widely available around town; Crux was also a favorite, with tasty beer and decent food.