The Coast
August 19th-22nd 2007 We left the familiar confines of the Salem Oregon RV Park leisurely on the 19th with Jim and Pat Mellon in the lead. Our destination was the Oregon Coast and the small town of Tillamook, a scant 75 mile trip. After getting set up in a small but pleasant RV park just north of Tillamook we decided to tour the famous Oregon Cheese Factory located there and being from Wisconsin we for sure had to see if their cheese curds stacked up to what we were used to. They did not. Their ice cream however was as good as any we have ever had and we do consider ourselves experts in the ice cream field. We also had time to tour some sites along the coast and having let the ice cream settle it was time to find the best sea food restaurant in the area.
Early the next morning Jim and Pat headed for Portland Oregon to get some work done on an air conditioner that had been giving them trouble. There plans included joining us later as we headed on up the coast. Our drive was beautiful on 101 as we headed the rest of the way up the Oregon Coast and settled on a great "boondocking spot" in a field next to the harbour in Ilwaco, Washington. The harbour is famous for all the charter boats available for those who want to take an ocean fishing trip and we learned that they were experiencing their best year for catching silver salmon and king salmon that they have had in a long time. The charters would leave about 5:30 a.m. and most would return by 8:30 with all aboard having limited out. Some having up to 13 or so on board. I was tempted but decided it could wait for another day. Camped in the field with us, overlooking the bay and all the boats was Chris and Jan Hanks. Chris a retired North West Airlines Pilot has been coming to "boondock" in this field for several years and he welcomed us to his "funky" find. We enjoyed his company as well as several other RV'ers who had come with their boats to stock their freezers with Salmon.
Jim and Pat joined us to "boondock" and again we toured the area and found some great seafood spots for dinner. Our daughter in law Angela and grand kids, Zak and Ellie drove over to go with us to the international kite festival which was being held at Long Beach Washington. Billed as the longest beach in the world it was a great place to experience such a festival.
Long Beach and the kite festival were interesting but Kathleen and I managed to find some other beaches and had easy access to them as is evident by the pictures. The weather was a bit blustery and we encountered a little drizzle but the mighty Pacific Ocean is beautiful no matter what its mood and we sure enjoyed our time along it.
Ang and the kids left on the 23rd. Kathleen and I bid Jim and Pat a fond farewell and we headed on up the coast to cut our distance to Olympia Washington in half as that would be our weeks end destination to hook up with our youngest son and his family for a few days. Our destination for the night would be a "Coast to Coast" membership park and we would have a spectacular site right on the ocean for $8.00 a night, at Ocean City Washington. This would be a place we will return.
A few pictures follow. Place pointer on picture for a description.
On to Lost Lake RV Resort at Olympia Washington and a scheduled seven day stay. Bill, Heidi, Mason and Maddie would come over and camp out with us for the week-end. Then Mason and Maddie would stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a few extra days while mom and dad returned to work.
