On Sunday, we had breakfast at the Elks Club, and then visited with Earl's son and daughter-in-law (Garrett and Angie), and grand kids.
Before leaving Puyallup on Monday, we stopped to do laundry, grocery shopping, and to fill up the Lazy Daze with gas. We then drove 110 miles to Cougar Rock Campground in Mt. Rainier National Park. It was a beautiful day, and the mountain was out in all her beauty. Through binoculars, we watched while three climbers made their way back down the mountain.
View from our campsite:
Glacier which the 3 climbers descended:
The next day, we drove 186 miles to Rufus, Oregon, where we camped at Le Page Campground, a Corp of Engineers park ($8 with the Golden Age Passport; water and electric hookups with a dump available).
Mt. Rainier:
On Wednesday, we drove 116 miles to Haystack Reservoir south of Madras, and camped at the South Shore area (free, no services). Along the way, we'd stopped in Biggs to fuel the Lazy Daze, and also stopped in Madras to get propane and to have lunch at the Black Bear Diner.
We drove 39 miles on Thursday to the Mountain Shadows RV Park in Sisters, Oregon, for the Northwest Lazy Daze group's get together. That night, we attended a potluck, and the next morning, breakfast.
On Saturday, Earl and I took a drive up CR-14 west of Sisters to check out the campgrounds farther up the road (we'd stayed at Indian Ford Campground just off US-20 west of Sisters on our last trip to this area). We stopped to see the Springs of the Metolius River (a large spring pouring out of the volcanic rocks near the base of Black Butte). At this late time, there wasn't much to see, but we've been told that it's a spectacular site in the Spring! We also stopped to visit the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery.
After checking out all the campgrounds along CR-14, we decided that Gorge, Pioneer Ford, and Lower Bridge campgrounds looked like good ones to come back to.
At one of the happy hours during the get together, a friend of one of the members brought a couple of their baby llamas for us to see...they sure were cute!
Before leaving Sisters, we did laundry at the campground, then stopped in Bend to get food for Maxx at PetCo. While in Bend, we stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up a refill on Earl's prescription and do grocery shopping.
We drove a total of 59 miles to Paulina Lake Campground at Newberry National Volcanic Monument near La Pine. Our original intention was to spend a couple of days here to further explore the area, but when we woke up in the morning, it was raining and cold! Therefore, we headed across the mountains toward the Coast, stopping to spend a couple of days at Timber Valley SKP Park in Sutherlin where we dry camped.
On Wednesday, September 15, we drove 74 miles to Tahkenitch Landing Campground in the Suislaw National Forest near Gardiner, stopping along SR-38 at the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area where we really DID see some Elk! After setting up at the campground, we drove up to Florence to have dinner at Mo's.
Elk at the Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area:
The next day we drove down to Winchester Bay to visit friends who were staying there at the Marina RV Park, Richard and Sarah Shong. Sarah came to lunch with us at Fishpatrick's Crabby, where we had some excellent seafood!
On Friday, we moved down to Marina RV Park in Winchester Bay, too, although we stayed in the dry camping area. That evening we had dinner with Sarah, Richard, and others at the Oasis Restaurant.
It rained all day on Saturday, so we didn't do much but sit around the RV. On Sunday, we did laundry and that night had dinner with Richard and Sarah at Pah Tong's Thai Restaurant.
On Monday, we drove 40 miles to the Mill Casino in North Bend (free). After setting up, we drove down to the Ford dealer in Coos Bay, Tower Motor Company, to make an appointment for an oil change on the Lazy Daze. We took the Lazy Daze in for an oil change early on Tuesday morning. While Earl waited with the rig, I drove down to the McDonalds and picked up breakfast. Once the oil change was done, we drove 108 miles to the Elks Club in Brookings where we spent a couple of days.
Ocean views along the Oregon Coast:
On Thursday, we drove 49 miles to Klamath River RV Park in Klamath, California, one of our RPI parks. While we were in Klamath, we drove the Coastal Scenic Highway, did laundry and grocery shopping, and took a trip up to Crescent City where we had lunch at Fisherman's Restaurant. We also visited the Trees of Mystery north of Klamath which we found quite interesting. On the way back to the park, we stopped to purchase some smoked salmon...yum!
The Family Tree
(notice other trees growing from the main tree's branches):
The Cathedral Tree
(a cluster of 6 Redwoods growing out of a single root):
Earl at Nature's Underpass:
Pooped Logger chain-saw sculpture
by Kenyon R. Kaiser:
When we left Klamath on Tuesday, September 28, we stopped to do shopping at the Costco in Eureka. We then continued on to the Boise Creek Campground in the Six Rivers National Forest near Willow Creek, California.
The next day, we drove 104 miles to the Elks Club in Redding where we spent a couple of days. While in Redding, we did grocery shopping, and picked up more food for Maxx at the PetCo.
