October ’23

Our last rally of the year was in Wenatchee, WA at the Wenatchee River County Park. It is a very nice clean park, trapped between a loud highway, and an active freight train line. For that reason, I would not recommend it, unless you are a very sound sleeper! But it was fine for just a few days at the rally.

We had a lovely drive up to Wenatchee, enjoying the fall colors in the forest.

Soon we were back up in Wenatchee, which was a place we visited somewhat frequently back when we lived in Yakima. We got the trailer settled and went exploring.

Hmmm, those brown hills sure seem familiar. I’m getting a bit tired of the gloomy/wet side of the state. Maybe we will retire to the sunny/dry side?

Our first morning there we got up and went to have breakfast at a golf course. Another camper had been telling us about it the night before, so we thought we’d give it a go. It was really nice, and had a heck of a view off the patio!

It was a lovely place to eat while watching activity going on in the hills and down on the river.

Then we headed up to Leavenworth. We stopped at a couple antique malls along the way, but didn’t find anything we couldn’t live without. Up in Leavenworth it was Octoberfest time, but the activities didn’t really start until the next day. This way we could wander around and enjoy it without the complete chaos of drunken visitors.

We stopped for lunch with balcony seating and a beautiful view of the river.

I ordered a lovely soup with clams, and there were SO MANY clams, it was like the clams were non-stop, some sort of magical bottomless clam dish!

Parade time!

After lunch we drove up in to the mountains a ways. Everything was so pretty with fall colors, and we saw a couple salmon swimming upstream.

We saw this guy rock climbing! That’s a big rock!

The next day we drove up to Pinnacles State Park. This was a neat park up on the dry hills with all sorts of rocks to climb around and on.

Rocks!

I didn’t notice that tree when we were setting up the photo!

Once we were done there, we wanted to get in one more activity so we headed over to Ohme Gardens. This is a private gardens where the paths wind around, over and through the hill, around rocks, beside man-made ponds, with gazebos and lookouts along the way. It’s really magical! And we happened to be there on the last day of the year!

There are all kinds of firepits and benches and paths all made of stone, built by the family who originally owned the land 80 years ago.

Quite a view!

There was beautiful fall color in the campground.

This is the view of the river behind the park. Unfortunately you can’t see the railroad tracks right on the other side of the river.

We swung through Yakima on our way back home so we could have lunch with our friend Gary. Then we drove up and cruised by our old house, just to see how it was doing. And we stopped at Los Hernandez Tamales in Union Gap for the best tamales in town. Then we headed home, leaving the brown hills of Eastern WA behind.

You know, maybe the dry brown hills just really aren’t our style. I think we’ll stay on the wet side after all.

For my next trip of the season, I headed out all by myself for the first time ever! Dave was doing a play, and I already had this club rally scheduled, and I wanted to go. I feel like it’s not fair to make Dave feel bad because I have to just sit home when he’s in a play, and it’s not fair for me to have to skip doing things I want to do while he does his stuff. So he gave me some lessons on backing up the little beast, and I packed up and headed out on my own.

First stop was in Newport, Oregon for lunch where it was so foggy I couldn’t even see the sea!

I had planned my trip to take this little break, stretch my legs and have lunch at our favorite spot at Nye Beach. I was a little nervous leaving the trailer parked over by the performing arts center, but it looked like the easiest place to park a trailer. Luckily it was still there when I got back.

I got to the park in Florence, OR, and the hosts had warned us all the night before that a scheduling mix up had changed us from each having our own spot, to sharing a big parking lot. This actually worked really well. All the tow vehicles were parked over in a corner, and we got to camp in a semi-wagon-wheel formation. It was great! The host helped me back into my spot, and we were all set!

I was the oldest trailer there by far that weekend. The whole point was to be a boondocking rally, which was more nerve wracking for some of the campers with new trailers who were used to having hookups. I was used to boondocking anyway, and have very simple needs, so it was no biggie for me. It got a little warm one day, but I popped open the windows and put on the awnings, and it was cool and comfy inside.

I went South on the first day and explored the dunes a little bit. I huffed and puffed my way to the top of a dune for a view up and down the coast, and even saw whales spouting not too far out to sea!

Then I headed down to the marina for lunch at a chowder shack on the marina, which was delicious, and walked around on the docks looking at the cool boats.

Also watched this bird successfully catching it’s lunch.

I have this plan in the back of my head that someday I am going to do a photography project where I go photograph all the arch bridges in Oregon, particularly up and down the coast.

I finished up my day at an overlook near my campground, and you can just see the dunes stretching off into the distance. What a unique part of the beach! This is very different from the Northern Oregon beaches that I am used to!

The next morning I headed out early to visit Heceta Head Lighthouse. I wanted to beat the weekend crowds, and it worked, there were very few people at the beach. I wasn’t expecting this, but there were tidepools to visit, and a couple volunteer rangers hanging out to answer questions.

A few years ago we heard a lot about the starfish suffering from a wasting disease that was destroying the populations off the Oregon coast, so it was nice to see these big healthy specimens. These were quite large, bigger than my hand! The rangers said they are recovering nicely.

I think they are really cool looking!

I hiked up the short path to the lighthouse. First you come to the old keepers house, which is run as a B & B now. It was a really cute house.

And then finally to the lighthouse, which wasn’t open yet because I was too early! I saw the ranger going up the hill as I was going back down!

I headed up to Yachats to visit a popular bakery (the line was out to the street!), had lunch in a historic pub, and then drove back towards camp, stopping at every wayside along the way. The clouds parted and it was beautiful! Also, the crowds weren’t nearly as bad here as they are on the Northern beaches. I think it’s worth the extra drive to have a little more solitude! This was on a beautiful summer Saturday!

That was the whole adventure. Every evening we had Happy Hour back at camp, played some cornhole, and sat around the fire after dinner chatting. The next morning folks started heading out and I headed out fairly early too, just so I wouldn’t feel like I had to rush. I stopped at a rest stop along the way, and another random Airstreamer pulled in after me and just waved to check and make sure I was ok with my little vintage trailer! Very kind! Later I stopped at another rest stop to cook some lunch in the trailer, and one of my fellow campers stopped right after me and said hello.

Finally I made it home and backed the trailer into the driveway all by myself, and it only took 3 tries! My first solo trip was over. It’s always more fun if Dave comes along, but it’s nice to know I can go out on my own if I have to also!