Monday, May 29, 2017

Moving to the Coast

May 23-27, 2017
Eugene - Florence, Oregon

Our drive south on Hwy 62 follows the Rogue River. It's a return of our drive up to Prospect, but those "other way" trips often give us brand new views. It is a nice wide road with passing lanes and turn-outs. 

Hwy 227 however, is not. At least for the first 25 miles (half-way) we're on a very narrow road with no passing lanes and less than a handful of turn-outs. With several 20 mph turns, I'm grateful we have very few other vehicles. That one full logging truck is memorable :-) 

The last 90 miles is on Interstate 5, a route we've both traveled individually, but is new in the motorhome. 

We arrive at Armitage County Park in Eugene, Oregon, and set up in Space 1. It is every bit as beautiful as other bloggers have said. It's close proximity to town is a nice plus. With 50 amp FHUs, plenty of green space, a level asphalt site, and open sky for satellite, it's lovely. And it's nice to be back on the grid!

Space 1, Armitage County Park

Nice privacy, very green.
We take a country drive, enjoy a couple brews in town, stock up at Trader Joe's, and chill out in our pretty spot.

Rural Oregon.

Amber Ale and Espresso Stout at Oakhurst Brewery
But by far, the highlight of our Eugene stop is a visit with Marge. She is mom to our good friend Donnie whose house we stay at in Tombstone, and was like a second mom to Bill when he was growing up. She is sharp as a tack and we spend a couple hours laughing and catching up.

Marge and Bill
Friday we drive over mountains to Florence, Oregon. Another riverside route, this time along the Siuslaw River. Both of us continue to suffer from allergies that we've never had before :-(

We're at Woahink Lake RV Resort south of town for 11 nights. Level gravel sites with large hedges between each of the pull-throughs. Picnic tables and enough room to set up the chairs and BBQ. FHUs with 50 amp and good water pressure. The park WiFi works great. However, we are in one of only three sites with a tree that blocks our satellite :-(  They have adequate cable so we stay put. With direct access to the dunes next door for ATVs, many of our neighbors have toy-haulers. Except for some loud-talkers who move-in for two nights, the park is remarkably quiet.

Our original plan was to avoid the state parks over the holiday weekend, but a drive through Jesse M. Honeyman SP on Saturday morning causes us to change those plans. The day use parking area is less than half full so we get a pass and spend a few hours.

Bill fishes and Tessa and I take a nice walk through the forest and flowers. The VC is permanently closed and there's a real need for some TLC throughout the grounds, still it's a beautiful park. 

Cleawox Lake

Lily pads

The park is full of wild Rhododendrons.

And millions of these little cuties.

Several trails meander the lakeside.

Ripples in the lake.

New pine growth adds more color to the forest floor.
Old growth trees line one side of the lake.


Delicate grasses.

Bright ground cover.
We love visiting new places, and after two years on the road, we're excited about re-visiting places we really loved the first time. We've come back to spend more time in Florence, a place we enjoyed in 2015.

With beaches, lakes, a small town, and forests we're looking forward to lots of exploring!



22 comments:

  1. I love the Oregon coast, the Cowboy not so much!

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    1. I can see him feeling a bit "squeezed" for many reasons :-)

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  2. Logging trucks are scary...empty or full, they drive too fast!

    You must have arrived at Armitage after the designated check in time (2:30pm I think)...we arrived early and a very grumpy guy wouldn't let us check in even though the space was open...then his wife overruled him!

    It's funny, after spending 50 years in San Diego, I'm discovering allergies I've never had before too!

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    1. So funny, I'm sure it was the same guy who made us pull all the way out of the park to unhook the Jeep, although there was zero traffic and it takes five minutes. Then we had to wait for him to mow our space (not a hardship) and he was very grumpy about Bill getting too close to the mower.

      I'm hoping we eventually move away from whatever we're allergic to!

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  3. Both of those parks look nice. I bookmarked them for future reference ;-) Your walks with Tessa sound so relaxing, & Bill must be in fishing heaven. Enjoy the coast!

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    1. Having the camera makes our walks so interesting, stopping to see things close up and far away. She's very patient with me :-))

      You'll love it here!

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  4. Your pictures of the greenery remind me of the time us kids decided to walk around the lake where we were camped. We had no idea how big the lake was and that the paths did not go around it. We thought we would NEVER get back.

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    1. :-))) Some of these "little" lakes are miles around - I'm amazed that they just keep on going!

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  5. Gee, your posts are looking very similar to ours...green grasses, pine trees, and water! You should see the pollen from the pines here in our park!! John has to brush the MH every morning or it looks terrible covered in the yellowish green pollen. If you don't use the A/C, everything inside is covered with pollen. Not allergy friendly!! Love the photo of Tessa looking over her shoulder:)

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    1. I wish I could tell if it's the tree pollen or the grasses - we've had symptoms since Sacramento so it's really hard to tell. One of the nice things about the damper coast weather is we have so much less dust inside!

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  6. Looks like you found yourselves a nice place to stay. Obviously, we think Oregon and Washington are just about the best place to spend the summer. Only a few real hot days and little use of heat or air conditioning. Enjoy ...

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    1. We agree with temperatures staying between 50 and 65 day and night, we love it!

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  7. We enjoy revisiting places, too! I'm bummed that we had to bypass Florence on this trip, but we're planning to head back that way in October, so I'm looking forward to what you discover. The greenery is so lush, and even more so this year after the exceptionally rainy winter. But I think it's made the pollen producers go into overdrive! The pine pollen has been giving me sneezing fits. Aren't the wild rhododendrons amazing right now?

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    1. We missed the Rhodies last time so I'm especially glad to see so many this year! There is such a variety of environments to explore here, we love it.

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  8. Really beautiful pictures of the variety of the natural world there at the state park. It's nice to see both the "forest" and the "trees". I'm surprised at your allergies. Somehow I thought the East Coast had the market on those and if I'd just go west, they wouldn't bother me. But I guess pine pollen is irritating now matter where you are.

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    1. Thanks Sherry. I've never had allergies before, and none last year when we were east. I'm guessing it's the excessive pine pollen, which means it will be a long time before I'm away from it. Just irritating, not too bad. I've enjoyed such good health that I'm a big whiner when I "get something."

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  9. So very lush and green. Even though I love AZ I miss all the running water and rhododendrons of the PNW.

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    1. We miss the desert, but for the summer months nothing beats the PNW for us :-)))

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  10. Yikes...this post almost slipped by my. It's BEAUTIFUL! It's so green and delicate!

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    1. :-))) glad you caught us! We are loving the green.

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  11. Love all the blooms and color! Nice trail to walk around the lake.

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    1. They haven't done a great job of maintaining it, but it's a sweet little trail with peeks of the dunes as well.

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