Dick and Barbs Travels: Oregon and California

Oct 17, 18 & 19
Blue sky and nice weather is forecast for a couple of days. Dick decided he wants to go crabbing so we find a sport shop that rents crab rings and he also gets a three day shellfish licence. We stop at the grocery store and pick up some chicken legs to bate the rings and head down the road from our campground to a dock out in the river called South Jetty. There are quite a few people already there and they seem to be catching crab. One group of 6 are really pulling in the crab. The first time Dick pulls up the ring we have a legal crab. It slowed down until later in the afternoon and we finally got 4 crab for the day.
The weather is great again on Tuesday so we drive 20 miles south of Florence to the town of Winchester Bay. There is a really long dock there where people have their crab rings out. We stayed until 3 in the afternoon and ended up with 4 crab again today. We take them to a market and get them cooked and cleaned for $1.25 each. Well worth not having the mess in the motor home.

Early Wednesday morning we left to crab in Winchester Bay again. When we get there a cold wind is blowing and no one is on the dock crabbing. We decided it was too cold to get out there and drove south to the towns of North Bend and Coos Bay. In Coos Bay we visited a farmers market and bought bread, tomatoes and a cranberry/apple spread. Drove back to Florence and it was still too cold to crab so took back the rings. We stopped at a dune buggy place and decided to take the ride out on the dunes. The Oregon Dunes stretch for 40 miles along the coast and there are designated recreation areas. We went in a 10 seat dune buggy but it was only Dick and I. We were seat belted and shoulder harnessed in and wore goggles. What a wild ride! I held on the dear life and closed my eyes part of the time. I'm not really a fan of roller coasters and fast rides and we were treated to a fun but scary ride.

Dick throwing the crab ring

Dune Buggy

Top of a tree sticking out of the sand that is 80 feet high

In our goggles

Oct 20,21,22

We didn't do much for the next 3 days. Ate a couple of meals out and stayed around the campground.

Oct. 23, 24

Sunday we moved south to Brookings OR which is a few miles from the California boarder. We stay in beautiful Harris Beach State Park. It is up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We can even see the ocean from our motor home. Took a walk on the beach which is accessed from the day use area. Our campsite is large and surrounded by a low hedge. Oregon has wonderful state campgrounds with hookups and very reasonably priced. The coast is littered with large rocks on the beach and in the water. What a sight, the rock formations and the ocean crashing over them.

Highway 101 south of Florence

Bookings OR

Monday we drive into California to the town of Crescent City. Stop at the Redwood National and State Park visitors center, the park is part state and part national, and got information and maps about the park. The state of California preserved some key groves in the 1920's. Congress created Redwood National Park in 1968 to protect the world's tallest trees. In 1880 redwood forests probably covered two million acres but gold fever subsided and redwood fever replaced it. Redwood lumber built some of San Francisco's great Victorian homes. Redwood National and State Parks protect nearly 40,000 acres of ancient forest, almost half of all that remain. Redwoods grow to a height of 380 feet and live to be 2000 years old. It's bark is 12 inches thick and the base will get 22 feet in diameter. We took one of the scenic drives on a narrow winding road through the giant trees to Stout Grove and then a short hike around the grove. It is hard to get a good picture of the giant trees because they are so enormous and tall. Pictures just don't do them justice. When we got back to Florence we took a ride north to stop at some of the vista points we had passed in the motor home. It is hard to stop at scenic overlooks with the motor home and a towed car.

Stout Grove

Redwood tree root

Oct 25
We have been enjoying beautiful sunny weather for the last few days. Today we move 50 miles south to the town of Klamath California. It is located about in the middle of the Redwoods and we are staying here 3 nights. We did a scenic Coastal Drive which followed the coastline high up on the side of a cliff above the ocean. In the afternoon we go to the Trees of Mystery. This is a private attraction which has been owned by the same family since 1949. There is a wonderful Indian museum which has displays from different tribes and is free. We pay to follow a trail through interesting trees and displays and take a tram up the mountain where we have views of the ocean in one direction and the forest covered mountains in the other. We had a good day in the Redwoods.