Featured

Depoe Bay to Portland

May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

We went for a run Sunday morning. It was not our best personal records since I kept stopping to take pictures, but Depoe Bay was stunning. It was high tide so we randomly stumbled on to this spouting horn, cliff. Brants cormerant (bird) and 5+ of whale spouts.

This led us to stop by the OPRD Whale Watching Center before leaving Depoe Bay. They had binoculars set up for everyone to use and a video feed. We saw whale tails and spouts;)

https://www.google.com/search?kgmid=%2Fm%2F02qhxj8&hl=en-US&q=OPRD%20Whale%20Watching%20Center&shem=rimspwouoe&shndl=30&source=sh%2Fx%2Floc%2Fosrp%2Fm1%2F4&kgs=86c634a710ce8257

Grey whales are the only bottom feeders. They scoop up mud and eat the krill, eating as much as 1.2 tons of food per day.

After our educational whale stop we took a pit stop in Bob Straub State Park for some giant sand dunes and beach time.

Next we stopped at Tillamook and my second ice cream in 2 days. I’ve reached my quota for the summer;)

We got to Portland late afternoon and stopped at the Scotch Church Winery that had music.

As you can see Mt Hood was out when we got to Portland. We ended the day with some fabulous sushi at Bluefin Tuna and sushi on Broadway.

Today has been a travel day. Our flight this morning was delayed so we all scrabbled to get on an earlier flight to Charlotte. George and I got to CLT with a 3 hr layover but Sadira and James didn’t get the same flight and had a 5 hr layover. Then they delayed our flight. So, we rented this bad ass ride for 100 bucks to get home in 2hrs.

Calling this trip a great success. Signing off

Featured

Coos Bay to Depoe Bay

May 25, 2026May 25, 2026 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

We stopped at Heceta head and took a walk about the rocks

We continued up the coast for a picnic lunch and some more beach time.

Then we stopped at thors well, but since it was low tide the kids missed the big event. We did have a sneaky wave surprise James and Fiona which made the stop worthwhile. Fiona really took a hit, she’s always been the lucky hand. We also stopped at devil’s churn and devil’s punch bowl.

We stayed at the Trowler’s Lodge in Depoe Bay and saw a lovely sunset after dinner of halibut and Sadira’s world-famous orzo. Depoe Bay is the smallest harbor in the world and is home to grey whales. We didn’t see any spouts this evening. (Fore shadowing).

Portland to Brookings

May 20, 2026May 20, 2026 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

George and I walked Mt Tabor a extinct cinder cone volcano/city Park. Then we gathered the kids for breakfast at jams in Hawthorne before heading out of Portland.

The ride into Brookings was long but relatively easy. The Pacifica rides with style. Our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean was by the sand dunes. Then we had an epic feast when we got here, Dinner with a view.

Portland admin work

May 20, 2026May 20, 2026 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

We started our summer fun with a reconnaissance mission to Portland to find housing for Fiona and to see what Portland has to offer. We kept Portland weird. We visited the Columbia River gorge, roster Rock, and multiple water falls. George and I took a trail to nowhere while the kids saw Multnomah falls, but our reward was a giant cookie. We ended the day at mcmenamins in troutdale but oddly, I took no pictures (having been there before… ). We had a delicious dinner and a designated driver.

Ecola State Park

July 2, 2021July 2, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

Drove by a Mcmenamins on the way to Ft. Stephens. Since it served bfast we decided to grab a breakfast the next morning on our way to Ecola Beach. Yummy!

After breakfast, we rolled on down the road to Ecola State Park which was amazing. They’ve filmed 4 movies there (point break, goonies, twilight, kindergarten cop)

Then, yeah we did… We drove the truck on the beach at Del Ray. First, we had an appetizer (Chips and Salsa) watched a Ford get stuck and then worked up the courage to follow the rest of the four wheel trucks on the beach.

All in all it was another fantastic day on the OR coast. Glad we didn’t go to Utah and hike the narrows…

Relax day to Fort Stephens

July 1, 2021July 1, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / Leave a comment

Very little to report. Started the day reading and relaxing and even some laundry while George worked. No pictures of that but it was a lovely part of my day.

We broke camp and traveled from Nehalem Bay up the coast to Ft. Stephens state park.

We went for a walk at Ft Stephens and literally ran away from a sworm of mosquitoes. Bikes are recommended so you can outrun them.

The fort is pretty cool. When we pulled up, all we could hear was screaming and laughing. Joy is such a lovely sound. Turns out there were about 30 to 40 kids at a camp playing capture the flag in the fort. How fun would that be? They wouldn’t let us play… I think they were afraid of our skills. #iAintScared

What day is it?

June 30, 2021June 30, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / 1 Comment

Yesterday we took an amazing and steep hike out to Cape Lookout. There were lots of cut off posts (trip hazards) neighboring the plummet-to-your-death-cliffs that made me grateful Brian Woods wasn’t there.

Little did you know, I would use this picture in a blog post… #infamousFall

2 things to know about Oregon:
1) They love dogs. There’s a dog hitch outside the bathroom. They are cool to be off leash on the beach as long as they come back to you. George even saw several dogs in the safeway.
2) You still can’t pump your own gas in OR. It’s weird. You just sit there and watch them. Also, do you tip them if they clean your windows? Things I’d like to know.

Campground Beach: Arch in far back ground

From Cape Lookout, we traveled up to Cape Meares Light house and there we ran into the parents of the brewer at Burial Brewery in AVL… So strange. We must give of beer pheromones. They gave us recommendations for beers in Bend, OR. Boneyard/rpm is now on the list.

That’s the end of the cape Lookout hike that we did earlier.

Going through Tillamook we stopped at the creamery for cheese, yogurt, and icecream. Yes, you’re officially on vacation when you wait in line for cheese!

Nahalem Bay wins the best beach award.

Stop drop and roll

June 29, 2021June 29, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / 1 Comment

We are getting used to the conveniences of modern camping. Stop, drop and roll is my new favorite. On the down side, I’m still getting used to parking. Sometimes I just hawg spaces because I can’t park frank n furter yet. #parkingfoul

So, to the real business. We saw cool stuff today.

Thor’s Well

We tried to go to rogue brewery in Newport but they didn’t like us (twice) so we went to a seafood market, grabbed fish and chips, beers and Dungeness crabs and made tracks to cape Lookout.

Pictures from the drive and Devil’s punchbowl

Lots of fog and 60 degrees. I cuddled up with a hot toddy after dinner and a short with a longgggg jacket. I hear Portland was 115 today. #OregonCoast

Desperately seeking Dungeness

June 28, 2021June 28, 2021 / rugreen4u4632 / 2 Comments

Trecking down Hwy 101 towards Jessie Honeyman State Park. We’re stopping at several seafood markets hunting Dungeness crabs but it sounds like they are out of season because Halibut season just started. I guess we’ll just have to suffer through all the local smoked salmon. Yesterday we bought a salmon tube stick that resembled salmon jerky/salmon sausage. It was good, but the smoked salmon we got in Brookings at Pacific Ocean harvesters was the best so far.

We then went to the sea lion caves. I took lots of pictures and lots of videos and I’ll try not to bore you, but they’re like giant slugs. Incredibly funny in their posturing with thier tiny little flappy fin arms. The cave is the states largest sea cave. http://www.sealioncaves.com/

What I wasn’t expecting to see on the Oregon coast was little blue dune buggies in the sand. I kinda wish I had an atv.

We ‘hiked’ up to the top. Atvs having a lot of fun right over there.

We are eating blueberries like they are free because they practically are.

Ringo was so stinky from ocean water and sand after his SandDune romp that he and Dr. Bonners met in the campsite shower. While waking around the campsite drying him off we noticed this set up. I think it would be funnier to have a dangling step ladder instead of the step stool.