Going crabbing                                                                                 Nintendo players

Just before sunset, the clouds parted, the sun shone briefly & the gulls  swarmed us (since there’s very few others around to beg from). I still had nostalgia for summer, as I washed my face & dried it on a towel long since packed away that had been line-dried earlier after our last foray. Just the scratchy feel of it takes me back to a few months ago when Bend wasn’t ice & snow covered & the days waxed perfect for fresh-hung laundry.  

CHRISTMAS EVE, 2000 6:29 p.m., mostly cloudy skies

Today was a wonderful day, full of nothing….Boots was beside herself for food by about 5 a.m. so Marc stumbled in to the kitchen & fed her quickly before returning to bed. Skitter joined us after eating, then a little later, Boots did too, so there went any more sleep! She clumps across you & at times sits right on you up by your face meowing for something to eat.  

We all enjoyed a morning walk, marveling at how we have this whole place mostly to ourselves. Rachael scored one of those delicious lattes & we discussed crabbing with the gal on the espresso boat. Marc managed to snag five legal, but smaller crab this morning.  The sun was out briefly this afternoon as we fired up the boiler & started them cooking. Then Marc & I spent an hour in companionable picking as we savored the feast for later in the evening. Across the harbor channel, we watched as a couple of motor homes pulled in & got set up in the high dollar camp (full hookups for $20/night). That made a total of five for that camp, & one where we’re at—us. We’re twenty degrees warmer than we were in Bend & are baffled why more people aren’t here.  

Harbors are like mystical places to me; the water’s sheen tonight is like satin taffeta on a pretty woman’s dress as it rustles with the wind. A tantalizing glimpse of light, fading to inky dark—the mystery of the seaside night. Across from us, a lone boat floats with a gaily decorated Christmas tree on her bow, guiding us to the season in a new sort of way on this RV Christmas Eve.

  RV Christmas tree                                                                               Boat Christmas tree

12/26/00 12:20 p.m. cloudy

Christmas Day in the RV was fun. Lazy morning, Rachael opened a few of her presents under our miniature tree, and then we enjoyed a crab omelet. Afterwards, we walked the beach & talked to the Coast Guard lookout who said he was having to prevent any boats from crossing the bar out the jetty due to such high seas. The swells even coming in through the jetty were about 12 feet. We meandered past a calm pool set up for the Umpqua oysters they grow here (prized by restaurants back East) and then hit the main beach which was a tinker toy mess of driftwood & logs. The sun remained out for about three hours but by the time we were boiling up more crab getting it ready to pick, the clouds had returned.

  Rachael at Christmas                                                                         Umpqua oyster beds             

Umpqua lighthouse                                            Marc and Rachael watching waves

Picking crab is tedious work, but Marc & I have fun doing it sitting outside in our lawn chairs overlooking the harbor water right below us. We watch all the sea birds diving for dinner & the gulls circling endlessly above us hoping for some morsel if we’re not paying attention. Now that we’ve been here a few days, we’ve picked up a pattern to their daily behavior & have come to expect certain things from them—like being awakened at daybreak as they’re off, en mass for breakfast, in a noisy cacophony of screams. They spend the night roosting right on the docks beside us.  

As if crab omelet wasn’t enough for one day, I prepare crab Louie for appetizers about 4 p.m. as we await our ham Christmas dinner baking in the oven. We celebrate this Christmas as last, with a bottle of Korbel while watching an incredibly beautiful sunset. There’s even sparking Martinelli’s Cider for Rachael, as we all clink crystal & toast this wonderful family outing.

  Christmas sunset                                                                                  Salmon harbor sunset

Today was housekeeping day as we took down the tree & Christmas lights in preparation for our move tomorrow. A short trip to town (Reedsport) for propane & to look around (it’s a very small town). I’m scouring the travel camp book to see where we might care to land tomorrow. There’s so many opportunities at this time of year, as none of the campground are even partially full, so probably the chance to have our pick of spots wherever we go. I want to see & hear the ocean at the next camp, so Bullard’s Beach seems like it might be a possibility. We’ve not been there before. Stay tuned.

December 27, 2000, 4:36 p.m., sunny

After cleaning up the final things, including the boat & motor, from crabbing & sea water, we headed south out of Winchester Bay about nearly 11 a.m. We stopped for a brief look at Coquille Lighthouse at Bullard’s Beach State Park, just north of Bandon & a quick lunch. The campground is very manicured but set in tall trees & shrubs and would be pretty depressing if cloudy or foggy. It’s been a clear day since Bandon however so it was a beautiful drive to Humbug Mountain State Park, about 6 miles south of Port Orford, where we’ve decided to stay.

  Coquille Lighthouse                                                                                Humbug beach state park

Although it sits fairly close to the highway, the traffic at this time is pretty light. When cars aren’t passing, you hear Brush Creek from our spot, which is a very long pull-through overlooking a meadow. We chose this spot because it gets the most sun and the trail to the beach is just beyond the back of the site. This is a beautiful state park with only two other campers in it. There are 35 electrical/water sites, & another 73 tent spots. Big rigs can maneuver just fine. The off season rate is $12/night & there is a dump station and several hiking trails. One leads to the top of 1756 foot Mt. Humbug. Part of that trail was built in 1935 by the CCC and traverses the ocean side with panoramic views on clear days. There’s also an old part of Highway 101 which sits above camp which is now a hiking trail that leads approx. 2.6 miles from one end of the camp to the top of another high hill.  

Humbug beach

Brush Creek joins the ocean right west of camp and the breakers at high tide literally climb up the creek for quite some distance, a sight to see. It’s the sort of beach you want to watch yourself on though; you can sense its danger. Rachael & I experienced several sneaker waves as we walked the beach which came up surprisingly far causing us to run to the base of the cliff, which is where high tide actually comes in to.  

If the weather holds decent we’re going to try & do some hiking tomorrow & work off some of this holiday eating (with all the crab) we’ve been doing!

December 28, 2000, 11:51 a.m., sunny

Marc went for a beach walk early this morning, almost at first light. It was pretty cold, so I stayed snuggled in. After everyone was done with their morning routine, we headed out for a hike & decided upon the Humbug Mt. Trail, which turned out to be much longer than we anticipated. Since I’m recovering from throwing my back out & Marc is out of shape with his knee, it proved pretty arduous & we only made it about a mile up the mountain, then decided to let our screaming muscles be our guide in sending us back down the mountain. The entire hike turns out to be almost six miles if one does the loop & unfortunately, I can’t tell you how the view is from the top since we didn’t make it. You can see from the picture a portion of the trail which isn’t even very steep & yet it slopes pretty good. Try this for a mile uphill!

  Hiking Humbug mountain

We’ve decided to stay here another night since Marc wants to service the jacks under the trailer & do some other maintenance type things. I already started a stew in the crock pot since we have electric hookup, a rare treat for us without running the generator! After lunch, since it’s a nice day, Rachael & I are going to walk to the beach & just hang out for awhile listening to the booming surf.  

This has been an extremely relaxing & fun trip with all of us having fun. I’ve said it before & will again, that RV life is so supportive of that, it’s a shame we can’t do more of it.  

December 29, 2000, 4:22 p.m., cloudy

We decided to take off from Humbug Mt. State Park south as far as Harris Beach State Park, Brookings. It was another beautiful day until about 3:00. We stayed here one year ago Christmas, so I won’t describe the park, except to say that this year it’s very crowded as compared to last. Last year we were one of probably only five campers, this year at least half of one loop is filled with a variety of RVs and all of the yurts are full. We’re now seeing many more family campers & RVers than before and during the Christmas holiday.  

Rachael & I found quite a few families at the beach, which you can walk to from camp. We explored the coastline for a while, finding our strangest beach find ever, a dead sea lion washed up amongst the rocks. Harris Beach is pretty renown for all the rocks offshore, which makes for some spectacular wave-crashing. We note that there’s also a lot of boats out, apparently taking tourists on whale-watching tours. We meet our next- door RV neighbors who are retired teachers from the Olympic Peninsula who travel about 8 months out of every year and have been many of the same places as ourselves.  

The spot we occupy this evening is one next to the one we were in last year. Large motor homes will fit in many spots here, but rigs as long as ours would have trouble in all but a few spots. The winter rate this year is $15.90 and includes cable TV but no sewer hookup.

December 30, 2000, 6:28 p.m., night after sun all day

We left Harris State Beach early this morning after some sort of large tractor working kept up us much of the night. It was a pleasant short-distance drive to just below Orick, CA to a free camp beach which is about to disappear.  

That’s right; just like Quartzsite is Mecca to so many full-time RVers due to its economical advantages, this beach on a shelf of highway that runs for less than a mile’s distance has seen many a long-time tenant due to its status as a freebie camp. Quite by coincidence last night, since we had cable TV, we heard a news broadcast which said that this beach will close to free camping as of January first, when the state will start charging $10/night. It’s obviously a rip-off on California’s part—there’s picnic tables & fire rings but no other feature here which should garner a ten dollar fee, such as garbage dumpsters, a dump station or even water. As if the fee isn’t bad enough, within three years, the entire area will be totally closed to RVers. The small town of Orick is up in arms over the changes, since much of their livelihood depends upon all the RVers who come through this area & end up staying a few days. Marc & I just marvel that’s it’s another asinine thing this former home state of ours has decided to do & are glad we no longer live here.

  Near Orick, CA.                                                                                  Beach camping in Orick      

                                View from our window  

Orick Beach, as we’re calling it, has been wonderful. We had an absolutely relaxing afternoon just watching the waves under perfect sunny skies. Marc did a little metal detecting but we can’t really say we contributed much today except for enjoying one of those perfectly lazy days you can have when you’re RVing. Our rig is probably only 75 feet from the surf line & we hear the roar of the ocean as a constant background accompaniment to everything we do. We watch RV rigs pull in, stay awhile, pull out. Suddenly, towards nightfall, all sorts of RVs pull in & seem to be staying.  

We’re surrounded by the national & state Redwood parks and came this far to do some hiking & exploring. Most of this country has very small roads not suited to large RVs, so we’ll take just the truck out tomorrow as we explore some of the groves and show Rachael some of nature’s best majesty.

New Years Eve, 2000, 4:40 p.m., sunny all day

We took an early morning drive just north of the small town of Orick, onto Bald Hill Road to Lady Bird Johnson Redwood grove. The morning was still and very cool, about 43 degrees. We were the only ones to leave our vehicle in the parking lot as we set off on the mile trail through some magnificent specimens of Coast Redwoods. The trail is wide & easy and presents a variety of flora and some truly distinct trees; huge, huge, Douglas firs as well as Redwoods. Unfortunately, after only three pictures the batteries in my digital camera died so we didn’t get pictures of some of the best trees. We enjoyed sunshine all day, although none really reaches the forest floor here and the brochure says most days are actually foggy & that these Redwoods really depend upon it to be like that. The trees transpire a tremendous amount of water per day into the atmosphere & the fog & 85 inches of rain a year are dearly needed for them to sustain life. We felt fortunate that we hit this hike on a perfect day.

  Hiking in Lady Bird Johnson grove                                               Big trees   

Several other beach hikes later finds us watching the New Year’s Eve sunset from inside the rig. The wind is up & it’s quite chilly outside. Lasagna is cooking in the oven, the Chardonnay is open & life is good. A 40 foot Country Coach just pulled in in front of us to also enjoy this evening by the beach. The beach collects all kinds. The other day, we were in front of a mother with three children obviously living out of their car & a small tent. Also earlier, as Marc was napping & I was enjoying sitting in the sun, I was approached by a woman with two small children in her car who had a sob story of breaking down & spending all her cash for an alternator & now had no money to reach her destination—Wilsonville, OR, about 350 miles from here. I sent her on her way with a donation of enough to buy some gas with & told her not to try & pay me back, which she had offered. Why expect something?

  Claudia's favorite place

It’s doubtful we will be awake for the new year coming in with the ocean waves this night. Tomorrow on that first day, we’ll be headed north again. After all, the free beach camping is over after tonight…

January 2, 2001, 9:47 a.m., some clouds

Those who follow our trips know that we rarely do as intended if another mood strikes for something different. Since Marc’s arthritis was bothering him sitting by the coast, instead of heading back for Winchester Bay, we decided to drive south to the Napa Valley area, where temps were warmer. 

All went well driving south on 101, with a short stop to take in some of the Victorians in Eureka. Eureka’s heritage springs from the lumber barons and some magnificent examples of their excesses are lovingly restored housing businesses in downtown Eureka. One particular example housed something called the Ingomar Club and displayed outstanding attention to detail in both the building & grounds.

  Victorian at Eureka, Ca.                                                                 Front entry    

                                                                                Another nice Victorian in Eureka 

We had originally thought that we might stay around Clear Lake but as we progressed we didn’t find a suitable RV park and no freebie camps. The Trailer Life Directory led us on a spur road, called Bottle Rock Rd. for 7.5 excruciating curvy, hilly miles to a very disappointing RV park called Beaver Creek. We decided to pass on it & continued on.  Bottle Rock Rd. merged with the main highway, #175 leading toward Middletown & Calistoga. Little known to us, because we had disregarded the warning signs, we found ourselves once again on a highway not meant for our type or size RV. We encountered increasingly heavy traffic on a curvy, very mountainous downgrade with grades up to 11%. After what seemed a harrowing hour we finally reached the valley floor just north of the small resort town of Calistoga. A sign said “Fairground Campground” & we made the turn through town off the main drag, hoping it was open this time of year. It was.  Water & electric & a dump station for $22/night.  

The main thing we plan to enjoy is the weather; it’s set to be in the low 70’s today, probably a good 40 degrees over what we’ll have when we return to Bend! It’s catch-up time today; Marc is busy washing the ocean salt off the rig & Rachael & I want to shop the very cute downtown section. Calistoga is known for its mineral waters & many resorts are spas with the full treatment offered, including mud baths & facials.

                                       Quaint Calistoga, Ca.  

5:36 p.m. Rachael & I came back with a few groceries from shopping; real San Francisco sourdough French bread for one thing & the best salami (also from S.F.) we’ve ever tasted. Marc liked it so much, we ended up going back to buy 5 long sticks to freeze down & take with us.  

We had a warm, sunny afternoon touring some wineries; in particular the beautiful grounds and original home of Beringer. Most of the wineries now charge for either their tours or their tasting, so the days of doing both for free seem to be gone. Beringer’s tour was $5/each which included the tasting of four selected wines. The tour was a little light on information; we got to view the extensive wine cellar area & the cooperages but nothing of the bottling area. The old Beringer mansion was exquisite and serves as their tasting room & gift store. The home was built in late 1800s & originally cost $28,000. Inlaid parquet wood floors vary room by room & massive solid wood doors adorn every passage. Many windows feature stained glass whose cost totaled about 22% of the original cost of the home when it was put in. This winery was established with 250 acres acquired for $14,000. Real estate in this area is now terribly expensive.

The new Clos Pegose winery                                                           The Beringer Mansion  

  Beringer winery gift room                                                                 The St. Clement winery tasting room  

January 4, 2001, 1:40 p.m., sunny

Yesterday we made it to my aunt & uncle’s place, which sits between Oroville & Chico. Since I went to junior high & high school in Oroville & my father helped construct the United States’ biggest dam in Oroville we decided to take a short tour so Rachael could see where I spent many formative years. The town has grown a lot since I was a kid and it was fun looking at my old school and some of the houses my dad built (he built five in Oroville). A special treat was seeing him running the car dumper, which was his job at the dam, on the video they play at the Visitor’s Center. Even Ronald Regan, California’s Governor at the time of the dam dedication, looked superbly young and fresh faced.

  The back side of Oroville dam                                                            Bidwell Bar suspension bridge over lake Oroville

On this morning’s walk, Marc & I tried to get close to the gaggles of geese & swans wintering in the flooded rice fields surrounding this place. The alarm was raised & two thousand birds took flight right over us—a pretty awesome sight amid the roaring chatter of their calls & honks. Tomorrow, we finally head for home. The weather has been so unseasonably warm, I hate to leave.

                                   Geese behind Claudia's Uncle John's place