2017 - Blog #5 - Portland to Glacier

We finally got to a place where we can “slow down” and “catch up” a bit.   We realize that we have so much that we want to share that we need to make two separate blogs – one for “Portland to Glacier” and one for “In Glacier National Park.”   So this is the first of the two blogs and hopefully the second blog will follow shortly after.

When we got to Reeder Beach in Portland, we found out that there had been a miscommunication in our telephone reservations.   To our dismay, they had us leaving on a Saturday and the departure date couldn’t be changed.   Trying to find a campground on a Saturday, especially in the Pacific coast area in the summer,  is near impossible but we felt pretty sure we could still get in to a little city park near Mt. Saint Helen that we had stayed in last year.   It had just reopened last year and not many people seemed to know about it.   Unfortunately, it has been “found” and someone took the last spot minutes before we got there!    Battling with poor to no phone reception, we called everywhere for miles around trying to find a campground without any luck.   Finally, Silver Cove RV Park returned our call and we ended up turning around and driving back 30 minutes, to near where we had been, to get a spot for the night.  The tip here for fellow campers is to double check your reservations carefully when you make them and this day in age, have reservations ahead every time you possibly can!

Our next stop (where we DID have reservations!) was in Indian Creek campground, at Rimrock Lake, just outside of Mt. Rainier National Park. 

  Just as we were backing into our campsite, we both noticed that one of our trailer tires seemed low on air.   Well, it wasn’t just low on air, it had been punctured (probably from the road construction we just drove through) and was going flat very quickly!   Jeanie keeps saying that for some reason we are blessed and even Jerome agreed this time because just as we were setting up at our campsite and trying to figure out the best way to work on the tire, our camp hosts drove up to meet us.   After hearing our plight, they offered us the empty second host site - which had an electrical outlet.     Yeaaaaa….. not only did we have electricity to run the compressor to fix the tire but we also could run the A/C (it was 94 degrees outside) and run the sewing machine to work on various projects.     As it turned out, even two tire plugs weren’t enough and we had to drive 45 miles into the nearest town to get a new tire!  

   We really liked this campground and had a great time visiting with Dale and Annie, the camp hosts, especially around their campfires at night.  

Jeannie fixed Annie, the camp host's favorite chair and even added an extra touch just for fun

Paul and Susan, fun fellow campers who taught us some phone camera tricks

The smoke from the Canadian forest fires continued to linger and was actually to our advantage here because the air force flies F-16 fighter jets several times a day, quite low, over this campground and they only were able to fly over once while we were there.  It was a neat experience, but we were glad it was only once!   Elk sometimes walked through our campground and at night we walked down to the lakefront to watch them.  In fact, one evening we watched a grazing mom with her two little ones racing around her and playing with each other.  It was quite the sight!

From Indian Creek, we drove to Grand Coulee, Washington.   Driving into the rocky mountain terrain on the way to Grand Coulee Dam was just beautiful.   Again, we had no reservations anywhere and considered ourselves lucky to find a campsite in the walk-in only area of the Spring Canyon National Recreation Area next to the dam.  

  We paid for 3 nights here but ended up forfeiting the last 2 nights, driving only 2 miles back into town to King’s Court RV Park, and paid a lot more to escape the nightmare of staying at Spring Canyon.   In Spring Canyon there were signs multiple places telling campers not to put their tents on the grass on the inner circle sites and even certain sites as RV only sites due to lawn watering schedules.   Well, two families, consisting of 4 adults and 9 children should have been wearing “Here’s Your Sign” on their foreheads.    They either didn’t read the signs or didn’t think they pertained to themselves.   They picked the two campsites on either side of ours and proceeded to set up their three humongous tents on the grass on both sides of us, sandwiching us in between.   They took over our campsite as well, as if we weren’t there, yelling to each other and running across the middle of our campsite just feet away from us and even between Jean and Carly (who was on her leash)!   Jean thought we should point out about the signs but Jerome said that we should not interfere and spoil their impending surprise.   They also ignored the 10pm quiet time, so we thought it was hysterical that at 11:30pm just as they were settling down and going to bed, the water sprinkling system turned on all around and under their tents!   By the time they figured out what was going on, they were sloshing around in their tents in ankle deep water.   Jerome was laughing so hard that Jean had to remind him not to let them hear him laughing because they were so mad that they might even misdirect their anger at us at that point.   We even heard them angrily say “I wish someone would have told us (about the water sprinklers).”  Like we said….. “Here’s your sign.”   Needless to say, between that 2 ½ hr fiasco and no electricity for A/C with 99 degree heat, we didn’t get much sleep that night.    Once we got to King’s Court RV Park though, we had A/C, TV, a laundromat next door, and we were just minutes from the Grand Coulee Dam.    We took the free tour of the dam and that evening we returned to watch the free light show on the face of the dam. 

We were surprised to find out that Grand Coulee Dam is actually bigger than Hoover Dam but Hoover Dam is taller which gives it the illusion of being bigger.   The owners of King’s Court recommended The Melody restaurant for dinner and we agree with them.  If you’re ever in this area, it’s a great place to eat.

We originally had planned on stopping next at a national forest in Montana, but with the high heat temperatures that we had been experiencing, we opted to find a campground with electricity again.   Paula, one of Jean’s co-workers at the Free Clinic, grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho and had told her how beautiful it is there.   Since we were passing through Sandpoint on the way to Glacier, we decided to stop here and check it out.   We were able to get a campsite at the Bonner County Fairgrounds just outside of town.   We really lucked out here because the fair had just ended that morning and everyone was leaving by the time we got there.   Trains passed nearby but weren’t annoying and it was a nice and peaceful place to spend 2 nights.   We drove up to the huge ski lodge nearby but got there too late in the day to ride the lift and hike down, plus we forgot our jackets and it was really cold up there. 

  That evening, as we were walking down an alley in town, looking for a place to eat dinner, we met  a local resident who recommended Eickerdt’s Pub and Grill.  We entered through the side door which was in the alley and wondered what we had gotten ourselves in to.  It looked like a pub straight out of the 60’s with 60’s music playing too.   Boy were we glad that we took her advice and trusted her judgement.  We both agreed that we had the best Chicken Marsala that we have ever had.

From Sandpoint, we drove to our next “destination point”…. Fish Creek Campground near Apgar, Montana, in the western side of Glacier National Park.    Our following blog will be about the beautiful Glacier National Park – the west side as well as the east.   We have fun sharing our adventures with you and hope you have fun following them with us.  Thanks for taking the time to read our blogs!  

Jerome and Jean

2017 -Blog #4 - Chillin in Oregon

Cold Springs Campground in the Deschutes National Forest, just outside of Sisters, Oregon, is camping at its finest!  It reminds us so much of the campground that we really enjoyed in the Lolo National Forest in Montana last year.  Huge ponderosa pines with their black-streaked, reddish-copper trunks tower over the smaller pines and the forest floor is covered with a thick mat of pine needles and pine cones.  It is so peaceful here without boats, jet skis, and noise, just the breeze rustling through the pine branches and chickadees clicking and chitting all around.  There was even a nice little gurgling stream running through our campsite.    Yes, it’s a national forest, so there are only pit toilets, no electricity, and a hand pump for water, but we would gladly give up the amenities for a campground like this.   There was just enough sunlight coming through the trees for our solar panels to keep up with our electricity needs.  Also, the water was SO good here that pumping away on that hand pump to get it was worth the effort.  In fact, just before we left here we filled up every container we had with the cold spring water!

sunset over the Three Sisters

Sisters is a small, pretty, artsy, very busy, tourist town.   It was nice to visit all the art galleries here and to treat ourselves to Marionberry coffeecake from the Sisters Bakery, yum!   We thought of you, Eileen, when the woman camping next to us said that she was attending a ukulele convention nearby…. ‘interesting.  This lady also told us not to miss the scenic drive up the McKenzie Pass and we are so glad she did.  The summit (elevation 5335 ft.) is surrounded by lava flows with awesome views of the Cascade Range, including two of the Three Sisters peaks, Mount Jefferson, and Mount Washington.  At the top is an observatory (Dee Wright Observatory) built out of chunks of lava that the locals call “the stone house.”  Several people also told us not to miss Clear Lake, but we ran out of time, so we’ll just have to come back here again.

 "the stone house" - Dee Wright Observatory - that's Jerome standing by the sign at the bottom right

Our next stop was at South Beach State Park, on the pacific coastline, in Newport.   This is a huge campground with 312 campsites & yurts.  It’s like a mini-city for campers!  Thankfully, it is laid out well and our site was comfortably secluded.    We’re just glad we didn’t end up in one of the inner-circle sites that were more open and much less private.  While we were here we hiked to the beach and rode our bikes to the jetty, the aquarium, marina, and the Rogue Brewery and Pub (great albacore tuna fish and chips and the best root beer ever!).    We also enjoyed eating a great meal at Georgies, overlooking the misty coastline, and had the best clam chowder at Newport Café in town.   We were pleasantly surprised to meet up with again with Fred & Judy, who camped next to us in Lolo National Forest in Montana last year.   Fred recognized our kayaks when he was walking their dog….. ‘small world!    Camping on the coastline of Oregon, beware that the fog horn at the jetties/lighthouses sound 24/7 sometimes and if you are a light sleeper, like Jean is, that it can be annoying.   We have heard that some camper even asked the ranger if it could be turned off, ha ha!

South Beach  in Newport

"Cake by the Ocean"!!!

south jetty with Yaquina Lighthouse in the mist

Fun stop on our bike ride - yep, that's Jerome

After we left South Beach, we headed north, up the coastline, on US 101.   We had originally planned on staying in Ft. Stevens State Park in the northern tip of Oregon but had to change our plans.  Jean tried to book a reservation in April but found out that Oregon campgrounds fill up fast, especially the ones on the coast, and that all 500 sites were already reserved throughout the summer!  We got on their waiting list to be notified if they had a cancellation.   Well, they did have a cancellation that matched what we needed, unfortunately, they emailed us about it at 2:42am stating that we needed to let them know by 5:45am that same morning if we wanted it.     Really???? At 2:42am?  Do you know any “normal” people who read their email between 2:42 and 5:45am???   Of course, we didn’t get that site, so we were lucky to find a little known campground attached to the back of the parking lot behind the Ashley Inn hotel in Tillamook.   It actually was better than we expected and was as a nice little place after all.   Being in dairy country, there was the occasional smell of manure, but not overwhelming or for very long.    There was a Goodwill next door where we found a couple of books that we were missing from a series that we are reading.   We also were able to walk to the nearby Fred Myer to get groceries and to the famous Tillamook Cheese Factory where we learned about the making of cheese and ate free cheese samples. We passed on the long line for the ice cream and opted for the shorter sandwich line.   ‘Just an FYI… they have great sandwiches here.   We drove 8 miles south to Munson Creek Falls State Natural Site where we hiked a short way to the falls, which tumbles down 319 ft, making it the tallest waterfall in the Coast Range, and then 8 miles north to Garibaldi, to experience the annual Garibaldi Days Festival.

Munson Falls

Finally, we made it to Reeder Beach RV Park on Sauvie Island, just 9.5 miles north of Portland (where our oldest son, Joe, lives).  Yeaaaaa!    We love this laid-back campground which is on the grounds of an old farm.  Our campsite was on the banks of the Columbia River, looking across at Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helen, and Mt. Rainier in the far distance.  On clear days, we can even see Mt. Hood from the island.  We loved to sit and watch the HUGE, ocean-going freighters as they passed by only about 200 ft from us.  

'just in case you're wondering - no, Jean isn't trying to paint that passing freighter!

 Sadly, in the past year, coyotes have moved into this area and the campground owners have lost 40 ducks and over 100 of their chickens so we didn't see the “farm-life” roaming around quite like we use to and they had only a few fresh eggs a day available for purchase now.   Our stay here was just short of two weeks.   We packed in a lot of fun and a lot of visiting, especially with Joe, and with our friends (and Joe’s “second family”) Reza and Nur.

   We were here last year when Portland broke it's heat record and unfortunately, we were here for record breaking heat again!  The last few days that we were here there were heat advisories, and air quality advisories too (due to the thick haze from the forest fires in Canada).  Ironically, the thick haze kept the temperatures lower than the previously predicted 109 degrees.  The temperature hit 105 degrees, so we made sure we spent a lot of time on the beach where we could stay in the shade and appreciate the cool breezes off the Columbia River. 

"spaceship" in the woods on Collins Beach

Collins Beach - where else can you bask in 104 degree heat, on a clothing optional beach, while looking across the river at a snow covered mountain?  

 Three days ago we left Oregon for the Mt. St. Helen and Mt. Rainier areas in Washington.  We're heading northwest towards Glacier National Forest, in Montana.   ‘Until later, we wish you bright skies and cooler weather!   Jerome & Jean