On Monday, July 1, we didn’t have to leave until 10ish, so we started the morning with a return visit to Honeybee Bakery. There we met one of the owners, and I was tickled when he had a fresh pan of pretzels cooling. He started baking at around 10:30 PM the night before, so he looked wiped out while waiting for his relief. After selecting a few nibbles of deliciousness, we headed back to get Priscilla buttoned up and hit the road. On the way into the campground, we saw all four of the black-tailed bucks. Nice of them to say goodbye! Today our drive was all US-101, and once again, we had beautiful weather, even with the occasional fog. The scenery was a mix of coastal cliffs, beaches, boulders, dense evergreen forests, and believe it or not, sand dunes. I had no idea that there is an entire section of the Oregon coast that has huge sand dunes, some with evergreens growing in them. At Port Orford we stopped in at the Portside Cafe, where our waitress was working her tail off to cover all of the tables inside and out. She did a great job, and the food was good, too. We saw lots of signs to watch for elk, but only caught a glimpse of one little deer. I think they put those signs up to get us tourists excited! LOL. At Florence, Oregon, we stopped to walk around a bit and pick up a few groceries, then we arrived at South Beach State Park right around 4 PM. This was our last drive up the coastline, and we have thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. You can actually do the Pacific Coast Highway all the way from Port Townsend, Washington, to the Mexican border in California. We have previously driven almost all of the part north of central Oregon. As for the southern portion, MW was stationed at MCAS El Toro in Southern California back in the day, and we just have no desire to get down into all that mess south of San Francisco.

Our site was actually at a little bit of an acute angle, and the road, narrow, so we thought it would be a challenge to get in. Mr. Wonderful (MW) stuck the landing with only one slight adjustment, though. He is awesome! We had some entertainment a little later when our neighbor backed his long diesel pusher between two trees and into a site that was just long enough to keep him out of the road. Bravo!! (I told him when we were out walking that I was applauding his performance. He said it was luck. That’s what we use sometimes!) The weather was cool and a little windy, and the park was already packed for the holiday weekend. With sunset not happening until well after 9 PM, we expected it to be a loud night. Things quieted down completely at 10ish, though, which was nice!

Tuesday we headed to town starting with a couple of errands. In the Rite-Aid plaza MW saw a hair salon, so I checked to see if they could give me a cut. (I’d been trying for a couple of weeks to get an appointment.) They were able to fit me in later in the afternoon, so we did a little exploring. First up…Oregon Oyster Farms, which is a local grower of oysters in Yaquina Bay. The delicious, slimy bivalves have been harvested in this area since the mid-1800s, and this company began with, believe it or not, a restaurant in Portland. That restaurant is still operating as Dan and Louie’s Oyster Bar. To ensure a steady supply of good oysters the family opened their own oyster farm. Today it harvests from 560 acres along the Yaquina River and is part of why the west coast produces more oysters than the east and gulf coasts. We left with a nice batch of smoked oysters to try.

We were also looking for smoked fish, and the lady at Oregon Oyster pointed us to Local Ocean, a restaurant at the docks which also has a fish counter. We decided to stay for lunch, which was awesome, but ended up leaving without any smoked fish. I was sorely tempted by the bin of shelled crab meat, though!

Next we stopped at Yaquina Bay State Park to take a look at the lighthouse. Unfortunately, it was closed for tours but we learned a few things anyway. The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was built in 1871, but only operated for 3 years due to the building of the Yaquina Head Light. Located not far from the first recorded ship landfall in the Pacific Northwest by Captain James Cook in 1778, it is the only historic wooden lighthouse still standing in Oregon and the oldest structure in Newport. It was news of Cook’s voyage that created interest in the east and eventually led to the Louisiana Purchase. In addition to the lighthouse, the park has incredibly beautiful views from the overlook. After a couple of errands and my haircut, it was time to head back to Priscilla.

Before settling in for the evening, we took a walk down to the jetty on one of the beach trails. It was really windy and cold, but still a wonderful walk.

SIDE NOTE: At a recent meal out, we found the note below on the menu. It was in a nice restaurant in a seasonal resort town. So, I have questions: 1) Is part of this little kitty being divvied up to make up the tip difference between excellent waiters and those who, frankly, shouldn’t be waiters? 2) With the ACA, aren’t we already paying for folks at every economic level to have access to affordable health coverage? 3) Are they ensuring that service workers in seasonal resort towns make the same amount in the off season as they do in high season? 4) Next are they going to decide that companies can’t hire “seasonal” workers at all?

South Beach State Park is located just south of the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport, Oregon, so there is plenty to do nearby. Plus you can go to the beach, fish, watch wildlife, play disc golf and horseshoes, bike or hike on a variety of trails, and picnic in the park. Amenities include a Hospitality Center, playground area, bathhouses, firewood sales, and an RV dump station. Lodging options include 27 yurts, and the campground, which has a hiker/biker camp, 3 group tent camps, 60 tent sites, and 227 back-in RV sites with 30-amp electric and water. Cell phone signals were good, and there was plenty of over-the-air tv. This is a great family park, but some of the sites are REALLY short, so pay attention to length when booking. It is a beautiful park, and we would stay again if in Newport. However, it isn’t someplace we would choose specifically to go because it is just too many people for our tastes. For this stay in July 2024 we paid $48 per night.

Since the Fourth of July holiday was on our regular Thursday travel day, we changed the schedule up a bit and hit the road on Wednesday. It wasn’t a really early morning, though, so that was nice. This is officially the turning point in this journey where we point Big Jake towards home…kind of. We left Newport on US-20 (which runs all the way to Boston, Massachusetts, believe it or not) and headed over to Albany, Oregon. There we did a little shopping at Target and Costco. Both were crazy busy! We arrived at Target just as they opened, so had plenty of space to park. When we came out 20 minutes later or so, the parking lot was practically full!! Costco was also a zoo, but thankfully, they had lots of room. Back on the road, I was thankful to get out of the Albany traffic. Once we cleared that, we stopped for lunch in Lebanon at Kristi’s 50’s Cafe. This was a typical, small-town diner filled with locals and darned good sandwiches. After lunch, we continued west to Sisters, where we hit stale road. Twice we’ve passed through this area, and it really looks like a nice place to visit. Based on traffic, though, I would recommend staying outside of town and just coming in to play tourist. From there we took OR-126 through Redmond to Prineville where we arrived at the Crook County RV Park. It was another beautiful day for a drive. We crossed the Oregon Coast range and lots of grass and farmland. I was really surprised at how much snow was on the mountains in the Cascades, too. The negative is that we’ve now crossed into the dark side…um…heat zone. Today, thankfully, it was only mid-80s, but the weekend outlook is for triple digits. Ugh!

SIGN HUMOR: “Seven Days Without A Taco Makes One Weak” – Ranchero Mexican Grill & Cantina in Prineville, Oregon.

Happy 4th of July!! Did you know that archaeologists at the Minute Man National Historic Park in Concord, Massachusetts, JUST FOUND five musket balls. Why is that important and supremely cool?? Well, first, they were found in an area where we know the British lined up to stop the Massachusetts militia from crossing the river. Second, the National Park Service says that analysis of the projectiles points to them being fired from across the river by those colonists. (In other words, they were not just dropped there by the Red Coats.) So, these 250-year-old musket balls were very likely fired in the opening volleys of the Battle of Concord, which sparked the American Revolution and led to our country’s very creation. The initial volleys at Lexington and Concord collectively were dubbed the “shot heard round the world” in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1837 poem “Concord Hymn”. Wow! Can you imagine holding in your hand an actual musket ball from the skirmish that started it all? That would be awesome!

The city of Prineville had big doin’s planned to celebrate America at the park, so we headed over to check that out. The parade in town was just finishing up, and that was followed by a car show in another park area. We took in the vendors and picked up our 4th of July hamburgers and hotdogs. The pavilion had some entertainment, so we stayed for the color guard and national anthem, then watched a little square dancing. I haven’t seen that in years!! We also took a little walk around the downtown area. Prineville has a pretty nice courthouse with a three-story clock tower that can be seen for miles on the approach from the west. Built in 1909, it is made of basalt that was mined just west of town and was one of the tallest buildings in Oregon when completed. It wasn’t without issues, though. The $75,000 price tag, a lot of money back then, caused a protest due to prior issues with high taxes and a lack of county services. Sadly, just a couple of months later, the building needed major repairs. That added to an already dissatisfied Crook county population, which eventually caused parts of the county to split off into Jefferson and Deschutes counties. It has been remodeled and restored a couple of times since then, and still houses several county departments including courts and the district attorney’s office. By then it was starting to get hot, so we headed back to Priscilla. I spent some time writing in the afternoon, and we watched a couple of westerns. About 8:30 PM the fireworks began. Help me with something: Fireworks are pretty expensive, right? Sunset in Prineville is after 9 PM, and last light is about 9:30 PM right now. So why in the world would someone spend a bunch of money on something that is designed to use after dark, then burn it up for an hour in daylight?? What the heck are people thinking??!!

Friday, July 5, was a VERY important day…my Mommy’s birthday!! Jo Winslette is the best Mom in the world. I’m not just saying that. I’ve had over 61 years of experience being her daughter, and she checks all of the boxes. She is also one of my strongest role models. As a divorced mother of two teens and a tween, she wanted to make a good life for us. This woman, who had been a stay at home mom for her entire marriage, worked hard to provide. In the beginning she even slept on a pallet on the floor in the living room so that the three of us would still have our own rooms! Her work paid off, and she ended up with a long, fruitful career at Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Georgia. I could never thank her enough for giving me such a strong foundation. Her birthday will be well past by the time she reads this, but I couldn’t miss the opportunity to toot her horn. Love you, Mommy!!

That morning we were up and out early for a good walk around the fairgrounds, after which I spent the better part of 2 hours cleaning up my bike. She rides on a rack on the back of Priscilla, and although I do have a cover, all manner of dust and dirt manage to get up in there. I bought a new bike cover that actually zips completely closed, so that should help. I also switched from regular bungie cords to a cargo net to hold everything down so it doesn’t flap in the wind. I’ll put that all together later, but for now, I can at least ride her. When I finished that chore, it was time for the regular Friday routine, laundry. I headed over to Express Eco Laundromat in Prineville to tackle the loads. The final stop for the day was The Dawg House for lunch and a few hours of writing. The former was a terrific German sausage that was totally calorie-worthy! I took one home later for MW, too.

Saturday was another early morning, this time to get over to Smith Rock State Park for a bit of hiking before the temps began to climb. We were there around 6:30 AM, and folks were already heading out on the trails. By the time we left a couple of hours later, the place was covered up! This park was voted the best in Oregon and is a hot spot for rock climbing, hiking, pack-in tent camping, and bird watching (golden eagles and falcons nest on the cliffs). Of course, the towering peaks are the stars, so you could also just stand there in awe. It is possibly named for Pvt. Volk Smith, a soldier who fell to his death in the park during a battle with the Northern Paiute in 1863, but there is debate on that. The only facilities are parking areas, vault toilets, and access to the trails. We walked the North Point Trail to the Homestead Trail to The Chute, which takes you along the edge of the gorge then down into it along the Crooked River. It was pretty spectacular.

After climbing back up to Big Jake, we headed over to check out another rock near Prineville, Steins Pillar. This one required a drive down a well-maintained dirt road, where we ran across a bunch of cows in the road. They weren’t free range, but escapees checking out the greener grass on the other side. By then it was time to go wash the stank off back at the campground. Later we had lunch at The Sandwich Factory, which had pretty awesome subs. Before heading back to relax, we stopped at a thrift store that caught MW’s eye with books in the window. They had a bunch of movies for a buck, too, so bonus!! After that, other than a bit of writing, I pretty much sat on my butt.

Sunday morning began with a nice bike ride around town followed by getting everything back on the bike rack and tucked in. The new setup looks like it will be much better, too. The cargo net is a game-changer. Later we headed over to services at Calvary Baptist Church in Prineville. The message was one in a series on the seven deadly sins, with this one covering ENVY. Pastor Andrew Dunaway started out with asking us what we thought the opposite of envy would be. He said he had a tough time in his research finding that, but ended up with kindness. Envy focusses on our wants, needs, and desires, while kindness puts that focus on those things for the other person. Good point. There is nothing wrong with seeing and appreciating what other people have, as long as it is a motivational…”I’m going to work towards that!” It is when we start thinking all of the negative things like “I SHOULD have”, or “they don’t DESERVE”, that the path gets dark. We really enjoyed the sermon and loved the pastor’s style of teaching. Afterwards, we headed over to Dillon’s Grill for lunch, where the ribs were very meaty and delicious, but the baked beans, not so much. Later back at Priscilla, I worked in a nap and a good bit of writing.

Crook County RV Park was pretty nice. Set up like a typical private park with everyone parallel, it offered a little bit of grass space with picnic tables between the long, paved parking pads. Just on the south edge of Prineville, you can easily walk or ride your bike to the downtown area where there are restaurants and shopping opportunities. It is adjacent to the fairgrounds, which gives you a lot of walking area, and there are several hiking opportunities and the city of Redmond within 20 miles or so. Facilities include a playground, pavilion with fire pit, laundry, recreational room, bathhouse, dump station, and wifi. Lodging options included a couple of small cabins and the campground. Sites were back-in or pull-through, with some being as long as 70′, and all were 50-amp, full-hookup. Cell signals and over-the-air tv were ample. All of the facilities at this park were new and spotless, and the grounds were immaculate, too. We would definitely stay here again. For this visit in July 2024, we paid just under $51 per night.

Well, that’s another week. Time is flying by. Next up…Into the Heat, Beautiful Mountains, and a Ski Town. See you on the path!

Talisa

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