Last day with the Lunch Bunch and starting for home

On Wednesday, the Rambachers were leaving to go see more sights in OR and WA, so we had to do some group pictures in the morning.

Connie made three of these bags for vacation, Ann and I each made one.

Here is the WHOLE GROUP!

The same socks in various stages of done-ness.  

Same sweater pattern.  Someone is an over-achiever.

After photos, we headed south a bit to Tillamook to see the cheese factory.  Of course we had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch and ice cream for dessert!  And bought some cheese to snack on on the road.  We also visited Cape Meares State Park to see the lighthouse and the Octopus Tree.  It was pretty foggy while we were there.

Clear blue skies on the way to Tillamook.

I finished my socks on the way to the factory!

Very foggy at Cape Meares.

The Octopus Tree

We made it back to camp pretty late and had lots of leftovers for dinner.  Some of us headed out to the south jetty to see if there was a sunset (no dice) or any ship traffic (there was) on the Columbia.  It was a big surprise to find a baby seal on the bank!

A very fuzzy picture of the baby seal.

 Today we packed up and left Fort Stevens State Park and drove drove drove for the start of our trip east.  Well, we did stop off at Multnomah Falls for a potty break and to take a portrait of the shawl that I just cast on (called Multnomah).  And I bought some beautiful OR fruit for the drive.  Delicious!

Another long drive tomorrow - hoping we won't run into too much smoke.

This box was $10!

Some more catching up from Fort Stevens

Here's a post from the coffee shop at the KOA to catch up on the last couple of days.  I don't have a ton of time before dinner prep starts so mostly pictures!

First some pictures from Astoria on Sunday.

The group (so far) walking to find the trolley after the market.

The food court at Sunday market.  The rest of the market is maybe 4 or 5 times this.

Rebecca with our trolley guide.

Here comes the trolley!

Next on to Monday:

We made delicious blueberry pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  Then we walked (or rode bikes or scooters depending on age) to the beach at the park.  Hedingtons arrived Sunday evening but for some reason they aren't in any of my pics.

Kids dug in the sand and found sand dollars.

Jeff looked at the shipwreck.

I took pictures of birds.

This guy was windsurfing with his huge kite.

Tons of pelicans here!

Grumpy pelican.

wind surfer dude

In the afternoon, we made some lunch, took naps, went shopping.  The Rambachers arrived and we cooked up some dinner with them!

Now on Tuesday:

We got up and got organized for a trip to Cannon Beach.  It took 3 cars by this time - there are 15 of us.  There are great tidepools at Cannon Beach, and also many shops and restaurants.  We also visited the farm market for some dinner supplies.  After lunch and exploration in Cannon Beach, we're all back at camp to cook some dinner.

Tons of anemones in the tidepools here.

A gull above Haystack rock

You might recognize this from "The Goonies"

starfish

We saw lots of hermit crabs too.

Phew, all caught up!

Driving up the coast & Sunday in Astoria

There's no WiFi in our cabin at Fort Stevens State Park, so this blog post is being brought to you by the Marlin Street Laundromat!

Yesterday we traveled up the coast from Florence, OR to Fort Stevens State Park.  We made a few stops on the way - first just a couple miles north of town to see a small bog that is full of this special kind of carnivorous plant.  The place was FULL of them!








Next we went to Sea Lion Caves.  It was pretty fun, and Rebecca LOVED it.  First we looked at the sea lions on the ledge from up above.  The wind was really whipping our hair and we were glad to have jackets.  Then we took the elevator down into the cave.  There were lots and lots of sea lions and sea birds, and the smell was pretty intense.  We had a good time watching them swim in and out, fight, and generally act like sea lions.

Inside the cave viewing area

Surfing sea lion

Sea lions on the ledge

cute birds with red feet

For lunch, we drove into Otter Rock because the map said it was a good place to spot whales and Jeff said he would eat a banana slug if we spotted a whale.  We're looking for one now, because we DID spot a whale!  I didn't get any pictures because all we really saw was the spout and some of the whale's back, but they were out there.  We had kind of a tough time eating lunch because the picnic area was overrun by aggressive squirrels - one got on the table about 6 inches away from us.  I couldn't decide if we should try to smack the squirrels or the people who were feeding them.

Devil's punchbowl with people in it

There were lots of surfers on Beverly Beach, but we went down to Otter Cove beach instead to see if we could get inside the Punchbowl formation.  The tide was coming in, so we didn't make it, but we did see some amazing tidepools.  We spotted sea stars and urchins, and these were the most easily accessible pools ever.  Otter Rock was a great stopping place - and it even had a winery and a coffee/ice cream truck.  We drank a bottle of their wine last night and it was yummy.

Devil's punchbowl formation filling with water

Here's the entrance - we couldn't get in

About 2 minutes after this picture, the waves starting washing over this rock!

Beach with tide pools

Touching star fish

When we got to camp, we checked into our cabin (which is really nice - I'll post pictures next time) and met up with the Greens.  Connie also arrived in time for dinner.  We had fresh corn & beans from the Florence farm market, hot dogs & brats, plus the wine.  And s'mores for dessert.  We liked that there are people who drive a cart around the camp delivering firewood to your door!

This morning, we went into Astoria to check out Sunday Market.  It was amazing - tons of vendors.  We had tamales for second breakfast and then falafel for lunch before we left.  Items the group purchased included peas, potatoes, berries, cherries, dates, yarn, ceramic tiles, tea, chorizo, and bread.  There was even a trolley to ride back to our car.

OK, time to check the laundry!
I'm not sure when I'll be posting again - keep checking.

Day 14 to Florence OR

We had a driving day, up the coast from Crescent City to Florence OR.  We didn't make too many stops today, although we did stop at a wool shop in Port Orford!  And at the Crazy Norweigan's for fish & chips lunch.  Once we got to Florence, we checked into the Park Motel. It has the best fire escape instructions posted:

Open door. Walk out.

Then we headed into old town to get some dinner, and ended up at Spice. Very delicious food, although it took us a while to get our food since there was a party of about 12 right before us.  Here are a couple of our entrees.

Pho for Rebecca, but enough for all of us!

Kofta curry for MHZ

Rebecca dips her chicken in the curry.

After that dinner, we strolled around town a bit and ate some ice cream for dessert.  Our next stop was the dunes for sunset.  We slogged over the rows of dunes and were rewarded with this view:

MHZ & RK

Tomorrow we head further up the coast to meet up with friends - after a stop at Sea Lion Caves!