Around Washington and Down to Oregon

Another catchup post brings us to South Beach Olympic National Park Campground. This campground serves as a sort of overflow campground to nearby Kalaloch campground. We think it is better as all sites overlook the ocean. We first tried to park at one of the sites immediately overlooking the beach but it was not level at all. We decided to park at one in the next row up but as Joe drove around to get to the spot I noticed he had stopped at the other end. I at first thought something was wrong but found out he was parked in our new perfect spot that someone had just left. What good luck. We are right overlooking the beach with a nice short path that goes to the sand below.

 

 

 

As this campground is first come first serve we are set up for Labor Day weekend or so we thought. More on that development later. Before we left Lake Quinault, we drove 45 minutes south to Aberdeen to do some grocery shopping. A lot of the small towns on the Washington Coast don't have much in the way of grocery stores, mostly just small food marts you see at gas stations. So we are set for the week. The beach is a great one for walking with all the drift wood over the beach, including some large trees. Savannah was so happy to be off leash and started running around with a happy look on her face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This looks like someone made a little shelter out of some of the driftwood.

 

But Wait!! Take a look at this "cabin" created by some ambitious builders.

 

Check out the window and bench in front of the cabin. Even the inside was decorated. A drink anyone?

 

While we were busy checking this out, Savannah decided to continue her walk by herself. I had to chase her down as she would look back at me and continue on. She is becoming like Terra, wandering off on her own. Well i finally got close enough to tell her to sit and she did. Back on the leash for now.

 

 

On the way back, we saw some fishermen and they were actually catching some fish.

 

 

We had two great days then our good luck ran out. First we were having a problem with our refrigerator that would just stop running. It looked like we were going to have to take the motorhome in to a repair place. It did start working again but we had another problem. After a couple of nice, cool but nice days, the rains came. And came, including inside our motorhome. We had a problem with a leak on the driver's side near the front before but thought it had been fixed. It was worse than ever. We had towels and plastic over the steering wheel and front area as it was leaking in several spots. As rain was forecasted for the next few days, we sadly decided to leave our beautiful site. We stopped at a repair place where Joe got some caulking material for the roof. The refrig is working okay now and the repairperson gave us some info on what was wrong and what to do if it stops working again. We spent one night at a Casino and called an Escapees Park that is in the Port Townsend area and found out they have some boondocking spots available for the weekend. That was a relief. It is only $5 a night so a good deal. It is a nice park, all on one level but surround by trees. Very pretty. This park, unlike Jojoba has a lot of park model units, not just motorhomes and fifth wheels. Some are very nice.

 

 

 

We met one gentleman who has a place in Jojoba. In fact, he is one of the original Jojobans who helped built the park. He is also the main chef in charge of the different events in the park that involve food. And Escapees are famous for their love of food I am told. We left on the Tuesday after Labor Day and headed south back into Oregon, trying to get away from the rain. We spent a few days at Clackamette RV Park, in Oregon City, near Portland. It is a nice city park right on the Willamette River.

 

 

 

 

Savannah found a nice spot to sit and watch people and boats go by.

 

We went into Portland to do some shopping including a Trader Joe fix. We haven't been doing anything real exciting lately, just enjoying the great views. We spent a few days at Lake Emigrant in Ashland. This is another campground we have been to before and is one we could have stayed at longer. Last time we were here it was really cold. In fact, we woke up one morning to snow on the hills. This time it is very warm, in the 90's. However our spot has two trees and so with shade and a slight wind, it was very pleasant to sit outside reading and enjoying the view of the lake.

 

 

The water is down here as you can see by one of the piers in the picture below.

 

We were shocked when we left and drove through the Lake Shasta area. The water level was way way down. Anyway, we are now back in California headed to one of our favorite spots, Avila Beach.

 

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More Lake Quinault and Olympic National Park

Tuesday, the 21st is Joe's birthday and it is a beautiful day. We decide to get out our boat and set it up with the sail as there is a nice breeze. Setting up the sail adds a bit of time to the regular inflating,etc and so it is almost an hour by the time we are ready to pull the boat over to the water. Then someone comes by and tells us we aren't allow to take boats on the water. What, we kayaking a number of years ago. It seems the lake is property of the local Native Americans and last year they decided only natives can take any type of boat out on the water. They originally didn't allow swimming either but changed their minds on that. We had heard  recently that these particular native americans were not very friendly and I guess he was right. I can see them not wanting power boats, but canoes or kayaks? Oh well, we packed up the boat and enjoyed the nice weather the rest of the day. We went to the Roosevelt Room at the Lake Quinault Lodge down the road from us. .It was named after Franklin D. Roosevelt who visited the restaurant and area in 1938. Months later Olympic National Park was created. Their food is very good. Joe had scallops and I had the mushroom risotto. This after having an appetizer of calamari. We also got a bottle of wine that we took back to our site later. The dining room is very nice with wonderful views of the lawn and lake out the large windows.

Below is a picture taken from a website of the hotel with the dining room on the right.

We took another walk that goes to one of the waterfalls in the area. We were able to walk from the campground, where the trail starts behind the general store. Another beautiful walk through one of the three temperate coniferous rain forests in the Western Hemisphere. Saw lots of mushrooms but didn't pick any as we have no mushroom knowledge of what is save to eat.

In less than mile, though mostly uphill, we arrived at the creek and waterfall.

We could have continued on another loop that ends up near the lodge but decided to go back the way we came. We got back a lot faster than going to the waterfall as mostly downhill, obviously.

Here are a couple of more views of the campground and the cabins that are the road that goes into the campground.

As I mentioned in the last post, this is the Valley of the Giants, with record heights of a number of trees. The largest Spruce Tree is right by the campground. 

The picture below shows some scale to see how large the tree is.

Well, we had some nice days but the last part of the week we were there was cloudy and we got some rain.

Plus, more is expected in the next little while. One day we drove north a little and checked out a few campgrounds, one which we totally loved. It is right on the water and is first come first serve. We plan on going there on Monday, the 26th. As it is first come first serve, we will have a place through the Labor Day weekend. since we didn't make reservations, this is a good thing. Below a few more pictures of Lake Quinault, which we thoroughly enjoyed.