Kit and Carol on the Road

Sunset from Milli and Len's house. 

Fort Clatsop isstill being rebuilt. It took Lewis and Clark 2 1/2 weeks but the park service is figuring 2 1/2 years. They have to let the logs age and put in a fire system, etc.... 

We had planned to head from Cape Disappointment down the coast to visit my brother John. But when we awoke in the morning our refrigerator was warm. Kit voted to turn around and go home but that wasn't possible because of tides, so we decided the next best thing would be to head to my mom's in Sweet Home where we could use her refrigerator. We took a very scenic route through north western Oregon and stopped at Fort Clatsop. FYI it is no longer a National Memorial but part of the new Lewis and Clark National Park. Also it is still being rebuilt after a catastrophic fire last fall.
Our plan was to get the refrigerator fixed (hopefully) at the RV repair place near moms. But they couldn't fit us in until Wednesday. Meanwhile we needed to find electricity to see if maybe it would work off electric so we checked into a brand new county park just 7 miles up the river. Beautiful spot by the way and we were the only campers the first night.
So we dropped the trailer on Wednesday after discussing (we thought) all the options including getting a new refrig. -- AND then headed over the mountains to see Kit's sister Milli near Redmond. We had a great visit with them. I was the croquet winner but Len is still the pool champ. Meanwhile we had a call from the Sweet Home RV place that our cooling unit was bad but they didn't have time to put in a new one. (Like they couldn't have told us this before).
SO now we are on like plan D. We go back to mom's for more visiting and shopping and make an appointment with Camping World near Portland to install a new refrigerator. We luck out and get a spot Friday night in a nearby campground with a pool and hot tub. We also spend lots of money at a new mall near Lake Oswego. Luckily all goes well at Camping World and we are on our way home by noon.
There is more to the saga but suffice it to say that we arrived home--the refrigerator is working--and there is a ton of work to do here so I shouldn't be sitting at the computer.

Benson Beach from Lighthouse. 

Lighthouse from Benson Beach 

Like Lewis and Clark we have at last reached the Pacific Ocean and a place to rest. We decide to stay here two days. There are no hookup sites available but we end up in a spot just a few steps from Benson beach. (for those who don’t know—Benson is my maiden name). It’s a long walk to the museum so we get in a hike, a walk on the beach AND a visit to a premier L&C exhibit. The next day we hike up to the lighthouse. Hiking up the trail we see 1 small mouse, 2 garter snakes, 3 banana slugs, hundreds of small brown frogs, and millions of mosquitoes. The mosquitoes are “numerous and vexom” but we get some bug spray and survive the onslaught. We had no disappointment in Cape Disappointment—almost.

The campground at Kalaloch Beach had been highly recommended by friends and Sunset Magazine. It was pouring buckets when we arrived and set out on foot to explore the campground. Kit was keen to stay here and go for dinner at the lodge nearby—but this is the most RV unfriendly campground we have ever found. All of the spots are “backwards” according the one way roads they’ve established. You would have to drive in and back out.
Down the road we stopped at South Beach Campground which had great views and ocean access and plenty of room for RV’s. Basically it is a giant gravel parking lot and not the place we really wanted to hang out in the rain.
So we thought we might check out the campgrounds at Lake Quinalt. The lodge looked tempting but the campground was very damp with tiny spots for soggy tenters.
So… we kept on driving. It was a long day. There were two state parks on the coast south of Grays Harbor. The first was Twin Harbors and it didn’t look too appealing. Down the road was Grayland State Park which was actually designed for RV’s—with long back-in sites and hookups. And beach access for those inclined to face the weather. Finally we found a spot to settle.

Camping on the Hoh River 

Cape Flattery--the Northwestern most point of the lower 48--on a rare sunny day. 

Beach at Saltwater Creek Co. Park (low tide) 

Finally—we have made it to Olympic National Park. We turned up to the river to the Hoh rainforest and found a lovely camp site in the campground there—no hookups, but the river is just outside our door. It wasn’t raining at that time so we did one of the loop trails and I took lots of photos of the bottoms of some amazing trees, and moss drooping from maples.

Less than 9 months after we were at the most north-eastern point of the US, we are standing at Cape Flattery, the north- western most spot in the lower 48. We have lucked out—the weather is beautiful; a rare sunny day in this usually wet foggy spot. We were told this was a “must see”, but not that we would have to pay a $10 “yearly recreational fee” to the Makah Indians. We also stopped at the museum in Neah Bay where the artifacts from the archaeological dig are on display. I’ve been wanting to go there for MANY years.
We left the island on the first Memorial Day ferry (7am). We thought we would have to wait at Keystone for the ferry to Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula. We knew that several of the midday ferries were cancelled because of low tides. But we got right onto the 8:40 ferry and were at least a half day “ahead of schedule”. Found a great campsite at Salt Creek Campground (county) and spent the evening with our friends Gary and Jane who live near. Then we lucked out with another fine campsite with an amazing view in Seiku on the route out to Cape Flattery.