November 16-November 29 (Whaler's Rest TTN, South Beach OR)

N 44˚33.046' W124˚04.260'

Thanksgiving Week: We explored some new areas this week. The Yaquina Head lighthouse in Newport (http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=133)was a worthwhile adventure. After enjoying the interpretive center, we continued to the lighthouse which was open to the public. We were able to climb the 104 stairs on a spiral staircase to the top. Lucky us! We returned on Wednesday in order to walk down the path from the cliff to the tide pools and to another area where seals were basking on rocks.


Today is Thanksgiving and we had dinner with the other 80 or so people enjoying the park this week. Everything was delicious and the company most enjoyable. We leave on Sunday to travel a bit north to Pacific City Thousand Trails for a few days.



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November 21, 2008 - We took an afternoon walk along the bay street in Newport and checked out a few of the shops. There is a constant sound of sea lions barking, so I took pictures and videos of them interacting with one another. They seemed to spend their time either sleeping or complaining.




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November 16, 2008 - It was a perfect day to travel the coast along Oregon Hwy 101 from Seaside, OR to South Beach, OR. http://www.southbeachoregon.com/gon.com/ Quite a view of the beaches all along the way, a really beautiful drive when the weather is as nice as we had today. Got set up quickly at Whaler's Rest http://1000trails.com/getaways/oregon/whalersrest.asp which is just 150 yards from the Pacific. We can hear the ocean from our campsite. Access to the beach is via a walking trail, so this should be an especially enjoyable 2 weeks.

November 2 - November 15 (Seaside Thousand Trails, Seaside, OR)


N46°00.236' W123°54.224' http://www.1000trails.com/getaways/oregon/seaside.asp

November 10, 2008: The rain cleared again today so we made a jaunt from Seaside to Cannon Beach. Had clam chowder at Mo's. The restaurant sits right on the beach with a clear view of Haystack, the rock formation. We did our part for the environment by metal-detecing and removing nails, bottle caps, pull tabs, etc. As one spectator adolescent girl marveled, "I bet they are OLD nails." Kind of sweet that she was trying to be supportive of a very pathetic pile of trash. I've decided to tell people I am adding to my beer bottle top collection.


November 7, 2008 The weather in the past 5 days has been rainy with fairly high winds. Today was calm so we spent the afternoon in Astoria at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. (http://www.crmm.org/) We came away with an even greater appreciation of the Columbia River and the U.S. Coast Guard.


November 2, 2008 Arrived at the Seaside Thousand Trails park amid intermittent showers. It was an easy drive from Washougal and we were set up by noon today. We plan on a lot of outings while we are here. Seaside is on the Pacific coast and is the official end of the Lewis and Clark trail. Seaside's beach is about 250 ft. wide and is said to be the most heavily used of those along the Oregon coast. We will be here for two weeks so there should be ample opportunity for exploring the beach and historic sites close by.

October 26-November 1 (Gary's & Samm's House - Washougal, WA)

(N45°37.371 W122°15.002)
We are enjoying good weather in a beautiful setting here at the Moller place in rural Clark County near Washougal, WA. We've used the time to visit, play games, and emulate the moles currently inhabiting the field, as we randomly dig in search of treasure. This is the general area of D.B. Cooper bail-out, so anything is possible, just not too probable. So far, our metal detectors have pointed us to 11 cents, nails, most of a toy gun, a hose nozzle, crushed cans etc. This is a good place to practice excavation since we have a bit of an in with the owner, and the moles have already done far more damage than we can ever possibly do. It truly is beautiful here, no matter what the weather is. Sunny, foggy, rainy....it is always a beautiful view out the window.

October 24-25 Thunderbird Thousand Trails near Monroe, WA

(N47°50.617 W12155.473)
http://www.thousandtrails.com/getaways/washington/thunderbird.asp
In years past, we have left the area much earlier, so we were surprised and pleased at how beautiful the fall colors were along I-5 as we made our way on this first leg of the winter journey. It was a beautiful day for the trip which was a short one as we traveled only as far as Monroe, settling in around noon at the Thunderbird Thousand Trails Park. The reason for the stop here was to be on hand for a gynmastics meet on Saturday in Issaquah. It turned into a nice family event as Gary was also on hand, having traveled from Washougal to spend Friday and Saturday nights with us at the trailer. We enjoyed Jaimee's events and visiting with Erika, Deak and the kids. After the meet, Gary, Ray and I took granddaughter Jordan back to WSU and then made the trip to Marysville to donate a bit of money to the Tulalip casino. All in all, a very enjoyable family weekend which ended with us continuing to the 2nd stop of the winter to stay on Gary's and Samm's property in rural Washougal.

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October 24, 2008 - Leaving Latitude 49

(N48° 55.996 W122°44.485)
http://latitude49resortpark.com
We are leaving our summer home here in Birch Bay, Wa. in a few hours to begin winter travel. It is beautiful here this time of year, but it is colder than RVers like. It will be some time before we reach a suitably warm climate, but we anticipate enjoying some good sites and visits with family and friends along the way. We've hugged, kissed and toasted our friends still in the park. We will miss them and the friends who earlier started their travels. I hope we all have good stories to tell when we reassemble in the Spring and Summer. Safe travels and good health to us all!

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May 15 - October 23 (Latitude 49 Resort Park, Blaine, WA)

May 15
Arrived at our lot about 10:30 today. Temperature in the mid-60s and sunny. Nice change!

May 11-May 14 (Grandy Creek TTN - Near Concrete WA)