2016 - Charleston's Trailer Tripping: Day 4

The next six days we will be making stops at Gold Beach, Seaside, and Florence and exploring the areas around each town.

Gold Beach (8/11 – 8/12)

Named for the gold nuggets that were found on the beach by pioneer miners in 1855. Flooding in 1861 swept all the gold out to sea. Gold Beach was no more. But the town continued. Now it attracts visitors who enjoy jet boat and white water trips up and down the Rogue River. A lot of salmon fishing is enjoyed in the area. We will be staying nights in this small town alongside the Rogue River.

We are staying at Four Seasons RV Resort. Resort it is not. The park overlooks the Rouge River which is pleasant, but we were given a site with a view of the brown wall of a permanent mobile home. We asked for another site and he (owner) refused. We tried to pull the trailer forward for at least a partial view of the river, but that would mean we would have to park our car at an angel and he insisted that we could not park on the grass (he was trying to nurture the grass). However, we noticed that several cars at the other sites were parked on the grass. Oh well, it only for two nights. This is the risk you have to take when trailer traveling. Some RV parks are very nice and comfortable, others or bad and unfriendly.

There is not much to the town, but we found an excellent place for a delicious dinner; Spinners. If you are ever in Gold Beach, Oregon, try this place out.

We drove 26+ miles inland to a very small town called Agness to visit the ‘must see' “Old Agness Store”. Every thing there is Oregon made and the baked goods are made there on site. We had a delicious lunch and bought some bread and cheese.

The bathroom facilities at Old Agness Store

We returned to Hwy101 and continued driving north along the coast to Port Orford to take in the ocean views. The day started out foggy, then the sun came out and it got pretty hot. On the return drive in the late afternoon, the fog was starting to roll in again and it made some pretty pictures.

Now off to Florence for our next location.

Florence (8/13 – 8/14)

We are spending two nights in Florence. Florence is where the sand dunes are. Between Florence and the ocean is an extensive area of sand dunes, some reaching the height of 300 feet. We stayed at Woahink Lake RV Resort, right next to a huge area of sand dunes. You could hear the dune buggies all day. There is a path to the dunes from the RV part and we tried walking out on it. It’s like walking on snow, we kept sinking into the sand. We didn’t walk too far. Woahink Lake is across the street from the RV park, thus the name. This is a nice place to stay, despite the dune buggy noise (it’s very quiet at night). The sites are spacious and very private with tall hedges on both sides.

It was bright and sunny the next day so we drove up the coast a bit to Cape Perpetua. We made a stop at a place called Darlingtonia State Natural Site. This is the only state park in Oregon dedicated to the preservation of a single plant species, the rare Darlingtonia Californica, a carnivorous plant, also called the cobra lily. It traps insects and digests them to supplement the low nitrogen soil of the bogs in which it grows. Very interesting.

We continued north along 101 through a fog bank where the temps dropped quite a bit. We stopped at a view point to see Heceta Head Lighthouse; too much fog. When we got to Cape Perpetua we viewed the cape from the visitor center, when the fog cleared. There is a nice walking path to the cape, but it was just too cold. On the way back we stopped again at the view point to Heceta Head Lighthouse. This time the fog cleared enough to get pictures.

The rest of the day we walked around Old Town Florence window shopping and having a late lunch. They had some nice art galleries in Old Town. Also on display all over town is an April 2016 art project called “Dancing with the Seals”. We found quite a few in Old Town.

"Dancing with Sea Lions - "Wish You Were Here"

Dancing with Sea Lions - "Diver's Story"

Dancing with Sea Lions - "Umi No Nami"

All the Florence cities in the US and Canada

Enjoyed a nice lunch at this restaurant

Our next stop in Oregon is Seaside, near Astoria. See you there!

Seaside (8/15 – 8/16)

We are staying in Seaside for the next two nights. Seaside is Oregon’s oldest ocean resort community. Seaside has attracted vacationers since its first guest house was completed in the 1850’s. The highlight is the Promenade. This is a 1.8 mile path that parallels the Pacific Ocean. It used to be a wooden boardwalk, but it was replaced in 1920 by a cement structure.

We woke up to a light drizzle and wet lawns all around us and my hair immediately went into frizz mode. Damn, nothing I can do about it, except ignore it. I don’t have to look at it. By the time we got started on our day the rain clouds wandered off, but then the fog came in. Does the Oregon coast ever see the sun!!@$#??

We found a parking spot near the Promenade started our exploring at the Seaside Aquarium which is right on the Promenade at mid-point. The aquarium is very small (one room and a long pool on the side with harbor seals in it. But I think I got some good pictures with my new camera which takes great indoor pictures.

Buffalo Sculpin

You can buy food to feed the Harbor Seals. The seal in the back flaps his fins on the water when he wants more food.

This is a sad story. Victor was stolen from this aquarium. An employee chased after the thief and was able to catch him, but not before the idiot dropped poor Victor in the parking lot. He seemed okay but the staff found him dead a few days later.

After the aquarium we walked part way down the Promenade and down a side street to find someplace to eat and check out the shops. Found a place that sells barrel candy…love picking out a bag full of my favorite sweets.

Lewis & Clark ended their trekking in Seaside.

We liked the labels and were interested in checking out this winery. But it was closed. There is another branch in Sandy, Oregon - near Portland. So we may get another chance on our return trip when we stop at Portland.

We visited the Carousel Mall and checked the carousel that was specially build for Seaside in 1985. The animals are reproductions of those made by a variety of famous classic carvers.

A lot of the reproductions are patterned after those found in the San Francisco Carousel Museum. I recognize the cat from the carousel at the San Francisco Zoo.

After lunch we walked it off by walking the other half of the Promenade. We passed some nice seaside homes. I think most of them were rentals for people who want to spend their summers by the sea.