A Visit To The End Of The Journey For Lewis & Clark - Plus Our Motorhome Got New Shoes

Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon (54 degrees, chilly)

"Ocian in View!  O! the joy."

Captain William Clark, 1805

These are the words written in the journal by Captain Clark after traveling over 4000 miles across the continent with Captain Lewis and their party. This is what they saw.

We traveled from our campground over the beautiful Astoria Bridge to Cape Disappointment State Park located near Ilwaco Washington to see this rugged place. This was where Lewis and Clark finally saw the Pacific Ocean. They hacked through this dense area to  see their first glimpse. 

We spent most of the morning going through the museum located here and taking a hike out to the lighthouse. This is a must stop for anyone interested in these explorers.  The museum is top notch and as you descend down the ramp you read about their journey from beginning to end. The displays are excellent and we really had a new appreciation for all that they had accomplished.

Lewis and Clark found this area very inhospitable and spent ten miserable days here. They later journeyed across the Columbia River to Oregon and traveled down what is now the Lewis and Clark River to build a fort for the winter. (Fort Clatsop -more about this later)

A lighthouse can be accessed by taking pretty hike through this lush area. This coast line is extremely dangerous and there have been many shipwrecks here.  The Columbia River exits into the Pacific Ocean and dumps lots of silt which make the passage through this area very tricky.  All ships need an escort. We saw earlier at the Maritime museum exactly how these river pilots board the ships. Let's just say that is a very risky business.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Trail out to lighhouse

Where the Columbia and Pacific Ocean meet

Afterwards we stopped at a Cranberry Research Foundation to learn everything about cranberries. It was very interesting and I'd love to return and see how they are harvested in the fall. 

Cranberry test plots

Lewis and Clark River

The next day we went to see where Lewis and Clark spent the winter at Fort Clatsop. It's a National Park and they have recreated what the fort looked like. It was much smaller than I imagined to have house so many people. There are some nice trails here too. From here the expedition turned back and returned to St. Louis in the spring. 

Fort Clatsop

We enjoyed our time in this area very much and it's a very beautiful area. Our next stop was Vancouver Washington for a few days and we stayed at the Elks Lodge. Most of our time was spent shopping and getting ready for Alaska.  

Bear's new shoe

One important task was replacing our tires on the motorhome. We have learned through tire safety classes to replace them every five years, regardless of wear or mileage. FMCA (Family Motorcoach Association) has a great program for their members with Michelin Tire. We used this program before in Delaware. The cost of the tire is the same no matter what state you buy them in. However,  one way you can save a little more is paying attention to sales taxes. For example, you might want to avoid California.  Oregon and Delaware do not have any sales tax.  Tires also have birth dates.  Who knew?  There is a code on each tire which will tell you when it was manufactured. We tried to get the newest ones available because the five year clock starts ticking by the manufacture date, not the date you put them on your motorhome. 

FMCA has a link on how to set up your account and find a dealer. We chose Elite Onsite in Portland. I can't necessarily recommend them because they seemed disorganized and we had quite a hassle getting tires with good "birth dates". But eventually it all worked out. We saved $77/tire by going through this program. It's still a big expense ($3058 for the six tires) but we found the price to be almost identical to five years ago. 

Thanks for stopping by. Our next post will be about a visit to the rain forest in Washington State, coastal beach hikes, two National Parks, and even a vampire.  Check back soon. 

Wandering The Oregon Coast

(Brookings, Waldport and Hammond Oregon) rain more than sunshine but who cares its by the ocean

"When I get to know a new place

my world gets bigger. I see beauty that makes 

my heart sing."

Sage Clegg (first to hike the Oregon Desert Trail)

Haystack on Cannon Beach

Mo and Sue

Oregon definitely makes my heart sing. I love the beaches even on a rainy day. I might even like them more along the coast because the sea becomes so alive. We met up with our friends Sue and Mo at Harris Beach State Park. It's a couple hours from their home and when Sue noticed on Facebook we were coming up the coast she contacted us and came to see us. Sue writes a great blog and we met for the first time at Ding Darling NWR in Sanibel several years ago. Sue reminded me we have now met up on both coasts. It rained most of our visit but it didn't dampen our mood. We laughed, played games, ate some great seafood, and just enjoyed catching up. Thank you so much for coming to see us.

Harris Beach State Park

Harris Beach State Park is a gem of a campground with full hook ups, lush landscaped sites and a short hike to one of the prettiest beaches.

Harris Beach

From here we drove to Beachside State Recreation Park in Waldport further up the coast. This small campground overlooks a large beach, but not as pretty as Harris in my opinion. There is something about the rocks coming out of the sea which adds such a dramatic effect.  However, this beach was great for walking and Jimmy liked it here too.

Beachside

We were reunited with our friends Barry and Jann who we will be traveling with for five months. It's the beginning of our great adventure to Western Canada and Alaska.  We enjoy their company very much and we have often met up over the past few years. You might remember our amazing trip to Newfoundland two years ago.

Our first stop was the Newport Aquarium. We had great time here and the Puffin exhibit brought back many memories of a different type we had seen in Newfoundland. Be sure to stop if you are in the area.

Tufted Puffins

I love to watch jelly fish

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

Next stop was Yaquina Head Lighthouse. There is a very impressive visitor center and its also where you sign up for a tour of the lighthouse. The volunteer also recommended going down to the beach and listening to the sound the waves made going over the polished rocks. She said you won't forget it and she was so right. We also tried going out into the tide pools and found some cute creatures hanging out. 

Fresnel lens in Lighthouse

Our excellent guide at the lighthous

Seals snoozing

We talked to several volunteers here and checked out the great sites which are offered in exchange. This site is operated by the Bureau of Land Management. Who knows, maybe we will sign up to volunteer sometime in the future.

On another day we took a pretty drive along the rugged Oregon Coast. One of the stops was Cape Foulweather. Our weather was not too bad but you can experience winds up to 100 mph. The coastline in this area is very dramatic.

John, Barry, Jann, and me

We then drove our motorhomes to Fort Stevens State Park in Hammond for five days. This is a huge state park (over 500 camp sites) located on what was once a military base originally established during the Civil War to protect the harbor. It has a very interesting history. We took a bunker underground tour and we all decided this would not be a place we would have liked to have been in the military.  It was cold, damp and dark.

(We found out about a great benefit for disabled veterans in Oregon. They offer to any disabled veteran from any state 10 nights of camping free every 30 days. You have to sign up on line and submit some paper work which was very simple to provide. They send you a special card to use to make your reservations. Reserve America covers most of these parks on line and deducts the cost automatically once you enter your card number. They only charge you a $8 reservation fee. It's a great benefit!  Click on this link for all the details.)

A  huge cannon was once installed here

The Columbia River and Pacific Ocean meet at the top of this state park. There is a very pretty beach walk here.

What remain of a ship from long ago

Sue had suggested we check out the Astoria Column. What a great suggestion and probably not a place we would have found. There are over 300 steps which lead up to the top. We picked a good day to go up and were treated to a panoramic view of the river, ocean and charming city of Astoria. The outside of the column is painted with a special technique and was recently renovated. It is really beautiful and was originally built in the 1920's. 

Astoria Column

View from the top

Columbia River and Astoria

We also enjoyed some great road trips of the coastal towns in this area. One of our favorite stops was Depot Bay for lunch at Sea Hags (best clam chowder ever) and Cannon Beach where we walked out to a huge haystack.

Haystack at Cannon Beach

The town of Astoria was very convenient to our campground. There are some beautiful Victorian homes on a hill overlooking the harbor. We spent one afternoon checking out the Columbia River Maritime Museum full of stories of the sea and rescues by the brave Coast Guard.

Columbia River Maritime Museum

Our next post will be about a very interesting visit to two Lewis and Clark museums and further wandering into Washington. We also bought new tires for the motorhome. Check back soon for all the details.