A Year About

Imagine packing all of the wonder, joy and anticipation of Christmas morning into one child’s voice and you will begin to hear what we did this morning: “It snowed! It snowed! Mommy! Daddy! Look!”

Sure enough, there is snow on the ground this morning. About an inch of wet snow has accumulated on the truck and the ground. The trees are dripping as the sun warms things up. The snow won’t stay and the roads are only wet, but it is certainly beautiful to look at. This is the first real snow we have encountered on the trip besides the snow we went looking for in Tucson.



As excited as Elise was to see the snow, she wasn’t motivated to come out into it. She did venture out briefly as I was taking pictures, but then headed back in to keep Bobby company. I stayed out until my fingers got cold and now we’re all inside drinking our warm drinks.

The furnace ran a lot last night (even set at 54 degrees) so our battery is already down to one half. There is one more walk Bobby wants to take this morning and then we’ll head to the north side of the park, near Joyce, WA. From there we will visit Hurricane Ridge (to catch a glimpse of Mount Olympus and its glacier), Lake Crescent and the Sol Duc hot springs. We will venture to Victoria from there, too, our only planned international destination this year.

What did the people of the Pacific Northwest do wrong? I don’t know, but it must have been pretty awful. God is displeased with them and is withholding Spring.

Our morning cleared and the reports we heard said snow could be found at 1,000 ft., maybe some down to 500 ft. We decided to forge on since we were staying close to the coast, following 101. We had planned to leave at 10:00, but lingered until 10:45. The drive out of Oregon was pleasant, cold and a little wet, but no rain or sleet.

I was worried about the Astoria Bridge since the ramp up to it is steep and winding, and winds can be strong out over the middle of the Columbia River. As we were coming down the highest part of the span, we looked down to our right and saw a bald eagle flying parallel to the bridge. We watched him as we got closer and right at the moment we were directly beside each other, he rose up wings spread and flew above us. It was an incredible sight and, to me, an auspicious beginning to the day.

The drive through Washington was fine. We listened to Prince Caspian read by Lynn Redgrave. A good book can be spoiled by a bad narrator. She is a very, very good narrator. It sleeted a little and rained a little and the sun came out. A little. We have come to expect this cycle. Our main concern was freezing on the roads, but the air temperature only dipped to 33 degrees a couple times, remaining mostly around 40. In fact the hardest challenge of our day wasn’t the weather or the driving conditions. It was parking and picking up a few essentials at the Wal-Mart in Aberdeen on a Sunday afternoon. Crazy!

Having escaped the world’s largest retailer unscathed — another auspicious sign — we continued our quiet drive through young pine forests and denuded hillsides. We realized we were driving through Weyerhauser country, but coming upon a stretch of logged hillsides after driving through walls of deep green is a visual shock.

We didn’t see the ocean again until we reached the southwestern edge of Olympic National Park. It was foamy as a Starbucks latte, and gray as 7-Eleven coffee. When we turned off 101 to drive up the valley along the Hoh River, it started sleeting again. A lot. The road into the park is good, but winding (still nothing compared to Rt. 1 in Northern CA). Once you add sleet and cold to winding, you have a bad mix, like adding creamed corn to Ghirardelli brownies. We went very slowly.

We had a few second thoughts, but knew the worst of the weather was passing and if we had to stay an extra night here before we could get out we could. The Hoh Rain Forest feels like it’s miles from anything civilized. This is because it is. When we arrived at 4:15 the visitors’ center was closed, so we headed over to the campground. There are two or three other folks camping here — in tents, God bless them. There aren’t any hookups, which is normal for national parks. So we’ll be running on batteries and using our freshwater tank for a one or two nights. No biggie.



Our campground directory indicates the maximum length for the campsites is 21 ft. We are about 53 ft. from the front of the truck to the back of the Airstream. The Luhrs brought their very similar combination here in the fall, so I felt sure we’d fit somewhere. As it turns out, there are several pullouts (little curves off of the campground loop) that can easily fit us. We picked one close to the river that has the potential of receiving any sunlight that may appear. This is folly, of course, since God has also withheld the sun from the wicked people of this land.



To stretch our legs and help Elise burn off some energy, we decided to take a short walk on a trail called the Hall of Mosses. We bundled up and started off as the rain came down. By the time we arrived at the trailhead, the rain had turned completely to snow. After ten minutes the snow was falling in huge, heavy clusters the size of quarters. Most of it melted, but gradually it began to stick to the mossy bases of the trees. We stopped often to look up and see it falling as if in slow motion through the towering Douglas firs, western hemlocks, and Sitka spruce. Elise told us to hush and listen. We heard not a thing.

On our way back to the trailer the snow turned back to rain. I didn’t bring the camera for the snow, but took a picture of it clinging to the trees of the foothills all around us. We aren’t far from Mount Olympus which stands at 7,980 ft. We ate soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and drank tea (me) and hot chocolate (the girls). Tomorrow we will take another little hike and decide whether to stay a second night or move on to the north side of the park.

After a quiet night, we were woken up this morning to the sound of more sleet/hail on the trailer. Elise popped out to collect some in a cup and I ventured out for a few pictures. How many times will we get to see the truck and trailer in such conditions? Hopefully very few!

We’re warming up inside the trailer now. Elise is playing with her new Playmobile set and Bobby is making his morning coffee. We’re trying to listen to the news to see what the day may bring, weather-wise. Hopefully, this is passing and we can get on the road.

The Goonies house.

A visit to Astoria rounded out our last day here in Oregon. We will be back in The Sleety State (not the official motto, but one worth considering) in a week or so, and we have submitted our order for less precipitation. We’ll see if They’ll comply.

The first order of business in Astoria, of course, was to see the Goonies house. It is privately owned and we weren’t allowed up the street, but at least Bobby can tell all his friends he saw it.

We only had a little bit of time in town since we got another late start to the day and we had to be at St. Mary’s for confessions between 3:00 and 4:00. We stuck to the main street in town and we were not disappointed. We found a wonderful toy store called the Purple Cow, filled with lots of unusual and interesting games, toys, and puzzles. Luckily for me, we were able to pick up a new puzzle — this one of the castle, Neuschwanstein. It’s the one Disney modeled the Cinderella castle after. Should keep us busy for a while.

We had seen a used book store on our way in, so that was our next stop. We didn’t end up with any books, but Bobby and I had one of our most enjoyable meals here. For $5.50 we got a large and very delicious bowl of peanut soup with curry (I even got the recipe), a great salad and chips with a very fresh and yummy salsa (complete with fresh ginger). Everyone got a warm drink and Elise complemented her hot chocolate with piece of biscotti.





Our last stop was the Astoria Column, a 125-foot monument to the history of Astoria. The outside is done in bas-relief documenting 12 important events in the history of the town. It is at the highest point in town and from here we could see the snow-covered mountains to the east as well as the town and Columbia River below us. There are steps inside to climb to the top, but the column is currently closed for maintenance.


A view of the Columbia River with Washington state on the other side of the bridge.



Tomorrow we head even farther north to Washington. We are heading to Olympic National Park and the Hoh Rainforest there. I don’t know what kind of wi-fi we’ll have up there, so we’ll post when we can.

Everything was fine today until the sleet started on the beach. But more on that later.

The plan was to explore Fort Stevens today, by bike if possible. This park has very extensive and nicely paved bike paths and we were hoping to ride out to the south jetty and the shipwreck on the beach. When I drove up to the ranger station, however, needing to ask a few questions, I was met with some really cold rain. The weather out here is looking a little dicey over the next day or so. Snow in elevations higher than 1,000 feet and cold rain/sleet lower down. This might make our trip on Sunday not possible, but back to today.

We decided that biking was not the way to go today, so we hopped in the truck and drove to the fort. Fort Stevens was an active military fort from the time of the Civil War until after World War II. The museum was small, but I learned some things about WW II I never knew. Fort Stevens is the only U.S. military installation on the mainland to receive enemy fire during the war. A Japanese submarine fired several rounds in June of 1942 at the fort. Luckily, their aim was off, no damage was done, and no one was hurt. But it sure got the people around here riled up!

The Japanese also used balloon bombs during the last part of the war. Think hot air balloons filled with explosives. They landed all over the place — from Canada to Mexico. The U.S. government knew about the balloons and wanted to be sure the American public did not. They made sure that all news outlets knew they were not to report on any sightings of these balloons. I don’t think that any blew up on their own. Since the war, though, a story has come out about six people who were killed by one of these balloons. Apparently, a reverend and his wife along with some children from a Sunday school class had gone on a picnic in Bly, Oregon. While the reverend was unpacking the car, the wife and kids went exploring. The reverend heard his wife say, “Look at this dear,” and then there was a huge explosion. Authorities think someone kicked one of the bombs and that made it go off. They are thought to be the only people killed by the enemy on American soil during World War II.


South Jetty

After we left Fort Stevens, we drove over to the South Jetty. There is an observation platform here at the mouth of the Columbia River where you can stand to watch the ships come in. The jetty here is seven miles long and the observation deck is right on the jetty. I didn’t realize we were going to be so close to the water! There were no big ships coming in and the wind was howling, so we didn’t stay long.


Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Next stop: Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, WA. As the crow flies, Cape Disappointment is only about ten miles away from Fort Stevens. It is across the mouth of the Columbia and you can see the lighthouse from the Oregon side. Getting there, though, took an hour. We had to drive into Astoria to take the bridge across the river and then drive back up the coast to the cape. Side note: Washington is the 26th state we have driven into on this trip.


Walking in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark…figuratively speaking

Washington State Parks has created a wonderful interpretive center about Lewis and Clark and this is where we headed. We spent over an hour and a half reading and checking out the displays. It is very kid friendly, too. There were lots of “Try This” stations with hands-on activities — like “packing” a model canoe with wooden blocks to see how many you could get in before it capsized — to show how the Corps of Discovery had to pack their canoes daily with all their stuff. Elise had a great time.


Elise’s contribution to a journal at one of the “Try This” stations

From the interpretive center, it was a 3/4 mile walk to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. It is a working lighthouse, fully automated. Every lighthouse has its own signal pattern so that it can be distinguished from others. This one is a red light flash, 15 seconds off, white light flash, 15 seconds off, repeat. The view from here was incredible. The sky has been very busy today so we could see blue sky in places, rain in others, and big puffy racing clouds everywhere.





Driving back, we found some of that rain but it didn’t last too long. Our last stop of the day was to visit the Peter Iredale, the shipwreck I told you about a few days ago. This ship ran aground here over 100 years ago and happily no lives were lost. The ship was left where it foundered and you can walk right up to it — and in it. As we approached the beach, it started to sleet — or hail — hard to tell which it was. All I know is that it hurt! It was done after a few minutes and we quickly checked out the wreck. Within minutes of the sleet, there was bright blue sky above us. Quirky sky here.




Sleet and/or hail



During dinner tonight, we heard more sleet on the trailer and now it is raining and windy. We’re planning to spend Saturday in Astoria, probably inside somewhere! I’m on the lookout for a new puzzle and there is a maritime museum there we hear is good. Between my quest and the museum we ought to be able to stay out of trouble and the cold!


Elise stood here like this for about two minutes. We wondered what she was thinking about.

In a dugout canoe near the Canoe Landing at Fort Clatsop.

In the northwest corner of Oregon there are several sites that are significant to the history of the United States. The first is the culmination of the expedition led by Lewis and Clark to explore the western territories all the way to the Pacific. The second is the filming of the movie Goonies. The first is an epic story of adventure and resourcefulness, of hard work and the promise of a great nation. The second is a Steven Spielberg inspired adventure of a distinctly 1980s vintage, and unless you saw it as a kid and have a certain nostalgia for it, you will find it pretty cheesy. I get these two great events mixed up a lot.



Fort Clatsop, named for the native tribes who lived here when Lewis and Clark arrived, was our first stop today. The fort itself is only a reproduction. The original was left to the native peoples when the expedition returned East, and eventually disintegrated in the cool, wet forest. The information on the expedition, called the Corps of Discovery, was abundant. I did not have a good working knowledge of Lewis and Clark and their adventures. Now I do, and so does Elise. She earned her twenty-first junior ranger badge.


The ranger here was great. Elise really enjoyed doing this one.

I knew that the expedition followed the Missouri River to its origins and then crossed the Rockies and then came down the Snake and Columbia Rivers to the sea. What I never realized is just how far north this journey took them — through much of North Dakota and Montana. Take a look at a map and then the average temperatures in those places during the winter. Forbidding.


Lewis and Clark’s quarters inside Fort Clatsop.

All of the salt for preserving food and making it palatable was used up on the journey to the mouth of the Columbia. So three men were assigned to build a camp near the ocean and boil seawater to make salt. This they did, making several quarts of salt after a month and a half of working. For those of you reading this from a cubicle, watching water boil has got to be more boring that whatever you’re doing (or should be doing). Plus, you are out of the weather. So take comfort in that.


The other half of Lewis and Clark’s room.

We drove down to Seaside and walked through a pretty residential section — all weathered cedar shingles and white porches — to the little replica of the furnace used by these men and placed on the spot of their camp.


The Salt Works.

During their stay at Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark learned from the indians that a whale had washed up some distance to the south. They were excited to see it and went off. It took a few weeks to reach the beach and by that time the carcass was picked clean, only the bones remained. Clark measured the skeleton: 105 feet. Probably a blue whale. They traded for 300 pounds of blubber from the indians and that’s about all of the story. This took place at Cannon Beach, a town south of rugged Tillamook Head with a wide, flat beach.



Cannon Beach is also the location of Haystack Rock, which is a prominent Oregon landmark that is featured in the movie Goonies. Also, I think the truck race on the beach was filmed there too. Haystack Rock turns out to be an incredible place for birdwatching and tidepooling. At low tide you can walk right out to it and we did. There we saw huge mussel beds where the rocks dripped with mussels, which in turn, dripped with barnacles. There were many ochre sea stars, and hideous clongomerations of anemones. The cold Pacific wind finally drove us back to the truck and back home for a warm dinner and several games of rummy.


He’s runnin’ for it. Just very slowly.

Two posts below.



We have found Oregon to be a very friendly state. The campers we have met have all been very affable, the rangers are polite and helpful and strangers at the store are more than happy to stop and chat with you.

On our drive today from Beverly Beach to Fort Stevens we saw two signs in particular that showed what helpful people Oregonians can be. One was on an Adopt-a-Highway sign. The particular stretch of road we were on was being sponsored by “Rent-A-Hubby”. A few towns before we saw this sign, there was a company advertising all kinds of services on a billboard, but the one that caught my eye was the “Rent-A-Wife” cleaning service. Like I said, friendly.

We left our campground a little early this morning to make time for a stop at Tillamook Cheese. I have started buying this cheese at Safeway lately because the other blocks of cheddar I had been buying were not up to Elise and Bobby’s standards. They like Tillamook. Lucky for us, we discovered that their factory was on our way up the coast, so we decided to have a look.



The first thing we saw when we drove up was a huge tanker like this one, delivering its milk. Tillamook uses milk from 150 local dairy farms and milk is received 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The milk is tested at the farm before the tanker loads up and then again at the factory before it is taken out of the truck. From there it goes into holding tanks until it is needed.

Did you know it takes 5 quarts of whole milk to make one pound of cheddar cheese and 10 quarts of whole milk to make one pound of butter? When Elise heard these facts she was sure Tillamook must get milk from all the cows in the country to keep up with demand!

The other fun fact Elise and I learned was that cows have no front teeth. That makes pulling up grass difficult, as you can imagine. So they wrap their tongues around a batch of grass and yank it out. Industrious creatures, aren’t they?

The tour was self-guided, which Elise wasn’t thrilled about in the beginning, but after we got started she loved it. She said it was even better than the Jelly Belly tour because you got to see everything in action. After the cheese is made, it is refrigerated in 40 pound blocks to cure. Medium cheddar only needs a few weeks to cure. Extra sharp cheddar takes 15 months. We saw the blocks being cut into different sizes (two pound blocks, one pound blocks and eight ounce slabs) and packaged. All of this was automated, of course, with workers dressed all in white monitoring the machines.

Every now and then a block of cheese would be deflected from the central line on the conveyor belt to a worker on the side who would measure the cheese and either cut off a chunk if the piece weighed more than it should or add a thin slab to the top of the chunk to bring it up to the proper weight. Our question was this: If they have added a slab to the top to bring it up to the right weight, how come we never see the line from the slab in the cheese we buy? Every chunk of cheese I have ever bought looked like it was all one piece, but that is apparently not the case. Hmmm…

The state park where we are staying is one of the largest public campgrounds in the country — over 375 sites, all with electric and water. It reminds us of Disney in its vastness. The park is at the mouth of the Columbia River and we’re looking forward to exploring over the next few days. There is an abandoned military fort along with a viewing platform for watching the big ships come in. A shipwreck is visible on the beach here, too, from over 100 years ago. A sandbar got it.

We will also be exploring Fort Clatsop which is part of the Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Park system. The Corps of Discovery (Lewis & Clark’s group) spent the winter of 1805-06 here.

Right outside the library in Newport, OR we saw the RVing dream team you see above. We can’t be certain without checking the VIN numbers, but we think this is the exact same trailer and tow vehicle used by Danine’s family in 1971! The trailer looks like it may have been repainted in ‘84 or ‘85.

Have I mentioned the yurts? Many of the state parks near the coast of Oregon have yurts you can rent. They seem pretty nice. They’re big round canvas tents on a wood platform. They are heated, but you aren’t permitted to cook in them and there is no bathroom. So as nice and cozy as they may be, you’ll have to brave the weather for warm food or to use the facilities. Apparently they are very popular and require a reservation months in advance. I like our aluminum tube better though.

It rains here in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve noticed. We’ve gone from sun to clouds to rain and back a dozen times over the past three days. It sleeted yesterday morning and last night. Sleet is really loud on the resonant hull of the Airstream. Actually, it’s loudest on the plastic roof vents and skylight. Elise called for us from one end of the trailer, but we could hardly hear her over the din.

We are really enjoying the well-subsidized park system in a state where we don’t pay taxes. I can thank my brother, since he lives — and pays taxes presumably — in Portland, OR. Our past two campsites have had full hook-ups for $17 a night. This isn’t really a necessity (electricity is the best to have), but it’s a bonus.

I also discovered that our heat pump still works properly. I was suspicious of it way back in Texas. We have a furnace that uses propane and an electric blower. It’s the primary heat source because it puts the warm air near the floor and also keeps the water and waste tanks from freezing. The heat pump-slash-air conditioner sits on the roof and runs only on electric. However, you need a good 20 amps or so to run it, so a household outlet won’t cut it. Most campsites that have electric, have a 30 amp outlet — that does the trick. We loved the A/C in the Keys and at Disney. We are liking the heat pump during the day here in the cold and wet.

We didn’t drive far yesterday, just up past Newport to Beverly Beach SP. Since we arrived around lunchtime, we had the whole afternoon to run errands. We did six loads of laundry, printed some forms at Staples, picked up some RV-type stuff at Wal-Mart, filled the truck with gas, went to the library to do computer stuff and download some books, rewarded ourselves with Starbucks beverages, and did our grocery shopping. Sorry, I didn’t take pictures of these adventures, and no junior ranger badges were awarded for our endeavors either.



Today we went back to the library and then visited Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Danine, as you may know by now, loves lighthouses and wants to live in one. There are a few privately owned ones on the Oregon coast, but none are currently for sale. Alas, we had to settle for just touring this one. It’s a quintessential lighthouse in looks and overlooks, sitting on a rugged promontory facing due West with a foaming sea blasting the rocks below.



Light is produced by a 1,000-watt bulb (used to be an oil lamp). The focused beam of light — which can be seen 20 miles away — is produced by a lense consisting of 258 glass prisms. These prisms focus and magnify the light to the equivalent of 10,000 watts. The lighthouse is due to be decommissioned soon, but the Bureau of Land Management and other organizations will still keep it operating. Apparently, fishermen and ship-type-folks were surveyed and asked if they rely on the lighthouse. Up until last year they did, but now they rely more on GPS.


Inside the Fresnel lens. The other light bulb is there in case the first burns out. Always good to have a back-up.

Considering that GPS has been around for some years now and the lighthouse still operates, we were surprised to learn that there have been two serious shipwrecks in the area in 1999 and 2001. It just goes to show that despite all of our modern navigational equipment and safety features, when we are on the ocean we are still just little Dixie cups floating in a really big bathtub. When the bathtub gets angry, it’s best not to be in the cup.



After touring the lighthouse, we walked down to the rocky beach below to check out the tidepools. First you have to cross a gauntlet of sloping, shifting gray stones. It’s as if you’re walking on three feet of marbles.



We survived and arrived at the very best tidepools we’ve seen thus far. On top of the rocks were vast mussel beds. In the narrow pools between the crags, we found bright green anemones, piles — yes piles — of purple, burgundy and brilliant orange sea stars that were hard and pebbly to the touch (official name: ochre sea stars), and purple sea urchins (official name: purple sea urchins). There were also hermit crabs, snails and some interesting little fish, probably tidepool sculpins, moving around as well.






Mussel beds.

As a sidenote for our friend Jim in Atlanta, we purchased for our viewing enjoyment the third season of Little House on the Prairie. We have watched the first two seasons, but didn’t bring them with us. Watching the Christmas specials reminded us how much we enjoy the show (as does Jim). We watched the first episode last night, which featured Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. It was a humdinger!


On our way down.

Elise and Emily.

We hadn’t even pulled into our campsite at Carl G. Washburne State Park on Saturday when Elise made a new friend. Emily was riding her bike around the campground with her mom and passed us as we were beginning to back the trailer into our spot. Emily and her mom stopped to say “hi” and the next thing I knew, Elise was off riding her bike with them. Soon after she was back for her sand toys so they could play in the sandbox nearby.


Emily, Elise and Rory.

I joined them as soon as we were settled in our spot and thus we spent a lovely afternoon. Emily’s mom, Kelly, and I hit it off and the girls played while we chatted. Bobby joined us a little while later and we all talked until 6:30. Kelly and Emily headed back to their trailer and the rest of their family (dad Al, Emily’s brother Rory, and Uncle Bob) and we made plans to meet up the next morning for a trip to the beach.



This morning was a lot cooler than Saturday. By the time we headed to the beach, I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, my fleece and my outer shell. The wind was tough. The kids were too excited about playing with each other and the prospect of the beach to be concerned about sub-zero temperatures, so shovels in hand they headed off down the path with the adults in tow.



Soon enough, the shovels were relegated to said adults. Elise and Emily ran ahead to periodically hide from the group and Rory kept up with the grownups. The beach was a lot rockier than I expected, but Kelly knew where we could find a patch of sand, so we headed there and the kids played while we all froze. Elise really wanted Bobby to help them build a sand castle, but it’s hard to dig when you have one hand in your pocket, so he was of marginal help.



There was an attempt at kite flying, but the wind was shifting so much the kite never really took off. When the adults could no longer take the cold, we headed back to the trailers for a quick lunch. Kelly and Al live in Eugene (almost two hours away) so they needed to get on the road. We had a wonderful time with them and have made plans to stop in Eugene and see them when we begin our journey south.

On another note, one of our photos from our Flickr site has been selected and used by a travel guide company called Schmap. They create web-based interactive maps and travel guides. They wanted to use a picture we had taken of the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX. We get no cash for it, but it’s fun to know that people like our pictures and want to use them. You can see our picture on this page. Our picture is on the right.

We ended up at the Crazy Norwegian for dinner. We looked for the other chili place and although Port Orford is not big, didn’t find it. We did find a Chevron with gas for $3.57. I don’t know how the prices are in DC, but that’s positively cheap compared to Northern California. The Crazy Norwegian isn’t that crazy. It’s where we steal WiFi. There were a lot of gnome statues though. The crazy ones were Danine and me. We each had a chili burger, which is basically an open-faced burger piled with chili, onions, and cheese. It was good, however, there is a warning right on the menu indicating that it takes up to one week to fully digest… Well, there should be.

Despite the giant, dangerous burger we both ordered dessert. Why? ‘Cause it was pie, that’s why. Danine had marionberry: tastes delicious, a little like blackberry, and looks nothing like DC’s most infamous mayor. I had my Favorite Pie of All Time, strawberry rhubarb. Mmm.

It was movie night in the Airstream and Elise picked the Little House on the Prairie Christmas specials. We tossed and turned and wept openly when it turned out that Laura sold her pony to buy Ma the stove. The pioneering life of the 1970s was hard yet wholesome.

This morning Ranger Greg knocked on the door. He wanted to catch Elise before he had to leave and check over her Junior Ranger packet. He carefully went through it with her and then gave her a badge and taught her a secret hand signal. Danine asked him about a plant we had seen and were curious about. It was a common horsetail. It looks a little like an asparagus and a mini conifer tree. Really it’s an ancient plant similar to ferns that produces spores. The plant has a high silica content — it’s made of sand! Settlers used it to scour pots. There’s a larger variety called scouring rush. Thank you, Ranger Greg!

We are headed up the coast to Umpqua Lighthouse State Park. That’s our plan right now anyway. It is subject to change. We aren’t going to drive for too long as we go north because, gosh, this is a beautiful coast.

Side note from Danine: Turns out there have been some earthquakes after all, here in Oregon and northern California today and in the past few days. Our neighbors next to us let us know. No tsunamis have come from them, but if there is a landslide in the ocean where one of the earthquakes occurred, a tsunami could occur. We’ll check out the USGS website before we head up the coast. We’re not worried, but we’ll check.