The End of the Coastal Tour

Bad habits are like a comfortable bed; they are easy to get into, but hard to get out of.

The tour of the coast is over.  We’ve taken you to enjoy the surf of the ocean. We’ve shared our seafood dinners with you – the good and the bad. You especially know now where you can find great oyster stew. We’ve taken you shopping at a few of the stores. Most importantly we’ve even taken you out on our boat. We’ve shown you how to crab and how to eat it. It’s not everyone who we will share our crab with but we shared it with you. Well, kind of. We got the real stuff and you got the virtual stuff.

I guess a person never gets over being a tour guide. Eventually, we’ll take you back to the Old Columbia River highway and the waterfalls but for us that might not be until September.  However, you know how accurate I am with keeping calendars.  There are just some things I like to do each and every year. The coast, the Puget Sound and the waterfalls all fall into that category. 

The tour at the coast is over.  It was time to move in another direction.  That direction was inland.  The Hyders moved out in the morning and after we thought about it and thought about it, we decided to leave a day early.  Again, our laundry basket was really overflowing and we were ready to relax a bit before they caught back up with us.  Of course, Janice hooked me up with Skype before she left.  That was probably if they weren’t there to bug us, she was going to try another way.  Oh well, I think it’s actually pretty cool.

We’ve kind of got it down where we can close up and get moving pretty fast.   The boat had been taken out of the water the day before and it was still hitched to the Jeep.  Once the tanks were emptied and the slides were in on the motorhome, we were ready to move.

We had some beautiful days on the coast in the 70’s with gorgeous blue skies.  Once you cross over the Coastal Range, the temperatures warm up.  We stopped at the Kelso Elks with the intent of staying a few nights before heading up to the Port Townsend and Whidbey Island area.  For the first time in weeks and weeks, we had to turn on our air conditioner.  Ugh!  That isn’t something we like to have to do but we do when we need to.

Once we had the boat cleaned up and put back into its little storage place at Lee’s house, we headed back to try to relax.  For the next few days we won’t be doing much.  I know that’s unusual but there are times that other things need to be done.  Besides, it certainly will feel good to be a lazy bum for a couple days before the next action begins.  This is definitely the life of an RV’er.

It’s now 9:00 PM as I’m writing this.  It’s still light outside and I’m waiting for it to get dark so I can go to bed.  Right now that’s just one of the many of things I’m wishing for …. sleep time.

That was Monday, August 1st.

Update --  Well, you might have guessed that after I wrote this and thought all that relaxation was about to happen ..... it didn't.  Remember the saying that there's no rest for the wicked?  Keep posted.

Monster Crabs and Happy Birthday, Tammi

Volunteers are not paid – not because they are worthless but because they are priceless.

There’s another birthday happening in our family today.  This time of year there’s just one of those right after another.  Today just happens to be the birthday of our youngest.  Now I’m not saying she’s young.  It’s just our youngest!   Happy Birthday, Tammi.

Happy Birthday to you.

Dungeness Crab

Guess what we did Saturday?  You’re right.  We went crabbing again.  It was another gorgeous day on the coast.  We had no choice.  We actually heard the crab calling to us.

The first plan of action was to get another 3-day crab license and bait.  Neither of those are sold at the park we are at.  We had to run down to Jetty Fishery again to do that.  We came back with fish heads and our licenses.  Thus, we were ready to go.

The difference between being on the water Saturday and earlier in the week when we had been in the area was that there were lot more boats and a lot more crab rings.  However, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and no huge swells like last time we made the trek in this direction.

We ended up with some nice sized crab this time.  There’s a lot of difference between crabbing off the dock and in a boat.  The ones off the dock were mainly female and small.  In the boat we got our share of small ones but we also saw some nice sized keepers.

Park crab cooker

Jerry learned to pull those crab pots up fast.  We sorted them on the bottom of the boat and tossed those back that weren’t legal.  Seagulls swarmed us for rejects.  We also had a couple Bald Eagles soaring over the trees.  It was definitely a nice day.

The park has a propane crab cooker.  We had it lit and waited and waited.  It was pretty slow in heating.  After about 45 minutes, it still wasn’t close to a boil.

Crabs are cooking!

Finally one of the other RV’ers parked next to the cooker set up his own crab cooker for us.  He has a nifty little burner for outside cooking and it heated up in no time.  If we were going to do much more of this, we’d certainly have our own little cooker.

The cleaning station

The park also has a fish and crab cleaning station down on the dock.  That was nice since it meant no mess at our site.

Our appetizer

We certainly had a mess of crab with enough left over for a crab salad the next day.

Clam for our neighbors

Our neighbors at the park brought over some samples of their day’s find.  We thought that was super nice.  First of all, we each had a large clam they had fixed for each of us,

They also brought seaweed they had collected and prepared Asian style.  I normally totally dislike seaweed.  I think I’ve had enough of that in my mouth over the years and not by choice.  The idea of eating it was never an option.  However, I felt compelled to be polite and try it.  Actually, I would have to admit that the way they had it fixed wasn’t bad at all.  At least I had a bite and tried it.  You realize, of course, that I still have no intention of having more in the future though.  It’s one of those mental things I guess.

Seaweed

This is how they dried the seaweed.  They hung it on their clothesline.  We’d never seen that before.  It was definitely interesting.


Events of Saturday, July 31st

We’re Fishing Instead of Crabbing

A half-baked idea is okay as long as it’s in the oven.

Off with the front windshield and back panel for a beautiful day on the water!

I thought this little tiny boat was just my speed.

Friday we did something different.  We didn’t go crabbing.  We went fishing. This was kind of like the semi-blind leading the blinder in this circumstance.  We didn’t catch a thing.  We didn’t have a bite.  We also think  half the time we had everything hooked up wrong.  But, then again, from what we understand no one else did any good either.  We’re going to blame it on the fact that the fish weren’t running yet.  They were all out in the ocean getting ready to come in.  That’s our story and we’re sticking with it.

Here's Jerry trying for the perfect setup on his pole.

The first thing you have to do to prepare yourself for this new adventure is to buy licenses.  Oregon seems to require a license for every type of fun you can think up.  We jumped in the boat and went down to the Wheeler Marina.  That place was absolutely packed with everyone else around trying to buy bait or licenses.  Once that was accomplished we were back out in the boat with high hopes of snagging that big one.

And, Janice is trying for a better rigging than Jerry.

The problem for us fishing here is we’ve not done a lot of trolling for salmon in years and years.  Thus, we didn’t actually know how to help.  Oh, we knew a little … just a little.  We know how to tie everything and connect it from point A to point B.  The problem was putting the actual plug bait on the hook and keeping it there without dragging the bottom. The current was swift, the depth not so deep and the seaweed plentiful.

A garage sale we just had to visit.

Either way I think we all had another great day doing something.  After being totally skunked, we headed into Wheeler in a vehicle instead of the boat.  The first thing that caught Jerry’s eye was a sign for a garage sale.  You can guess where we stopped ... the garage sale.  We don’t have too much too worry about at these places because most of the nooks and crannies in our motorhomes are already full of something else.

View from our table at the Pizza Garden.

Next, it was off for pizza …. again.  The day was still gorgeous and we sat out on the deck just above the river.

Another great day and we had taken advantage of all of it.  Now you know what we were up to on that Friday which was over a week ago from the time this blog will get posted.  With all this activity just maybe it's time to start posting a little more often again to get caught up again.

A Heron sitting in the tree and watching us eat.

Friday, July 30.

Nehalem Bay - Let's Go Crabbing

I’ve learned when you harbor bitterness that happiness will dock elsewhere.

Wednesday started early. It was especially early for Terry. He was out of bed and ready to go way before his normal hour. We were heading back to Portland. At only 75 miles it really wasn’t a long drive. Lee was scheduled for surgery at 7:30 am. Construction crews were everywhere and they start pretty early in the morning. The drive may not have been long but it sure seemed that way with all the road work.

Full cover on the boat.

Lee’s surgery didn’t go as planned.  Actually, it didn't go at all since the surgery was put off until Thursday. There had been a small plane crash and the surgeon was going to be busy stitching them up first. I did get a picture of Lee in his cast riding the little motorized cart at Wal-Mart. The problem is I took the picture with my iPhone and it was very blurry. So, I thought best not to post it.

Previous crabs we got that we had to throw back since they were too small.  Hopefully, they are bigger this year and we'll be able to keep them.

We were also anxious to see the new full cover on the boat. It had been ordered while we were in Sequim. This was our first look at the finished product. We’re getting anxious to give the boat a try. We’ll be moving down the coast towards Nehalem Bay shortly and plan to have that boat filled with crab. At least that’s what we hope.

One of our "keepers" from last year.

The Electric Quilt software I ordered for designing quilts had arrived. I really get excited about new software so was pretty stoked to pick this up. I’ll probably have more fun figuring out the software than actually making the quilt. I find that designing is the hardest part.  It's amazing how many hours I can stare at a piece of fabric hoping for an idea. I think that’s because I want to consolidate everything into one busy quilt --- photos on fabric, embroidery and applique.  I have lots of ideas but thank goodness they are just ideas.  Our little motorhome isn’t big enough to store all the quilts that I imagine I'm going to make.  I'd have to give them away and who wants a virtual quilt? !!

Cute fabric I found but what am I going to do with it ??

While there we picked up a new wireless HP printer from Staples and visited the DSW Shoe Store. My shoes were getting pretty thin on the bottom. They needed to be replaced and I figured DSW was a good place to do it. I ended up with two pairs. Then, we made a quick stop at WINCO, of course, before we got on the road back to the coast.

Construction workers had gone home for the day on our return trip so it was a lot faster going back to the coast than heading inland.  Thank goodness!

In a few more days we'll be making another trip back to pick up the boat, our crab nets and fishing poles. Then, we'll be able to say Let's Go Crabbing.   The park we'll be at has a huge pot for cooking all the crabs we catch in the bay.   Hopefully, the next pictures I post of crab will be with us sitting at our picnic table and eating them.   We just need the weather to cooperate a bit now.  A cold front with a few showers seems to be looming in the near future.

On the Beach at Seaside

Always laugh when you can.  It is the cheapest medicine.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day at the beach.  I do mean really, really gorgeous day.  We were going to take our chairs, Duchess and head to the beach.  The problem was deciding what beach and where???  We knew we didn’t want to go to the beach which is right off of the town area of Seaside.  However, it may be one of the nicest with the easiest access but it would also be the one with the crowds.

Duchess was happy no one else was around.

Duchess was sure happy walking along the beach with me. There were many different things to smell and soft sand to run on.

We decided to head just a little south of town.  What a good choice it was!  As you can tell by the photos below, no one was there when we arrived.  We had the whole beach to ourselves.  This, of course, made Duchess a very happy family member.  She was free until others started to show up.

A very empty beach

The tide was way out.  It’s a little rocky at this spot getting to the sandy beach but other than the steps down to the sand in town, it’s about the easiest.  Do you see anybody on the beach?  It was pretty empty and we liked it just like that.  I bet this doesn’t happen too often during the busy summer months.

It was definitely a gorgeous day.  After spending a while enjoying the sand and ocean, we took Duchess home and checked the crowd on the main beach.  They were certainly there.

People were just about everywhere at this beach.. 

Kite flying is very popular at the beach.  There is usually enough wind to keep the kites in the air and lots of space to run.

We had more seafood at dinner time.  This time I was hungry for a good salad.  That’s just exactly what I got at Pudgy’s.  Matter of fact, it probably is the best Shrimp Louis I’ve every had.  Check out the massive amount of shrimp on top of the salad.

I couldn’t pass up tasting their specialty either.  It’s the Smoked Salmon Clam Chowder.  Our waiter assured us it was a “killer” chowder.  We both had to agree with him.  It was fantastic!

Other than helping finish off the chowder, Terry didn’t order oyster stew.  He was hungry for a hamburger.  He probably would have had oyster stew if they made it but they didn’t.  This is another place I want to revisit just to try another loaded salad.

Oregon Coast and Gifts For Friends

How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us.

The coast can be so beautiful during every season.  Sometimes the waves are crashing down and other times they just gently flow to the shore.  Sometimes the ocean appears gray under threatening clouds.  Other times it’s a bright blue as it reflects a gorgeous sunny day.  In just the few days we’ve been at the coast, we’ve seen it both ways.

We took a little drive down the coast on Thursday.  We didn’t go far.  It was a little cloudy in the morning but by afternoon the skies were just about as blue as they can get.  It was a gorgeous day.

Driving on Hwy 101 there are many places to pull off and just enjoy the view or even walk along the beach.

This is Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, a very popular spot.  We definitely have no plans whatsoever about being here over the 4th of July.  It will be packed.

The Pacific from a viewpoint along Hwy 101.

The beach is a great place to plant yourself for a while and enjoy the sounds of the waves while dangling your toes in the water.

Jetty Fishery offers boats for rent at Nehalem Bay.  It’s a great place to throw in those crab pots and fishing lines.  We’ve spent many hours crabbing in this location.  There are several quaint beach towns close to the Fishery that we enjoy.  Nehalem is small and on the Nehalem River and Bay as is Wheeler.  Rockaway Beach is the town to be if you are looking for a place to spend some time on a gorgeous beach.  However, again, we have no plans of being there over the 4th of July.

Little town of Nehalem

Now, I bet you’re wondering what in the world we are posting a photo of goats for.  Actually, we’re sending these goats to Lee just in case he finds another RV park where he’s required to mow just like the other one he was at.  The goats will take care of that for him.  He’ll have  more time for Bejeweled  (is that the right one?) !  It’s our gift to Lee.

And, now what are these fries all about?  These fries are for Sandie.  I know how much she loves French fries.  I've seen her eat them in Arizona.  We had the most fantastic fries in Seaside the other day.   Being the friend that I am, these fries are being sent to her in Montana so we can share.  It’s just another gift we’re sending today.  Enjoy, Sandie. We did.

Happy 4th of July everyone.  There is a great fireworks show on the beach at Seaside.  Thousands of folks will gather on the beach to view it. Since it doesn't start getting dark until after 10:00 PM around here,  the display probably won't start until at least then.  If you're going, I would suggest you save your spot on the beach early. If we had a window view, we'd love to see the show.  However, we won't be fighting anyone for a spot on the beach and most especially, a place to park.  Have a great evening.


God Bless America!