Day 4: Gold Beach, Oregon to Lincoln City, Oregon

There is something to waking up to river front property on a quiet morning and realizing your over a thousand miles from home, ha ha. This is awesome, Matthew and I and the dogs slept in, but not long enough for the other campers to have awoken yet. We are learning that RV campers, because they are usually older, are quiet and for the most part can’t hear or hear you, either. It’s a win- win situation and makes for good living! The Rogue River is long about 281 miles and for the most part its major fish species is Salmon, they run up the river in September but for now anglers are settling for the 30-50 pounders, these suckers get even bigger when the “hogs” chase the females up-stream. That’s another thing, people are really friendly up here and are really casual, Matthew and I are very comfortable here. We got on the road to head up to Newport “early” so we could spend some time checking out the local towns along the way. The weather has been perfect which makes for nice driving. Each town is similar but has its own uniqueness to it, we got to look thru some little local diners at the old pictures to see some history and charm. On the way we stopped to check out Bandon Dunes, a top ten upscale golf course in Oregon, and took some pictures. The property was beautiful and there were families of deer all along the sides of the road. We eventually made it up to Newport after another epic drive; the views and trees are not getting old which makes the drive go by in a snap. Clam chowder was in order so we stopped and checked out their cute downtown, which was really yummy, however “downtown” felt very fabricated to appease tourists, so we decided to check out some of the local thrift stores and local neighborhoods before skipping up to Lincoln City. Lincoln City we liked better. More local. The next stop after a beach jaunt was the casino. They have a resort casino with a roulette table we thought we’d team up against. 20 minutes later and $80 bucks richer we decide to find our local digs for the evening and head to the Siletz River at Chinook Bend. We found another perfect RV park right on the river and we have our own dock to fish off, there motto is “a serene paradise for the fortunate few“. As evening settled in to night the summer rains started to fall, thankfully we have the option of coming inside to snuggle up with some blankets and watch a movieJ Another successful leg, Washington or bust tomorrow!

Day 3: Meyers Flat Humboldt Sate Park to Gold Beach Oregon

What an amazing place to wake up to! The Redwood trees are surrounding our secluded end of the campsite with beams of sunlight coming through, beautiful. After our first solid night of sleep, Matthew and I decide to take it easy this morning and take advantage of the amenities of having an RV with a kitchen. Its nice being able to make coffee and eggs with ease. The Eel River runs along the edge of our campsite , a great place to hike with the dogs, they are in heaven being able to run free and us free of the worry of cars! Also surrounding our campsite is a plethora of Blackberry bushes! They are ripe and plenty, besides what the deer graze toward the bottom. We picked probably about two giant cup fulls’ and saved some in our fridge for the road. After spending a day at the campsite we decide its probably time to hit the road, which we are both dragging our feet at the thought. We met a guy named Zach, and he and his wife are spending the whole summer in this beautiful grove of redwoods along the river. No fair… But on the other hand we are anxious to get into Oregon. We hit the road, and it was a beautiful drive! The transition from where the redwoods meet the ocean in Crescent City and the coastal drive through Klamath was not long enough. We spot deer and Elk herds posted in the ravines along the side of the hwy, we feel pretty lucky at this point. We stopped at a local smokehouse stand on the side of the road in Klamath to indulge in some fresh smoked salmon and some salmon jerky. It was insane! The woman was a big, happy Native American woman that gave us a taste testing of 1,3 and 5 day smoked as well as candied 3 day smoked with brown sugar and teriyaki! We bought a little bit of everything and got back on the road. The transition into Oregon was yet another beautiful one , the trees become even more moist and dense and are infused with fern plants all along the edge of the hwy. We decided to post up in Gold Beach for the night and found a campground that hugged the Rogue River. As we are driving we come across families of deer hanging out in the neighborhood being fed cheese by kids through their fences, a site to see. Another successful day and looking forward to the drive up the coast tomorrow.

Day 2: Santa Cruz to Humbolt County State Park

On the road again! Matthew and I both awoke at 4:30am in Santa Cruz and decided to hit the road! Such a peaceful time to drive while everyone else is sleeping wedecide to drive up the Half Moon Bay and run the dogs on the beach. We found an amazing state beach off Hwy 1 called Pomponio State Beach. It was so early there wasn't a person or a foot print within miles, so quiet and beautiful and warm! The weather was amazing, as the fog hovered out over the horizon it kept a warm climate for the beach. The beach of course was a no dog beach, but we our dogs were in hog heaven, and very respectful! As we kept driving up the coast we stopped at a little local breakfast joint in Little Princton Harbor, I ate the best Crab Benedict with homemade cheese sauce ever!!! Matthew and the dogs were stoked on there breakie too:) We decided to keep on driving up the one untill around Mill Valley than we hopped on the 101 to avoid the narrow twists and turns of the 1. We headed up to Healdsberg to try out the canoe! Healdsberg is an amazing quaint little town with cute little shops and boutiques and the Russian river runs right through it! We decided to find a spot we could slip in, as to not have to pay to use a free river, and hiked our canoe into the warm, easy flowing river. The dogs loved it, we all swam and Matthew caught a big mouth bass! It was a well spent afternoon, and after loading up on groceries we hopped on the road again and kept heading North. Thankfully this drive was cool and the 101 (Redwood Hwy) is tree lined as thick as the eye could see! Beautiful scenery as well as a constant pine aroma, made the long haul up and down difficult grades to Humbolt a pleasent one. But we decided to cut it short just before Eureka to chill in the redwoods and camp next to the Eel river untill morning! Another amazing leg, untill the drive into Oregon tomorrow!

Day 1: Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz

Not a dull moment! Packed up the RV (overpacked, I might add...) and hit the road. As we headed North we only made it as far as Buellton before our first dog pee break. Just before leaveing Matthew noticed the tire had a lot of steel showing, so we decided to roll the dice and push it to SLO, as we had an appt with our soon to be wedding photographer anyway. Thankfully we made it- the dolphin (our RV) cruised over the first grade going a cool 45 mph, a success in our book! After a really yummy organic farmers market pizza lunch with the photographer and a successful tire fix, we hit the road again. Hwy 101 to and through Salinas was hot and windy, but offered some excitement as the wind ripped off the water heater door on the side of the RV, hurling it back down the freeway at mock flying force, ha ha. We reversed backed to get it and chased it to the center divider. Most entertaining however is Oliver's enthusiasm and vigor for spotting cows and horses on the side of the road, he has Cutty excited about them too, each time they start running around the RV howling, bouncing off the walls and stretching up the sides of the windows at every passing field of cattle. We pulled into Santa Cruz at dusk, the cool breeze and warm air was refreshing compared to the long hot drive. We cruised down to the boardwalk and watched as crowds of people lined up for the big dipper ride! Unfortunately it is summer and we didn't book ahead for a site, which is half the fun of being free to wander, but not so good for no good place to park. We ended up pulling into a nice upscale neighborhood and parked her under a tree, on a severe slope which made for an interesting sleep, but hey I'd call it a successful first leg!