the trail less traveled: Northern California & Oregon

We had a great time visiting family and friends in the Sacramento area! We wish we could've seen more friends, but with all the restrictions it's hard to arrange things and we're never sure if people are up for visits with us. We left the Hot Sacramento Valley and headed north on Interstate 5. Our first stop was at the KOA near Mt Lassen Volcanic National Park. It was beautiful and we were able to take a short hike around Manzanita Lake near the northwest side of the Park. One of the great blessings we have been able to take advantage of, is our Lifetime Senior Pass that gets us into National and State parks with significant discounts. The entrance fee to the Park was $30 and we got in for FREE!!

We are finding it a bit difficult to find places to stay this time of year for two reasons - because it's "this time of year" ie peak season, and covid closures. We have tried to stay in some of the state parks, but they are either booked up or covid closed! Because we weren't able to plan much in advance, we are having to book sites on the day of our arrival, which is challenging.

After leaving the Lassen area, we headed west on Hwy 299 toward the coast and started up Hwy 101. It was a beautiful trip, but it turned out to be pretty long because there were several areas of road construction on Hwy 299. I think at one place we were stopped for about 45 minutes! We finally stopped in Klamath, CA at the Chinook RV Resort. We had a site right next to the Klamath River! It was great. We would've stayed longer, but we could only get a 2 night reservation. The RV Park was a short drive to Crescent City, where Papawizzy spent the early years of his life and he had fun looking at the areas he remembered. We even found the house he lived in. He remembered fishing with his dad on the Smith River in the Jedediah Smith State Park. We had a light lunch there and went on a hike in the Redwoods! So beautiful!!

So on the road again, heading north on 101, we made it to Bandon, Oregon and stayed one night in an RV park there. We actually had reservations for 6 nights (being able to get a 6 night registration last minute should've clued us in), but the place wasn't what it was advertised to be. We thought it had 50 AMP and sewer hookups, but had only 30 AMP and no sewer. For us newbies, we need all the help we can get so we left after one night. We continued north and stayed in Florence, Oregon in Heceta Beach RV Park. It was a very nice park and a 5 minute walk to the beach. We explored the area a little before we headed north toward Tillamook. Tillamook was beautiful. Oregon in general is very lush and green. Lots of farms, dairy in particular, and water everywhere! Ocean, streams and marshes, we loved it. We would've loved to go through some of the sites, like the Tillamook Factory, but alas covid closed!

We are now in Saint Helens at Bayport RVPark. It's lovely and we were able to take a trip up to Astoria, where we got some yummy fish and chips from a roadside vendor and handmade ice cream for dessert from Frite & Scoops. Next we head east again on the way to Spokane, WA. We're happy to be settled for 4 nights, so that will hopefully give me some time to find our next spot!