Nov 15-12

We are currently staying on our new perch at Turtle Rock RV Resort in Gold Beach Oregon. The park was a top rated Good Sam’s (RV travel club) for 2014 as a Top Waterfront Park. There are several awarded this distinction each year throughout North America.  As you can see from the aptly named  picture above, the park is literally a few steps from the rugged and interesting beach with all the driftwood and various stones that people beach comb for. It has around 100 sites, with full-time cottages on some of them. It’s a clean park with a friendly family running it.

Today (Saturday), we woke to a few drops on the roof, but later in the morning our lost friend, the Sun, shone brightly. It was a laid back morning after sleeping in until 9 which is unusual for us. After an early lunch, we put on our sneakers and with Jazz, headed into town which turned out to be an approx. 8 km round trip walk. Temperature was warm (around 16-17 C) and the sun shone brightly. What a luxury when we hear about the weather conditions elsewhere in North America and the cold and snow at or near home. We’ll take it!!!

As we walked into town, we went towards the visitor’s centre we stopped at on Friday and headed towards the beach to walk to town. I noticed a couple that we had seen on Tuesday as we headed towards Coos Bay and went over to talk with them. I enquired about their adventure and they said they set out in May leaving Massachusetts heading into Canada at Niagara Falls then south to Cleveland and Nashville, then north to Calgary/Banff/Jasper and over to Vancouver Is. Now they are heading down the coast and will end up in South America before heading back to their native Australia. If you hadn’t guessed yet, they are on bicycles! We saw them cycling up a hill in the rain and just commented how can people do this. Obviously, they can. It’s exhausting to think about it. We bided them safe travels and headed onto town. In Gold Beach on a Saturday, most of the stores were closed and the only excitement was the high school football game. I think most of the town was in attendance. We grabbed a coffee and headed back getting back around 4. Jazz decided to stay in the RV, as we grabbed a couple of soda’s in our knapsack and headed to the beach to watch the sunset. That was enjoyable. Once the sun set, things cooled off so back to camp for some bruschetta and a game of scrabble while the St. Louis style ribs baked in the oven. Yum, yum.

Friday was a short driving day from Coos Bay to Gold Beach. On the way we stopped in Port Orford and learned that it is a “dolly port” – As you can see in the picture below, there is no natural harbor, so the fishing boats are put in and taken out EVERY day! Quite an undertaking, but the fisherman must band together as a co-op to make this work. There are only 2 of these in the US and a total of 6 in the world. A stop for propane and another for some groceries, we arrived here around 3 after leaving around 11:15 from Coos. The rain seemed to be chasing us as we headed south but we eventually won the race arriving to warm and somewhat overcast sky’s. Our meal plans for the night went back into the fridge as we arrived at camp and noticed the Hunter Creek Tavern right across the street – coincidence? Maybe…. Anyway, their sign said Happy Hour at 4:30 and Friday night special was Rib Eye steak dinner for $13.75! Sold! What a great little spot right beside the creek serving up micro brewed beer from next door and the other US high volume suds. It’s confirmed as the place to watch the final Nascar race of the season on Sunday afternoon.

Thursday was a rain day as was the latter half of Wednesday when we stayed at the Casino in Coos Bay. Thursday morning was research day and when we found the Turtle Rock resort. We had to use the park office to call and reserve another park which was a bit awkward as the phone plan we have with T-Mobile has been useless in Oregon. Thursday afternoon we took the Casino shuttle (that will take you anywhere in town) to the Pony Village Mall and found a few bargains. (yes Linda, we’ll have to purge some clothes when we get home!) Earlier we had decided to “invest” $20 each at the casino, so we headed off to do this and in less than ½ hr we were in the outdoor hot tub $40 lighter. If they had 500 slot machines, 475 of them were penny machines. I guess so you can’t lose too much, eh. But at $2.50 a crack (if you want) you can go through a pile of money quickly. Kathy and I don’t get gambling and this was out fix for the next couple of years.

Wednesday’s weather, after arriving on Veteran’s Day (Tuesday) was pleasant enough for us to venture in to town probably around 5-6 km round trip. We checked out a coffee shop and then after a little more walking around, found a small fish house right at the docks for lunch. We had a cup of their clam chowder and their half and half special for the day – ½ fish and chips and a half order of deep fried clams or deep fried oysters. We were stuffed to walk home, but it helped to wear off some of this meal. Dinner was a lighter meal that night as the rain came down.

Sunday, fun day!!