Eugene to Ashland, Oregon

Jesse received his Master of Architecture Degree at the University of Oregon in Eugene, and we spent a fair amount of time there as a result.    

Jesse and sweet old Ruby

We've always enjoyed our time there and this was no exception.    We stayed at the same place we always do, Armitage County Park.   The weather was sort of yucky, rainy, misty, yucky so we didn't get out and about much.   Mostly we refilled Beluga's coffers, ate at familiar restaurants, etc. (and by etc., I mean, just ate out).  My mother used to say that we traveled around for our stomachs, and I guess she was right.    

 Dave found a part for one of Beluga's baggage doors at REV in Coburg, right down the street.    He doesn't know if it will work, but you know he'll make it work!

The campground was fairly empty this time, even on the weekends.  It was quiet and bird filled most of the time.   We usually like to walk down to the river but because of the damp weather, we stayed away.     Below are two interesting things we saw at the campground.       

someone did a beautiful job

autumn crocus

On one of our last days the heavy, grey clouds lifted, and the sun showed itself for a little while.

We took the opportunity to drive down to King Estates and do a little wine tasting.  It's a beautiful place; we've enjoyed its offerings many times in the past.  

 

The grounds and buildings are beautiful, the wines very good, and the kitchen produces delicious food to complement its wine tastings.  Jesse says that he once had "life changing bacon" there for brunch!    Oh Jesse.....

This time, however, they informed us that the kitchen was turning all its attention to feeding their workers during the harvest and that we could, perhaps, have some almonds or crackers with our wine tasting, mea culpa.    Sigh.

On our way home we were surprised by this enormous display of Halloween enthusiasm looming high over the columnar yews lining the street.

  That's about it for Eugene this time.     On Saturday we drove about 180 miles south to our next stop at Emigrant Lake County Park, another familiar place.   The last time we were here was in 2016 and it's still as nice as before.    

  The lake is very low, as usual for this time of year, but we don't mind.   We aren't fishing or swimming, just looking down at it and enjoying the peace and quiet.

The only problem is, as it was in 2016, the ground that isn't covered with grass is plastered with nasty, thorny, stickers.    I'm glad we don't have a dog here....ouch!

Today, our first day, we went out into the countryside and had a delightful wine tasting with Agnieszka Paschal at her Paschal Winery.   We were the first ones there when she opened at 2, and the tasting room and outdoor areas filled up quickly.   I saw someone setting up music under the arbor beside the pond, so it must be the place to spend a Sunday afternoon!

see Dave outside?

one of two swans.....

this one was very noisy!

Dave took this last night...is there anything he can't do?

As I sit here tonight, a huge owl is "shopping" the ground next to us.   She lands in the stunted tree outside my window, looks around, then drops silently to the ground to pick up her dinner.    Repeat again and again, how cool is that!

Ok, that's all I have for now.  We'll be here until Thursday morning when we'll continue our trek south.    Next stop, McCloud, California.      

 Here's Annie!

End of McMinnville and on to Florence

 We were only in McMinnville for 8 days, but we had lots of fun.  As you saw in a previous post, we enjoyed good meals, wine tastings and plenty of exploration. 

Cuvee in Carlton

starting to look like Fall

 The last two days turned out to be the best!   Both days brought us something we (I) hadn't planned for but very much enjoyed.

Pam and John's fall travels put them in Salem, Oregon, only about 25 miles from us!     We were so happy when they said they'd come up for a visit.      We talked and talked (we haven't seen each other for a while ya know.....) then visited the next door Evergreen Air and Space Museum (where Dave and John strolled the exhibits and Pam and I sat in conveniently placed airline seats and continued our talks).

 

under the Spruce Goose's huge wing

 

Waves and Wings waterpark on the Museum grounds

  

John ogles Margie?

an earlier version of Dave's first plane

After the museum we drove into McMinnville and had dinner on the patio at the Golden Valley Brewery.    No pictures.     It was a grand afternoon.   Thanks Pam and John!

The second wonderful, unplanned event was sitting in (yes, IN) the campgrounds landscaping to watch the fabulous Oregon International Airshow taking place directly across the street.     

see Dave?

When I originally made our reservations at Old Stone Village RV Park, we were to leave on Friday.    The wonderful woman on the phone asked if we were in a hurry to leave....I said we weren't in a hurry, and she replied that if we stayed one more day we'd get to see a great airshow.    Done!    thank you very much lady on the phone.

We got to see the entire show, all day long, free of charge.    We both pronounced it one of the best airshows we'd ever seen.   We were up off our feet with surprise as an F-18 Hornet came up from behind us......very low and so fast that moisture boiled off the leading edge of the wings as it passed over us.      Yikes!   So many planes, such unbelievable exhibitions and aerobatics.    My pictures are pitiful, the planes were going too fast, two high, and I was too excited to hold the damn phone still!

F-15s, F-18s, a Heritage flight of a F-16 and a P-51, a Mitchell, a F6F, two T-6  trainers, and a couple civilian planes - a STOL Maule demonstration team, and a Long Easy. The Canadian AirForce's Snowbird team show finished the day. Phew!

low and fast flyover

The next day we left and headed down the coast to Florence.   The weather alternated between dense coastal fog and brilliant sunshine.    The views were stunning.

At one point, we almost got ourselves in trouble.   We pulled over at what we thought was a "viewpoint' to eat lunch.   Before we started off again, through the pull off (or what we thought was a pull off) and back onto 101,  I realized that this was actually the beginning of a very narrow, very twisty road paralleling 101 down along the shoreline.    "RV's and trucks NOT advised" said the sign, I noticed.   Uh oh.

lunch view

Dave calmly unhooked the Jeep, backed Beluga out of the wrong place, hooked back up and off we went!    Oh Dave....💕

We're now sitting in our beautiful, silent, bird filled site (26) at the Florence Elks Lodge RV Park.   Ah....

Sunday we had a sunny day, so we checked out some of the places we've enjoyed along the north and south Jetties, listened to the NASCAR race on Rocky's radio, had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Waterfront Depot, and did a little grocery shopping.

Today, Monday, it's raining.   Rain is forecast for the rest of the week.   

We're going to the movies and out to dinner.    I don't know the last time we were in a movie theatre so we're looking forward to it.    Tomorrow we move east to Eugene.

Here's Annie!

Astoria, Oregon

 I touched on our two week stay in Astoria in an earlier post.    Here are some pictures taken during that stay.    We love Astoria, it's beaches (drivable ones!) it's great, fresh seafood, the seafaring ships and commerce, the surrounding mountains, etc.   The weather was perfect, despite the forecast for a week of rain!     Fog in the mornings, mostly blue skies for the rest of the day, pretty sunsets from our site at the Lewis and Clark RV Resort.   

no trip to Astoria would be complete without Bowpicker's Tuna fish and chips!

family of elk crossing the road

Our beautiful site

natures beautiful patterns

Port of Ilwaco

Stinky, but interesting!
All that remains of a 53 ft. Sperm whale hit and killed by a freighter

fantastic meal at one of our favorites, Bridge Water Grille

one of the many ways to enjoy the beach near Astoria

He paid us no mind as we passed.....

in bound

Jellies

clouds pulling away from the Columbia River beach

It's not all about the beach, right?

We found another car show in Seaside, Oregon.   Much smaller than the first one in Longbeach, but fun nonetheless.

1978 Corvette Indianapolis Pace Car.....I drove one of these for a few years, nice car, but the roof leaked!

our next rv?

Astoria, we'll be back.....