April 25 - Fort Stevens State Park

"Our" home and woodshed in the M Loop for the next five weeks where we'll be selling firewood five nights a week.  Loops L, M, N, and O have been closed to the public but opened up today, April 28, for the weekend because of a big festival in Astoria.  This side of the park will close up again on Monday and open for the season on May 15.   Our friends, Larry and Lu, arrive on the 15th to host the N Loop for a couple of weeks.

April 24 - Tillamook, OR

We stopped in Tillamood for lunch and cheese curds on our way from Beverly Beach S.P. to Fort Stevens S.P. on the Oregon coast.

Looking toward the back of the store.  The cheese curds are in coolers on the back wall.

Looking toward the front of the store.  The cafe is at the end of this aisle.  I had a grilled cheese sandwich that had chicken, buffalo sauce, and blue cheese on it.  YUMMY!

We wondered why there were so many working in the ice cream section.

It wasn't long till we saw why.  We recommend the black walnut ice cream.

Speak Squeeeek!  Eat cheese curds!  Because cheese curds don't keep very long they are hard to find except at cheese factories so we always grab a couple bags of them when we come through Tillamook.   What is the squeak all about?  Fresh curds squeak on your teeth as you chew them. 

April 22 - Newport's Historic Bayfront

Sea Lions hang around the bay front.  There were just a few swimming around today, but in the past we have seen a bunches of them sunning on a floating dock.

I wonder if they only swam over to see if we had anything to feed them.  We didn't and they didn't stay long.

We'd been to Mo's before but never the original one in the bayfront.  Note the garage door in the background.  A woman backed into Mo's and felt so badly about the damage she'd done that the owner said he's just put in a garage door and then she could drive in whenever she wanted to.  Mo's is known for their clam chowder, but their warm marionberry cobbler topped with a scoop of Tillamook ice cream isn't too bad either.

April 21 - Busy Day

We only had two full days in Newport so after naps we went back out again.  First stop was back to the Punchbowl to get an after photo.

Before at minus tide

After at not quite high tide.

Looking north from the punchbowl - the tide pools underwater.

This photo was taken in Depoe Bay and when the waves come in to this narrow little strip just right the water spouts out and you can hear a moaning sound - This is what is called a spouting horn.

This shows more of the area of the spouting horn.  We've been there to see the waves splash up over the sea wall and onto the sidewalk and even a bit into the street and we have heard the "horn", but not today.  :-(

This photo was taken at Boiler Bay, another place a mile north of Depoe Bay that can get pretty wild.  There are tide pools here, too, but these are the most dangerous of the tide pools to visit and a number of people have been killed here.  Migrating whales come through here.

Cape Foulweather.  We took a wrong turn and ended up on the Otter Crest Loop which turned out to be quite a nice serendipity.  Somehow when we were here in 2002 and 2003 we missed Cape Foulweather.  There is a nice gift shop here and an even nicer view.  The piece of land that juts out into the middle of the photo is the area of the Devil's Punchbowl.

April 14 - TerraTrike Smiles

Frank riding my TerraTrike and sporting a TerraTrike smile.

Joyce fell off a bicycle last year and as a result now has 13 pins in her shoulder and no desire to ever get on a bicycle again, but she and Frank seemed to enjoy riding on my trike.

April 14 - Salt Lake City

I am backtracking a bit here.  Because of all of our moving around, it took me a while to get the computer and photos in the same place because Joyce and Frank took some of the photos.

We weren't actually in Salt Lake City, but were in one of the suburbs and visited some of the beautiful surrounding area.

See what I mean?

Gorgeous!

It was snowing on us here.

Legend has it that Native Americans rode their horses down this chute to prove their bravery.

Joyce and Frank.  Our wonderful hosts and tour guides.

Galen and Karen

This was a really neat place!

A cooperative pronghorn stood still for a long time and let Joyce get this photo.

April 21 - Yaquina Head Lighthouse

I took this photo of Yaquina Head Lighthouse after the skies had cleared up.

The sky was still looking a bit ominous, but it made for a dramatic photo.

You go down and back up all those steps to get out to the tide pools, but it was worth it.

Murre's and cormorants near the lighthouse.

A view of the beach and tide pools.  The beach is made of black cobblestones and walking on them in not unlike walking on marbles.  When the tide is higher the wave action causes the stones to roll and make a way cool clicking sound.

One more view of the lighthouse.

April 21 - Newport, OR

We are finally back in Beverly Beach State Park on the Oregon Coast near Newport and all excited about going out to look at tide pools.  The sun had been shining earlier, but we weren't in the truck for more than a few minutes when the sleet started.  YUK!  But we kept going and the sun came out!

We went first to the Devil's Punchbowl to explore the tide pools.  There is a minus tide today so we could have actually walked into the punchbowl if the path down to the beach hadn't been closed to protect seal pups.  This photo was taken looking north from the punchbowl.

Another nice view looking south from the Punchbowl area.

This is the Devil's Punchbowl and at times it is filled with sea water and even spouts out the top during rougher weather.

We left the Punchbowl and headed for Yaquina Head lighthouse to explore the tide pools there.  We were not disappointed with the variety of critters we spotted.

This not so pretty looking creature is a chiton.

There were seal pups in several places around the lighthouse.

April 18 - 20: Boise to Newport, OR

Rt 20 on the way to Sisters, OR

There was quite a bit of flooding along the road, but this was the only flooding we encountered on the road.

Pretty in a stark kind of way.

These are the mountains that surround Sisters, OR taken from miles away.  The town of Sisters is named for mountains called The Three Sisters.  The "sisters" are named Faith, Hope, and Charity.

Home sweet home in Sisters, OR.  We have stayed at this RV park just south of Sisters before but it was smaller when we stayed there and wasn't paved.  The sites are level, long, and large.  There is a pond out behind our truck that doesn't show up well in the photo.  The name of this lovely RV park is Bend/Sisters Garden RV Resort.

Going over the Cascade Mountains Rt 20W on our way to Newport, Oregon.

See the long pole in the lower right corner?  It is there so snow plows know where the edge of the road is.  There was snow in the Cascades a few days before we drove them and more snow predicated in the next day or two, but it was clear and dry when we drove over them.

We arrived at Beverly Beach State Park in the middle of the afternoon and this is my first photo of the Pacific Ocean this trip, but it won't be the last.