Going North

We spent one night in Newport, Oregon, at the marina RV park.  Above was our view.  

After unhooking the trailer we decided to check Newport out.  Generally it seemed very plain, but there is a street by the bay that is filled with fish shops, fish processing plants, fish restaurants and one particular place where the sea lions hang our on floating docks.  They were so fun to watch.  One would swim up, heave himself up on top of the others and flop on top of them all, while they all barked in protest.  Eventually, one of them would have to fall off, into the water.  Some were so anxious to be on the docks that they just hung on to a side and relaxed a while.

Rather than just have a a seafood appetizer and drink, as we had planned, we couldn't help ourselves and had a big dinner each.   Tom had a variety of seafood in a white wine/fish broth while I had Chioppino, a variety of seafood in a tomato based  broth.  So much, I had trouble eating it all - and so good.  We then split a dessert of their local Marion berry (blackberry-like) cobbler and ice cream.  Too good.

I thought my hair looked good next morning, a rare event, so I asked Tom to take a picture. But to no avail.

It was a Wednesday and we had friends reserving us a site in Fort Stevens for Thursday night.  Most  campsites along the Oregon Coast are prebooked in the summer.  Luckily, we found a county park on the Tillamook jetty where we dry camped ( no hookups) for $35 and were  happy. It was very windy there, but very "real."

Next thing we know, we've arrived at Fort Stevens, a park at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific.  That's where I got to know Tom three years ago and where Pricilla and Roger, Tom's friends and fellow camp volunteers were working.  They had managed to get us a campsite for two nights.  During the one day we were there, we bicycle rode and picked Marion berries.   That evening, we went to dinner with Roger and Priscella and then had some of Priscella's famous Marion berry cobbler.

We had thought we would turn back east after visiting with them, but we're always looking at places with an eye toward moving there and I remembered there's a place in Washington that is called "the blue hole."  Sequim sits in the rain shadow of the Olympics, so has more sunny days that most of western Washington.  Now, we're here, and liking it.  

We stayed three nights in Sequim in Dungeness County Park on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the main way out from Washington State to the Pacific Ocean.    Our campsite was just along the trail along the bluffs above the water.   You can  barely see Victoria, Canada from here, above.

We like Sequim, so we have taken a month at an RV park at John Wayne Marina (of all names, ideas!)  Turns out, John Wayne used to bring a big sailboat here, bought some land and eventually donated it to the town, providing they'd make a marina.  They did.  And here we are.  Strangely, it's very convenient to town, with a bicycle trail passing just through the entrance.

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The marina has a beach and picnic area that we look out to.

Here is our site, just up in the trees above.