Hot Spring Cruise: One more Soak?

The Hoquiam River RV Park - first class in every respect. We left Long Beach this morning for points north. We pulled up short of our initial destination at Kalalock because we were tired of driving, and we're retired, so we can. We are right on the bank of the river.

Long beach was fun. We spent most of Saturday hitting sales and taking in the Saturday Market and an antique shop in Ilwaco. We had such a great breakfast at Laurie's Homestead we returned on Sunday and again today (Tuesday). We also reacquainted with the folks who ran the Arc restaurant - we had missed them since the Arc closed a few years ago. They now operate Ginelles Cafe. If your looking for a nice meal in Long Beach - actually Ocean Park - Ginelles is the place. On Monday we walked out to the ocean. It is always such a deeply engaging experience. We were reminded again just how nice Cape Dissapointment was.

Someday I'll figure out how to add a photo or two.

Tomorrow we head north.

Hot Spring Cruise: Long Beach

Weather at Garibaldi became a full strength Gale. It was nice to have cable TV. In the late afternoon we leaned into the wind and walked to the Troller for drinks, dinner and long and enjoyable conversation with the locals.

In the morning we headed north with several possible destinations for the next two days before a reserved Memorial Day weekend at Long Beach. We benefitted from a local gas price war and a ten cent QFC discount, but still paid four dollars per gallon. We planned on finding crab for dinner and pursued a source for a camera to iPad connector. We succeeded with the cable and waited to long for crab. Our final choice for the two nights was Cape Dissapointment (formerly Fort Canby) State Park. Ilwaco provided crab, albeit frozen. We don't know if Oregon suppliers might have had fresh. The park was fantastic - two days on the wild Pacific Coast in the woods with a spectacular primordial beach.

We're now at Long Beach in a fairly crowded park to enjoy the weekend and the annual garage sale. Jim, Abbie and Charlie the dog have joined us, and are providing local transportation. The forecast calls for sun. However it is now quite grey and cool. We are headed to breakfast before the crowds.

Hot Spring Cruise: Soaking Rain

Tuesday, May 22 - We are on the bay at Garibaldi in the rain. We normally wait until 5 - but this morning it is French Roast and Jim Beam and it has warmed up. On the bright side, we woke up to tide flats and two dozen cranes feeding out our front window. Tried to get a picture, but the gentle opening of the door spooked them and the closest dozen flew out 100 yards. We are now taking pictures with the iPad because we don't have a camera to iPad cord and there are none for sale - live and learn.

Like learning how to make page breaks. We arrived at the ocean on Friday and after a visit to Depoe Bay settled in at the Sea and Sand RV Park (another keeper). We signed up for two days, and extended by one. The weather was beautiful - wish you had been there. Yet another front row seat to view the water - there was a tier of RVs below us, but it was not visible - and again we had privacy on our patio side. Beyond the grace of a great location with nice weather we had two remarkable experiences. First, several sightings of gray whales. They were less than 200 yards off shore and were rolling so you could see their flippers. This indicated they were among the few that do not continue their migration from Baha to Alaska - but rather, settle in and feed in local waters. On Sunday the generally overcast day where sky and ocean become one visually changed - we were treated to a break overhead right where the moon eclipsed the sun. It lasted from 5 PM through the peak at about 6:25 and by 7 the sky and water were once again monotone - a lucky break.

So, here and now at Garibaldi in the rain it looks like a good day for cribbage, dominos and a puzzle.

The Hot Spring Cruise: Back to the Sea

May 19 2012 - Leaving Boise, the course was set for the northern route, passing on a return to Crystal Crane Hot Springs and Florence - opting instead for faster travel on Hwy 84, a visit to Maryhill museum, and the possibility of obtaining a spring chinook. We considered a stopover at Hot Lake RV Park adjacent to Hot Lake Hot Springs. However the toll of a days drive weighed us down by the time we made Baker City and the offer of shade trees at the Mountain View RV Park drew us to a stop. The park looked kind of grim as we entered a triple row of live-ins, then narrowed to a set of old western themed buildings where the office was located, and then opened up to an inner park for transients with lots of shade trees and grass. It was very pleasant. The office even had some materials for construction of a perch for Jack. He has had difficulty finding a proper berth in the Land Yacht as he is used to when traveling in the Element. A nice space is available between the drivers door and left arm rest. A platform was built out of finished lathe pieces where Jack has finally found his place. Smokie Joe cooked up a rack of lamb. The next morning we had breakfast at the Inland Cafe, a place that impressed us when we stopped with Jim and Abbie on the Burgdorf trip. They had a low carb option - it was very good. Our departure was complicated by an unfastening of the door step, which was gratefully repaired at Grumpys in short order. Wednesday's drive was long, hot and windy as we approached the Colombia River. We pondered various places to overnight and settled on Maryhill State Park. That got us near the museum and made reaching the ocean possible - we decided on Depoe Bay as our sea side destination - with one more overnight. Maryhill Park was beautifully laid out and landscaped and very spacious with good, clean functional facilities. In the morning, the museum was once again a stunning reminder of the age of road building up the Colombia and the fascinating life of Sam Hill. With what was left of the day we fought greater wind than Wednesday traveling further west to Troutdale. On the way we stopped at Cascade Locks and scored a fresh, today's catch, spring chinook. We overnighted at the unremarkable Sandy River RV Park in Troutdale where we determined a pan we bought for the Smokie Joe failed at its imagined purpose. It might have been dinner ruined - were it not for the unsurpassed quality of spring chinook shining through. Friday morning we set sail for Depoe Bay. We passed by the Sea and Sand RV Park, where we had a reservation for two, maybe three days, and drove into Depoe Bay. We saw a little more of the town than we did on our trip south two weeks before, spent an hour at a roadside one-mans-junk-another-mans-treasure store, had a great lunch at a cliffside restaurant and settled in to the park. The ocean front part of the park is tiered lanes along a sloped bank with back-in spaces so everybody has a direct view of the Pacific Ocean, as I have right now. Sweet.

Hot Spring Cruise Redux

May 15 2012 - HI VALLEY RV PARK, Boise Idaho and we are at the mid point of our voyage. Nat Soo Pah Hot Springs was an oasis in the middle of a sage brush desert. When we arrived last Friday Nat Soo Pah was buzzing with the activity of a boy scout outing - scouts, dads and tents everywhere. Luckily, we were assigned a site at the far end of the row, so our patio side was open to a field. The field looked like open grazing as it was sage brush with cows. It was fenced and doubled as the dog walk. Jack loved passing muster on all dogs who were walked in and out. Nat Soo Pah facilities included about two acres of camping and RV spaces in a beautifully wooded glen. The pool is outdoors behind a wood fence. The main pool is 40X80 feet and 95 degrees. There are two smaller hot pools, one an 8 foot circular - the other rectangular and 10 X 18. Both were held at 104 degrees or so. We waited for the scouts to break camp to soak. The soak was great. Saturday evening we had a planning epiphany. We had scheduled a stay at Indian Falls Hot Springs, then a couple of days at Lava, then to Yellowstone. While registering at Fishing Bridge Campground, the only RV park in Yellowstone, it came up that no dogs were allowed - which pretty much rejects the pack. We were already troubled by there being no RV parks at Lava Hot Springs that appeared to be convenient to the pools, we were sated with soaking, and tired of the desert. We considered where we were in our travels and decided to return to the Pacific Coast. Our return took us back to the valley of 1000 springs along the Snake River. We stayed at the 1000 Springs RV park - arrived to a full park on Mothers Day and by days end we were one of only three campers remaining. Prehistoric lava flow created a canyon wall where a multitude of springs spewed water from the rock face of the canyon - quite spectacular. We are now at HI VALLEY RV PARK in Eagle (actually Boise). It has no particular draw beyond very clean and efficient. They even have cotton bath mats in the shower room. We don't know our next destination yet. The sun is just rising. We may head back across mid Oregon, or up Highway 84. Maybe we'll flip a coin.

The Hot Spring Cruise

Paul and Kathy are keeping a running log of their travels with Jack. Paul has been reluctant to post to Blogger because he discovered he was unable to edit blog posts done with the home computer when mobile using the IPad. Paul needs to be able to edit. This post comes from the Mason Creek RV park and is kind of a moment of pause. We are in between hot springs because Givens Hot Springs did not take dogs - can you believe that - they don't take dogs! This blog is about Jack and his travels with the pack. Jack is a dog...Forget Givens Hot Springs. After a couple of beautiful (if wet) stays on the Pacific Coast, we headed east. We experienced a bust at McCredie Hot Springs because it was a streamside hot pool and was inundated by high cold water - we did suit up and walk down in the rain, so we did our part. Our first hot soak was at Summer Lake Hot Springs. Summer Lake was very laid back. Locals said it was too often "just a bunch of hippies". There is a wonderful 15x30 pool in an out building - the water is maintained at about 100 degrees, and is classic mineral water. There are two adjoining small ponds with marginally higher temperature. We enjoyed it enough to extend our stay. On Tuesday we drove to Crystal Crane Hot Springs. It had a 50 foot diameter outside hot pool with constant input of about 160 degree water from a multi-spout manifold. The water was about 100 degrees - colder at the fringes and hotter near the input. We are now at a on the road RV park where we've done laundry, have the first TV connection in a week, and are preparing for the next leg of our trip to Miracle Hot Springs and Nat Soo Pah Hot Springs where I will make another post. I would not have done this one were it not for Lance LaPrarie, who is my first reader - thanks Lance. I was so frustrated with the constant "which platform works with which service" debacle that I figured I would just email people I thought might be interested. This is a test. I hope Blogger just puts this up as my next entry. May 12 - This blog has been re-opened and is being edited - maybe things have changed, maybe it's just the learning curve. We will see.