The Fun Begins

I skipped ahead on my blog yesterday because I was so excited about seeing that herd of elk.  So this is how the day began!

It was a cool and overcast morning as we set out from Eugene, OR to head for the coast at Reedsport.  Normally we would take the I-5 south to Drain and cut over on Hwy. 38.  This time we decided to take the back roads.  In all the years we have lived in Eugene, none of us had ever before taken Territorial Road all the way to Hwy. 38, bypassing I-5 altogether. We all saw something that we had never seen before.  Didn't matter that it was just a rural highway on the way to somewhere else or that it was right in our own backyard...it was a new experience.  I get so tired of freeways, and especially I-5 as we spend so much time on it.  It’s a great way to travel north and south on the west coast but I still get tired of it.

We started early, with a goal of eating breakfast about halfway to our destination.  Territorial Road is a windy and narrow backcountry road and I was so enjoying the scenery, I forgot to take any pictures.  But it wasn’t too long into the trip before we saw three deer grazing alongside the road.  What a beautiful way to start the morning.  I know deer can be a pain to homeowners but there is just something so peaceful and serene about seeing a few deer just being deer.  They are a beautiful animal.

Our first stop was Elkton City Park.  Poppy needed a break before sitting in the car while we ate breakfast.  This is a beautiful park with direct Umpqua River access.  The Umpqua River is well known to fishermen in the area and is a productive source of steelhead, salmon, shad, and bass.

Russ and Brian were enjoying a stretch.


Brian and Laila were a bit chilly but still enjoying being out by the water.


Elkton High School is right across the street from the park  Can you imagine having to sit in class and study when you could be across the street enjoying this?


I’m wondering if the proximity of the high school has something to do with the full-time camp host that lives in the park!!  Now there is a gig for you workkampers.  Theirs was a full hook-up site (the only site – it’s a day use park) and it is right on the river.  Gorgeous view and only a block or so from town…not that there is much to “town”!  You can get a good view of the park and camp host site on Google Earth.

Right next door to the park is a Elkton RV Park, a private, full hookup park.  Many years ago, we sold our 30’ Royal Voyager travel trailer to the owner of the park for use as a rental.  We looked for it but I am afraid it was long gone.  It had to be close to 20 years ago now so I imagine the trailer had outlived its usefulness.  It was a nice rig and sometimes I wish we had kept it.

One place we always like to stop when going through Elkton is Arlene’s.



In business since 1958, Arlene’s is a popular stop on the way to the coast.  It is a restaurant, ice cream store, and small general store.  Very interesting place to stop and the breakfast was just great.  My only complaint is they, like so many other restaurants, only cook their hash browns on one side…even though we asked for “crispy.”  Is there anyone reading who is a restaurant owner or a professional cook?  Why doesn’t the cook turn the hash browns over and brown them on BOTH sides.  It’s a pet peeve of mine but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really small potatoes!!


Looking down the restaurant at the general store.


Elkton only has a full time population of about 200 people so I guess they really have to be multi-task oriented.  I snapped two pictures of a gas station on the way out of town.  It was REALLY a full service station – fill your car’s tank and your own.  They were successful in gaining my attention but we had just filled up at Arlene’s.   I had to put two pictures together and since the car when moving when I took the shots, the angles and light were different and I couldn’t get them exact.  Oh well, you get the picture!!


The rest of the drive from Elkton to Reedsport was absolutely gorgeous and I highly recommend it.  As we approached the Dean Creek Elk viewing area that I wrote about yesterday, we saw these cow elk grazing fairly close to the road.  We pulled over and snapped a picture because we thought this may be closer than anything else we would see.  Fortunately, we were wrong…and now I am back to where I ended yesterday and so I’ll quit for tonight.