Our day trip today included a visit to the town of Harrisburg, a small community of 3630 residents, located on the banks of the Willamette River about 15 miles from Eugene. Harrisburg has seen 
better days and most of the town consists of second-hand shops, a few tired restaurants, and the usual churches, schools, and residential areas.
Someone took a lot of time to make a stone fence with the card suits embedded in the stone. The theme was repeated in the rest of the fence that ran in front of the house. What Harrisburg does have is a very nice river front park, complete with gazebo.
Can you imagine a neighborhood band playing some old tunes here on a warm summer evening, while kids run around playing and mom and dad sit on a nice soft blanket in the grass?
This is not a park where you want to take your eyes off the kiddos though. That bank is VERY steep and the park is just a wide strip that runs alongside. A slip here could prove disastrous.
Many places in our area are covered with daffodils right now. There is even a daffodil festival going on this weekend. Along the bank of the river, there were plenty of these yellow beauties, heralding the news that spring is just around the corner.
But this is NOT the country secret!
Just at the north end of Harrisburg,
is Riverbend RV resort, with an included small hotel and restaurant. Although this resort is only a few years old, it appears they have had some trouble with the ground settling. They are right on the river and the ground no doubt is affected by ground water. Some of the slabs are still nice but many are buckled and even have holes in them. It’s a shame because it’s a beautiful location. You can read about it by clicking on the link above.
But that’s not the secret either! We drove on through the country side, just because it was a beautiful and day and because we could! How’s this for an inventive mail and paper box?
We had read sometime ago in our local paper about a small bakery run by a Mennonite woman. We didn’t know quite where is was but all of a sudden, along our drive, we spied it. Just sitting there…waiting for us…and it was OPEN!!
This is our Country Secret! Loretta Birky runs this bakery from her home and she is only open on Friday and Saturday – lucky us – today is Friday! She does not have a web site, no telephone, and no advertising…just word of mouth.
In her kitchen she has racks of home baked goodies and they all looked simply wonderful. Of course we had to make a few purchases…
The maple nut twist is to die for. Made with cinnamon roll dough, she adds walnuts and just the right amount of maple frosting on top. Soft, gooey, delicious. We also couldn’t pass up a loaf of lemon blueberry bread and a pan of bread pudding. Now, I feel about bread pudding the way Rick does about white gravy on biscuits! Don’t see how bread can be a pudding, but Russ loves the stuff and she had some sugar free!! This bakery is about 10 minutes up the road from the RV resort so you could easily spend a couple of nights at Riverbend and make a visit to the bakery.
In another room, there are 
all kinds of handmade quilts, aprons, woodworkings, Mennonite cookbooks, and other handmade crafts. I couldn’t pass up this spice pad. It is stuffed with spice and when a hot pot is placed on it, the aroma of the spice is released.
Just a couple of shots of the grounds of the bakery. You can sit and enjoy your treats right there or take them with you. A visit to this bakery is WELL worth it, but let’s keep it our little secret. Wouldn’t want Loretta to sell out of all the good stuff!
I live in a wonderful world. 
With no effort on my part, food just magically appears on these wonderful little houses where I live.
Sometimes I have to fight the birds for it, but really, there’s always enough to go around. Yesterday, there was a new kind of food, full of fruit and nuts. Boy was it yummy.
But there wasn’t quite enough. Me and my friend ate (or buried) all that was in our house but there was still plenty left in the bird house and they weren’t eating it anyway. What’s a fella to do?
I tried approaching for the bottom but the angle was wrong.
Tried to reach across but the dang thing kept moving.
Maybe just a little more stretch…
Ah gee, that hurts.
Maybe if I climb down the tree and approach from above…
Well, can’t say it’s the roomiest condo on the block, but the grub is good.
The dog came out to try to scare me aw
ay but I don’t even worry about that hair ball anymore. She couldn’t catch a sleeping possum if she tried and she’s sure no match for me.
Can you see me? I’m sitting on a platform just below the branches of the tree.
(Click to enlarge)
I didn’t want to wear out my welcome so I hightailed it back to my own space, after eating my fill of course. Did you see that? I can move like greased lightening!
A quick sojourn to the fence for a reconnoiter and my day was perfect.
And that’s the end of my tale….errr….tail…oh, whatever!
You may not have heard of this little gem of a town. I know I hadn’t until we started looking at Lazy Daze motorhomes a couple of years ago.
Through the user group we met a couple who were instrumental in helping us make a decision to purchase our new Lazy Daze. Kate and Terry told us about a great park in this little town called Santa Cruz Redwoods RV Park.
You won’t find fancy swimming pools and spas here, but you will get a beautiful site in the towering redwoods, with full hook-ups and internet that “works when it wants to” according to the manager!! We did have our ups and downs with the internet but overall this is a nice little park and I would recommend it highly. It is a bit spendy but that’s what you get in the central CA coast area..
The park is located on Hwy 9 and is less than a mile from Henry Crowell State Park. There is both a day use area and a campground, but no hook-ups. Since we are spoiled, we opted to stay at the RV park. Henry Crowell is a very popular park and reservations can be hard to come by.
There is also a popular railroad park and train ride. We have not had the chance to visit the Roaring Camp Railroads Park, but it is certainly something I have in mind for a return visit.
It’s only 6 miles to Santa Cruz from the park but don’t eat before you go! Hwy 9 is a narrow, winding road with lots of 20 MPH curves. Of course, California drivers interpret that speed limit to be, “go as fast as you can while still staying on the road.” JUST KIDDING, Terry!! Actually, although it is a twisty, turny road, the scenery is beautiful and it’s only 6 miles until you are back in the flats of Santa Cruz. From there your sightseeing possibilities are endless.
But back to Felton for now. Although it is a small town, it is close to both Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley and all the shopping you could need. Felton has at least two great restaurants and we made good use of both of them.
We had dinner one night at the Cowboy Bar and Grill. It’s a small establishment but the food was great…and so was the company. Prices were reasonable and the portions were more than adequate.
I ate half of my burger and sav
ed the other half of the meat for Poppy’s breakfast the next morning. She said thanks!!
We still have not learned to behave ourselves in public!!
The other place we liked was our breakfast restaurant, 
Rocky’s Café. It’s just a small place but we sure enjoyed the food.
It was at Rocky’s that we had our farewell breakfast with Merikay and Craig and Kate. We met Merikay a year or so ago but this is the first time we have met Craig. It was fun to finally put a face to the name. This industrious couple is working hard at getting their house ready to put on the market so they can realize their dream of full-timing.
We said our good byes and were so
on on the road towards home. This has not been the trip we had planned but it was good nonetheless. We got to visit with the Brights, Carol and Dave, Kate and Terry, and Merikay and Craig. That's a lot of visiting in a short amount of time.
We spent one night in Corning on the way home – wouldn’t you know it was senior day again at the buffet!! A rainbow welcomed us to Corning.
We made it home to Eugene the next day, bypassing 7 Feathers where is was raining and hailing! Came home to sunshine!!
Update on Poppy…We took her to the vet the day after we got home and had her leg checked again. Her pad which was my first cause for concern is almost healed but she had two sores on her leg that I couldn’t account for. Our vet said it looked like something had bitten her!! She took a culture of the worst wound to see if there were any bacteria still present and we will get the results next week. The wounds seem to be healing but there is some necrosis. The vet said it should heal up okay but to change the bandage daily and keep a close eye on it. I have no idea where or when she could have been bitten as she was never off leach this trip. It may have happened before we left. Anyway we are home, Poppy is healing and so am I.
