It started out as a gray and dreary day. The weather report (depending on which report you listened to) called for partly cloudy with scattered showers. But we loaded up Therapy and hit the road before 10 a.m. anyway. It wasn’t more than 30 minutes until we began to see BLUE up in the sky. And those tiny blue patches grew until the entire sky was lit up with something we haven’t seen in a while; sunshine and clear skies.
We are spending two nights at Washburne State Park, about 15 miles north of Florence, OR. This park does not accept reservations but we got here early enough to pretty much have our pick of the spots. We got a nice surprise as we pulled in and talked with one of the camp hosts. Tomorrow (June 4) is FREE camping day in all state parks. So we are spending a grand total of $26 for two nights of full hook-up camping.
This park is definitely under utilized. It might be that folks who only have a weekend or a one week vacation do not want to take a chance on being turned away so they prefer to make sure they have a site reserved. This is a great park, lots of shade, large and level sites, nice rest room and shower facilities, and fairly quiet (as much as public parks can be quiet!).
I started off our time here by making a grand exit from the motor home. I was letting Poppy out and noticed the leash was wrapped around her hind leg. I was being so careful and trying to keep her from tripping that I didn’t pay attention to where my own feet were going. I missed the last step out of the motor home and landed with a thud on all fours. Skinned my right knee up pretty good and scraped both hands but other than that I was unhurt…kinda stiff and sore last night but it could have been worse. I’m sure glad Russ didn’t have the camera going! Poppy was fine!
There is a great trail to the beach. It’s a little bit of a hike for us older folk – 1/2 mile but it is uphill both ways!! Seemed like it anyway by the time we got back. The trail is paved and well maintained, except for a few spots where the asphalt has been damaged by weather.
It was just a reflection in a puddle of water but I thought it looked cool.
One part of the trail looked like it belonged in a spooky Halloween movie.
Thankfully, we did not see any bears or cougars hiding in the woods. Can’t say we weren’t warned. We did see a couple of small children on the trail with their dad so we figured if the wild animals didn’t eat the children, we were probably going to be okay.
There is a creek that flows through the campground and the trail follows it for part of the way. It is a high bank so is inaccessible until it joins the ocean, but it is nice to look at.
Finally, we saw the ocean, blue and calm, just the way we like it.'
The dogs were hot after their long walk and had to cool off in the fresh water stream.
We bought a dress for Poppy to protect her from sunburn while she is naked but we forgot to put it on her. The trail was mostly shaded but we didn’t stay on the beach very long. I would hate for Poppy to get a sun burn on her newly exposed tender skin.
It’s been pretty quiet here except for the late afternoon when we got neighbors on either side of us moving in. The ones on the south side of us provided some entertainment as they attempted to back in their 24’ travel trailer. Apparently they have never heard of hand signals and it was a constant barrage of “back, back, left, NO… STOP…STOP, pull forward, now back, right, STOP…” . Then the Mister would turn off the truck engine, get out and check his position, climb back into the truck and restart the engine, and go through the whole routine one more time. I didn’t think they were ever going to get that trailer parked. I was about to ask Russ to go over and back it in for them, but they finally managed to get the thing where they wanted it and quiet returned…except for the constantly whining Basset Hound on the north side of us! Oh well, seems like everyone is enjoying the great weather and having a grand time.
Oh, that surprise Russ commented on in my last post… He gave me a hint. He said it was big and round…
This was the bag of squishy globs of sugar coated sugar that I refused to buy last time we went shopping together. Shows you what happens when I let him off leash to roam the supermarket unattended.
I was really hoping for an air card but I guess that will have to wait for another time. Maybe I will buy that as a surprise for him!!
We met fellow bloggers, Jeff and Sheryl Bright. They are one of the host couples here at Washburne. We were gong to get together last night and learn to play Mexican Train but I decided I needed to take a pain pill and go to bed. I was aching pretty bad from my fall and needed a good night’s rest. We hope to get together on Saturday afternoon and learn some of these games that ya’ll seem to play!
That’s all for now…hope the sun is out where you are. We are sure enjoying it here.
