What are the Amazing State Park Passes that we love to use? How did we get them? What is the cost and what are the benefits? Which ones are the best? This post is updated from the previous July 2020 post. South Dakota I also qualify for different state programs. South Dakota has discounts at …
We have now traveled the entire Willamette Valley southbound going through Oregon. Our previous visits to Oregon included crossing and visiting the Willamette Valley each time with the objective of going somewhere else. This time going to the Willamette Valley was the objective. Tacked onto this journey was also visiting the mountains south of the …
Oregon lost the Navy slowly. No, the Navy did not get lost in Oregon but rather, you might say that the Navy retreated from Oregon and has not returned. Where are the active duty military bases in Oregon? The fact is they are all gone. Oregon lost the Navy and all the branches of the …
How Oregon lost the Navy, Tillamook Naval Air Station Read More »
Oregon was the only state in the United States directly attacked during World War II. The attack was at Fort Stevens. My bet is that you probably didn’t know this fact. Until our visit, I didn’t know it. Hawaii and Alaska were not admitted to statehood until 1959 well after the war. Oregon however was …
Tillamook Head is in the northwest corner of Oregon. It is beautiful and very interesting. Tillamook Head is to the south of the Columbia River along the coastline. Tillamook Head is the furthest north mountainous area in Oregon on the coastline. Everything north of Tillamook Head all the way to the Columbia River is a …
For the Oregon Trail Pioneers, crossing the Grande Ronde and the Blue Mountains was near the end of their journey. The Grande Ronde (great round valley) was easy and gentle compared to the last two thousand miles of sage and desert sand. On a wet year, like this spring the Grand Ronde is lush green. …
In the last two weeks, we have stayed in two parks and now a forest. We have gone from the middle of Oregon to the middle of Washington. Our trip has taken us north from Crooked River to Deschutes River Oregon State Recreation Area and then Hood Park, in Burbank Washington, and now we are …
Campsite Review: Crooked River Ranch Campground is located north of Terrebonne, OR west of Highway 97 in the Crooked River Canyon next to the Crooked River Ranch Golf Course. One of the can’t-miss features of Crooked River Ranch is Crooked River Canyon. I say can’t-miss because nearly everywhere on the ranch the canyon wall is …
Campsite Review: Deschutes River Campground is just south of Interstate 84 one hundred miles east of Portland. The campground is just to the east of the location where the Deschutes River flows into the Columbia River. The west side of the river is also part of the recreation area. The campground has 34 partial hookup …
One of the can’t-miss features of Crooked River Ranch is Crooked River Canyon. I say can’t-miss because nearly everywhere on the ranch the canyon wall is obvious. There are multiple lookout locations with established overlooks. At least two paths to hike to the bottom and of course. As you already know from our arrival picture, …
There are basically two ways to cross Oregon (east-west) and the title of this post is appropriate for both routes. More cattle than people. After leaving Boise the first shift in scenery was from city to farm. The Snake River provides ample water to both Idaho and Oregon farms in the surrounding area. The Snake …
Campsite Review: Grant County Campground is at the intersection of Highway 26 and Highway 395-south in the city of John Day, Oregon. John Day (the city, not to be confused with other locations in Oregon named John Day) is a small town. To the east of John Day is surrounded on three sides by National …
Dixie Pass – Bad Roads for RVs is on the John Day Highway (U.S. Highway 26) east of Prairie City Oregon. This is a steep windy road and should be avoided in the winter. Of course, you could say that RVs should avoid traveling in the winter, in the middle of eastern Oregon, and I …
After spending three very nice days at Harris Beach State Park, Brookings, Oregon; we are continuing south on Highway 101. Brookings, Oregon and started seeing Redwoods. Brookings is just north of the California border and that’s where the GPS started notifying us of a detour. The detour was for the California agricultural checkpoint, but it …
Campsite Review: Humbug Mountain Campground along US Highway 101 right on the southern Oregon coast. It is a very nice place. Humbug Mountain is located about halfway between Coos Bay and Brookings Oregon. It is very rare to find a campground that is forested, has very nice facilities where you can walk to an almost …
The halfway point on the Oregon Coast is the Umpqua River. Everything north of the Umpqua River is considered the Oregon North Coast and everything south of the Umpqua river is considered the Oregon South Coast. We are staying at the Umpqua Dunes — Douglas County RV Park, just south of the Umpqua Dunes State …
Campsite Review: South Beach Campground is in South Beach State Park located two miles south of Newport, Oregon on the south side of Yaquina Bay. We love it. The campground is part of South Beach State Park just to the west of the highway, carved into the dense forest. South Beach State Park is very …
We are heading southbound on the Oregon Coast. The best description is that we are southbound on the north half of the Oregon coast. Much of our stay at Fort Stevens was in the rain. We did get a few breaks in the rain but it started up again earnestly when we broke camp and …
We are experiencing a true-life situation; similar to the Lewis and Clark Expedition at nearly the same location (of course, our living conditions are much more refined). The waves are high and the weather is stormy on the Oregon Coast. We are further west than where Lewis and Clark built Fort Clatsop and closer to …
Campsite Review: LL Stub Stewart Campground is 34 miles west of Portland on State Route 47 between Buxton and Vernonia. We love it. The campground is just to the east of the highway, carved into the dense forest. It is very private and secluded, but still close enough to small towns to make it very …
Boring – Oregon is really the name of the town and we love it. Mount Hood After you get to the west side of Mount Hood, as we anticipated everything is green. We are just north of the “official” end of the Oregon Trail, which we visited while we were here. The pioneers started fanning …
I am very thankful we didn’t have to walk. The Oregon Trail ends in Oregon City and we are there Saturday. From our location, pioneers went south and homesteaded in Oregon. The Lewis and Clark Trail ends (which is a dumb thing to say because it is only the half-way point) at the Pacific Ocean …
We stayed at Sisters, then LaPine followed by Bend in that order, all while waiting for our repair. Sisters What a wonderful place Sisters. Our campsite was in the city park and we could and did walk to downtown, to what is now my very favorite bakery. The taste is great, but the size of …
This is the Tamolitch Falls called the Blue Pool on the McKenzie River, near Sisters Oregon. The falls are dry because the water filters into the porous lava rock under the pre-historic path of the river. In wetter times of the year, not all the water flows underground and cascades over the edge of the …
More waterfall hunting today. Our campsite at Foster Lake Oregon has acres of open space between Foster Lake (very pretty) and a shallow pond just behind a hedge of BlackBerry bushes. Foster Lake is on Highway 20 between the Williamette Valley and Bend. The nearest town is Sweet Home. Foster Lake is very pretty and …
We re-routed to Eugene Oregon to get our RV worked on. We lean towards the passenger side. Parts to fix it were sent to the shop by Tiffin directly. Tiffin choose the shop to do the work, all we had to do was show up and wait for the repair to be done. First Plan …
The Scappoose Bay, Marina, Campground, and Fishing Harbor is next to Bayport, Oregon on the Columbia River north of Portland Oregon. The bay is right on the river in some of the backwater areas. It was nice to rent kayaks for a little exploring. One of the problems with re-routing is that all your previous …
Scappoose Bay, Marina, Campground, and Fishing Harbor Read More »
The day before we arrived at the last campsite, at the east end of the Columbia Gorge, they had a wildfire. This is really getting old. The fire was out, but the airflow, which is normally up the river, from the ocean is still reversed and smoke that covers all of Oregon and Washington goes …
Campsite Review: Memaloose State Park is 75 miles east of Portland on Interstate 84 between Mosier and The Dalles. At Memaloose State Park the campground is divided into two loops. The A Loop is to the west and B Loop is to the east. The tent sites are mixed in the loops with the RVs. …
Pendleton Oregon is known for its Shirts Tunnels and Boarding Houses. I only knew about one of the three. The others were a big surprise. While staying in southern Washington, we drove to Pendleton, Oregon just to have a look around. We didn’t expect to have to try to outrun the smoke this summer, so …
Pendleton Oregon – Shirts, Tunnels, and Boarding Houses Read More »
It is the July 4th holiday and we are camping in a city park. It is very nice here and super convenient. Until I started RVing, I would have never considered camping in a city park in Vernonia Oregon. It just depends on where you are. Logging Town Vernonia, Oregon is a logging town. There …
We are loving our time in northwest Oregon. Our route took us from Lincoln City on the Coast to McMinnville and then to the dense forest. The forest is about an hour east of Portland. From there we moved to LL Stub Stewart State Park which is about an hour (in our RV) northwest of …
We are at the McMinnville Evergreen Aviation Museum. We are camping in the parking lot behind the museum. Right next door is a very nice RV park, but reservations for it were full, and we can overnight here. The parking lot is huge and the museum is very impressive. The museum includes the largest wooden …
We are driving north after spending a week at Coos Bay, Oregon. FMCA had a rally there with seminars and social events. Our next spot will be 60 miles north in a little known campground, with only 15 spots, no services deep in the trees….exactly opposite of the rally. FMCA Rally The FMCA Rally is …
I expected a rocky coastline in Oregon; instead what we have here at Honeyman State Park are huge sand dunes, many that have been covered with fir trees. We are camping in a huge campground with over 400 spaces carved deep in the forest. I can’t explain the sand dunes except to note that several …
We are at Elkton, Oregon and this is the Umpqua River… Another nice view — outside our picture window. The Steelhead (ocean-going Rainbow Trout) are coming up-river, from the ocean, to spawn. When they are moving up-river, they prefer to hold in swifter current, rather than slack water, and this stretch of current is the …
We went hunting waterfalls yesterday outside of Roseburg, Oregon. Shot a good one. Roseburg is in the mountains south of the Willamette Valley and graced with lots of rain. Ideal for pretty rivers and waterfalls. We are getting spoiled by the green. Of course, that goes with the rain that will start again tonight. This …
We are currently in a densely wooded park in Wolf Creek, Oregon. The creek is 30 feet from the RV. We seem to have about forty acres to ourselves. One other campsite is occupied 1/4 mile down the road. Wolf Creek is a county park north of Grants Pass on Interstate 5. Wolf Creek was …
Green Springs Highway – Bad Roads for RVs is located in southern Oregon between Ashland and Keno. This is a very tight steep road and is filled with logging trucks making the route a bad choice to travel across southern Oregon. The road is also known as Oregon Route 66. The road is very tight …
Emigrant Lake County Park, Oregon, we have a nice view from our front window. It is Memorial Day, boats everywhere. We will be here for the rest of the week. No rain expected this week. We (I) will need to wash off all the grime; both car and RV are really dirty. Dragging Bottom …
As long as I can remember, I have wanted to visit Crater Lake National Park. I remember seeing pictures of the volcano when I was in grade school. It was a lake, on top of a mountain, with no streams into or out of the lake, it is filled with crystal clear water. To further …
After stopping in the middle of Oregon sage country, we drove through Bend, Oregon, south to LaPine State Park in LaPine. The Deschutes River flows through La Pine and Bend, generally from south to north, along the east side of the Cascade Mountain Range all the way to the Columbia River which divides Oregon and …
LaPine State Park (correctly spelled without a space) is in a tall pine forest south of Bend. We were only able to get a four-day reservation. We didn’t know the reason, and couldn’t believe that the park was full, on weekdays, in the middle of May. As a backup plan, I knew that the north …
Cattle Barons Halfway between Boise and Bend Oregon, there is nothing except sagebrush, cattle, and cowboys. Most people, even RVers, would make the journey from Boise to Bend in one day. We stayed two nights giving us some time to poke around and experience the area including the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Glenn/French ranch …
