THE BEARS

Last night we saw about a 600 lb. bear and her cub come to eat fish at the fish cleaning station about 150 feet from our campsite.  Tonight Steve set up the tripod near the truck, and they showed up.  Here's what he captured on the camera:

Scraps from fish cleaning are in the bucket he's going after

He's got his head in the bucket..a second one came up and is sitting down eating

With their heads in the buckets...

He's looking at Steve I think...Steve had the truck door open just in case..I peaked out the trailer door

Redwoods Day One

Today we toured Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park near Crescent City in Northern California.  We went on several hiking paths and glad to get the exercise.  When we got back to the campground, a fishing group was just getting back and they caught a 38 lb. Salmon...they are running here so lots of fishing going on.  Steve started talking to them when they were fileting the fish, and came and got first aid stuff when a guy cut himself.  His reward was two big salmon filets!  We'll grill them tomorrow.

Here are some of the huge trees:

and another drive thru on the way back home

Leaving the Oregon Coast

We left Coos Bay yesterday and stopped in Port Orford to have lunch with Roger and Kathleen Meader, a cousin by marriage (my Aunt Mary's husband Dale's son).  We continued on to Klamath, California just south of the Redwood National Forest.  The views were fantastic as Hwy 101 hugs the Pacific Ocean.

This is the Rogue River, and the Patterson Memorial Bridge..first in the country to be built with prestressed concrete in 1931

Pit Stop Java..the coffee drive thrus continue and we try and get a picture of ones we see

and here we are in California...a real change of scenery in the Redwood National Park..more later!

Southern Oregon Coast

We stayed in Coos Bay and explored the beginning of the southern coast..lots of Sand dunes in this area

A big sport is ATV's on the sand dunes, and if you look real close, you can see them below riding on the dunes...at this park they have campgrounds and staging areas where they bring the ATV's in and set them up

Aragos Lighthouse

sea lions on the rocks below

Couquille River Lighthouse

We have so many great pictures

Washington and Oregon have so many Expresson drive thru's

Steve particularly liked the Bikini Baristas!

We're off thru the rest of the southern coast, and to California Redwoods

and a few more Central Oregon pics

The blog is acting up..we stayed in Newport for two nights to explore central Oregon. Stopped at the Tillamook Cheese place, and of course got stocked up..we were out of the Wisconsin cheese. We enjoyed the seals in Newport, the Yaquina Head lighthouse, and the Rogue Brewery. We're staying two nights in Coos Bay to explore the Southern Coast.

Central Oregon Coast

North Oregon Coast

We got to the Oregon coast and began looking for a place to stay and ended up finding a nice campground in Seaside..15 miles from Astoria, the beginning of the coastal towns, and 7 miles from Cannon Beach. So we stayed two days and explored. We crossed the bridge over to Washington in Astoria just because it was such a high bridge to get the view. Here is the sign coming back in to Oregon.

Lumber waiting to be transported

Seaside, Oregon..Lewis and Clark statue

The Pacific Ocean

They had two films on the expedition and we learned a lot about their journey..they camped here for the winter

and built a fort to stay in..this was recreated in 2005

This Asoria Column was built in 1925 as a salute to early explorers and settlers..the pictures etched in concrete start with 1792 ship arriving to 1880's when the railroad came. You can go up 164 steps

The view from the top (we feel it in our legs this morning) of the Columbia river

You can see the bridge we went over..it looks smaller from the view at the top..and that's Washington accross the Columbia..and this is where the river meets the Pacific Ocean..Lewis and Clark met the goal of finding the Pacific Ocean here

and the tower from a distance

This is a sign you don't see back home!

We were walking on the beach and asked this guy to jump up on the log..he seemed to understand and even looked at Steve as if he was posing

The fog is rolling in

We rode up to Cannon Beach...what a great view and a pretty town..reminds me of Maine with all the cedar shake homes.

We're leaving today to explore more of the Coast