Covered Bridges of Linn County

What wonderful adventures are we going to have to day?

Our morning walk took us around the campgrounds and then to look for the walking path. 

The beginning of the path near the kiosk map is under water from all the rain that fell recently. 

We went looking for the other end of the path. The grass was very wet, so wet that our pant legs were soaked. 

We walked pass a grove of evergreen trees that were planted in rows. 

There were stump in between the six to seven foot trees. So they must be Christmas Trees for the owners who have owned this land for more than 100 years.

We found the second drier entrance and the foot bridges over the Calapooia River tributaries. The path appeared to have been flooded as it were very muddy and slippy. 

There was a lot of moss and Spanish moss on them on the trees along the path. Through the trees we could here large flocks of geese gathering before their migration to warmer areas further south, somewhat like ourselves. 

Here is a brief history of Albany, in Linn County. 150 years ago it was the destination for many settlers. They found this area of Oregon 's Williamette Valley very fertile for farming. The climate and soil conditions provided a variety of crops, such as common and perennial rye-grass, vineyards, fruit trees and vegetables. The farmers raised chickens, goats, sheep, cattle and llamas. There are many rivers and creeks that run from the Eastern Cascade Mountain Range and the Coastal Range to the West. Over some of these rivers and creeks, covered bridges were built in the early 1900s. Some of the events that are held every year are: Timber Carnival, with competitors test their skill at pole climbing and ax throwing; Farmer's Markets; Strawberry Festivals; Bike Racing; Pioneer Picnic Storytelling; Veteran's Day Parade; Christmas Parlour Tours; Albany Nosh Tours; and others.

Our tour today was very enjoyable. After breakfast we made coffee and drove on another adventure. A tour of the covered bridges in Linn County, around Lebanon, east of Albany. 

The day before we found all the bridge locations on Google and dropped a latitude marker. These were entered into the GPS as destination points.

 We drove to Lebanon on highway #34 East turned on #20 north bound to #226 and Scio, a very small town. The roads were narrow but well paved. They wound through the valleys, over rivers and creeks. The fields were very green with the perennial rye-grass. We stopped in Scio at a Mexican restaurant for lunch and to use their rest room.

Our first stop was the Hoffman Covered Bridge, over the Crabtree Creek.

 While we were driving we saw an evergreen harvest of trees, for the Christmas Trees market. Stores are already stocking up with them. Gilkey, Simanek, and Hanna Covered Bridges were over Thomas Creek, several miles apart.

Near by the Hanna Covered Bridge  We drove further on #226 to check out the Sweetbrier RV and Train Park, nestled in the trees. 

The last bridge we stopped was in the prettiest area. The Lanwood Covered Bridge is over the Crabtree Creek and has a second river called the Roaring River joined it just down stream. 

The Larwood Wayside County Park is in the triangle bordered by the two rivers and the road. This provided travelers a peaceful place to picnic under the old trees or fish in the rushing water. was a Linn County Park used for day used only, good for fishing and picnicker.

We talked to an elderly lady sitting all by herself on a stool in the middle of a gated driveway. She was reading the paper and waiting for the rest of her mail to be delivered. She said she was originally from New York and came out to Oregon with her husband 20 years ago to farm this land. She explained to us that Crabtree Creek was the river and Roaring River was the smaller creek. Why she didn't know.

We were away almost 3 hours. and it didn't rain the whole trip, until we started back to the campground!

So remember "Discover It and Live It"

Ride Out The Storm

November 18, Sunday

Destination: Stay Put

The winds were so hard that they shook the trailer today. There was an Magnitude 3.15 earthquake near Portland this morning and the area we a staying is posted as a tsunami area. Randal was listening to the weather forecast and they had a wind warning of gusts up to 60 miles an hour. This lead to an early morning discussion about whether and should we travel today or stay put and ride out the storm. Randal's gut feeling was to stay put until at least Monday to see if the winds go down. The forecast was for rain for most of the week/month. The winds are the biggest concern when driving on any road or highway.

We went for a walk around the Campground, taking the garbage to the dumpster and picked up a new  registration form, so we stay where we were for another two nights.

We went to Manzanita and did a load of laundry, then stopped at the library to use the wifi. We sat in the truck with the laptop on our knees and surfed the weather, only to see that this weather system will be around all day today and tomorrow. We drove down to the beach area to watch the large waves come up onto the beach, the rain and the few people with dogs walking. The hills are lost in cloud cover and rain.
It was movie time the rest of the day, passing our time here until we can get on the road again. There are only a few campers staying here now. Some of them were in tents and the Yurts. The couple that came in the other day with a fifth wheel said they were in this area to do some clam digging. They left this morning and had to go inland to home over a pass before they got to their home.

The wind gusted so much that it shook the trailer made us feel uneasy. The rain continued in torrential down pours. We pulled in the bedroom slide so it would not be as noisy during the night. It is good that there is a few more campers near us. We can see their lights so we know they are home and we're not alone!

November 19, Monday

It was 12ºC torrential rains and strong winds gusts up to 80 miles/hour. The rain stopped at 2:00 pm, but the wind still howled.

Our sleep was interrupted because of the shaking of the trailer and rain. With the bedroom slide in did help however we wore ear-plugs. This storm will last all day today. The park grounds are getting soaked and from our dinning-room window see water collecting in large pools. It does not encourage a walk. A few trees were broken in the site next to ours. The power went off for most of the afternoon.

We went out to the library to check our emails. While there we looked up who won the CFL Finals. Calgary and Toronto are going to the Grey Cup this Saturday, 28th in Toronto. It should be a good game to get on line.

We stopped to see the Pacific Ocean, the waves are really high. The sand is drifting like crazy! When the rain stopped briefly this afternoon we walked to see the ocean again.

Randal made reservations for a week in a KOA Albany/Corvallis OR. We did not want to be travelling during the US Thanksgiving Weekend. When the power was off we played scrabble Randal won this time!

Remember to "Discover It and Live It"

Oregon Coast

November 14, Wednesday 

Destination: Nehalem Bay State Park, OR

Today was what we label as a travel day. Even though we don't need to rush from our campsite, usually an 11:00 am checkout, we left Mt. St. Helens RV Park in the fog hoping to find sunshine further south. It was 8ºC foggy with light rain this morning and eventually got to 15ºC in the afternoon.

We took our time to prepare for our trip as it was only a 2 hour drive over 103 miles. We left at 9:45 am and headed south on I-5 until we got to exit 40 and #4 to Longview. We met many logging trucks on the two lane highway and then crossed over the Columbia River on Lewis and Clark Bridge. Now in Oregon we headed west on #30, the road was hilly and it got to an elevation of 656 ft. Near Westport.

This travel day was planned to have some site seeing built into as neither of us had spent any time along the coast. At noon we arrived at Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River.

 Astoria is the oldest American city west of the Missouri River. We stopped there to enjoy the sunny day and walk along the river banks. There were many freighters on the river that carried cargo from all over the world.

We pulled into an empty parking lot in front of the Columbia River Maritime Museum as they we closed for the season. We talked to a gentleman who gave us information about the area. He walks his Jack Russel when the vacuum cleaner is started at home.

The area here in Astoria is under transition . The old railway station is being renovated to become the local rail head quarters of a street car that, in the summer time, will run along the river taking tourist passengers from one end of town to the other.

Back on the road again, we took #101 and headed south along the Oregon Coast. At Fort Clatsop we found the place where Lewis and Clark ended their surveying trip back in the early 1800s. Their encampment is marked as a National Memorial. Lewis and Clark stayed three miserable months to prepared for the return trip east.They boiled sea water to make salt to cure meat for their trip. 

In Seaside further south, is a beautiful place with homes along the beach. There are many State Parks on this coast line and we arrived at Manzanita and Nehalem Bay State Park at 1:30 pm and found a good site for $20.00 a night. We booked for four nights. After we set up we grabbed a bite to eat and then at 3:00 pm went for a walk. We walked around the campground, took our self-registration to the drop box. And then walked to the beach.

Nehalem Bay Shore lies on a sand spit with two inviting sides-a picturesque, recreation-rich bay on one side and a long, sandy ocean beach with scenic Neahkanie Mountain in the background on the other side. www.oregonstateparks.org

The beach goes for miles and the waves of the Pacific Ocean were high. At first I thought the tide was coming in but as we stayed we saw that it was going out. We sat listening to the sound and enjoyed the warm sun as it was getting lower in western sky. Randal took many pictures as we waited for it to set. Time was 4:45 pm. The wind got cooler as we returned to the trailer. On the sign that leads to the Pacific Beach has a notice of what to do if there is a Tsunami in this area.

It was a beautiful day and we feel so good to be here and travelling like we are. We celebrated with a glass of wine and a game of scrabble. Lorraine won.

November 15, Thursday
Location:  Nehalem Bay SP - 4ºC and sunny in the morning and warmed up to 12ºC in the afternoon, it was welcomed!

We are without an internet so we have to rely on other adventures. The walk around the Campground took us along the bike/walking path past the amphitheater and a beach on Nehalem Bay. The tide looked like it just went out, leaving sea weeds and patterns in the fine sand. Many large old tree drift wood and stumps were piled on the beach bank. It was awesome to see.

After breakfast we drove into Manzanita, looked for the library. We were told that the library has a free WiFi connection even when closed. So we could check our emails and FaceBook sites. That being done we drove down the main street and parked close to the beach. We walked again on the beach with the Pacific Ocean wave pounding on the beach.

After about and hour on the beach we headed back into Manzanita and stopped at the grocery store. It was an older building and was filled with all sorts of things as well as fresh organic vegetables and fruit. We asked the owner about the tide times and he referred us to their local news paper, “North Coast Citizen”. High tide was at 12:55 pm. only minutes away. So off we want to walk on the beach again and watched the tide come in. It be 8.76 feet above the “mean lower low water”. Now this is the first time I have heard of this term!

We stopped into an small ice cream/coffee shop and bought a fruit smoothie before we left Manzanita to visit Wheeler, south on #101 through Nelalem. Wheeler is a small village on the Nelalem River. We saw a couple of fisherman going out and a kayaker. We stopped at a bar and restaurant called “Tsunami” for fish chowder and egg rolls.

 On returning to Nelalem Bay State Park Campgrounds, Randal down loaded the 100 pictures he shot. They always tell the tale of our day's adventure. At 4:30 pm we walked to the beach from the TT to watch the sun set. It became cloudy so the reflection was a variety of colours. Beautiful!

November 16, Friday
It was 4ºC and raining early this morning but had stopped off and on all day. It was 12ºC high this afternoon.

Randal had turned on the TV Oregon Public Broadcast with a program with a senior lady doing chair exerciser. As it was raining we joined her and did the exercises as best we could. It was energizing. Later when the rain stopped, we did our daily walk along the beach towards Manzanita and back. It turned out to be a 7km walk. I measured it on the pedometer I wore. The waves were much higher and noisier. Randal captured some spays and good heights.

At 1:44 pm we went to the beach to see the tide come in. The wind come up more so the waves were much higher. The rest of the afternoon was a game of scrabble and a movie.

November 17, Saturday
It was 12ºC raining and very windy this morning. It did not get much higher than that, in fact the temperature went down to 7ºC and rained most of the day. The wind went down only for a while.

Our adventure walk on the beach dressed as rain-proof as possible. The sands were wind-blown and smooth. The wind was coming out of the SE and drifting the fine sand. We walked south, the opposite from yesterday's walk. Of course the rain really came down and by the time we got back to the trailer we were soaked! We striped as soon as we got inside, in the kitchen. We always bring in the fine sand, so sweeping was necessary.

We went down town Manzanita to the library to check our emails and face book messages.

We stopped in a couple of stores. In “Unfurl”, a clothing store I bought a “Goodhew” pair of socks made from “Cashmerino Bamboo” which is made of wool and bamboo fiber. I put them on right away when I got back to the truck and boy they were cozy and warm!

We dropped into J. Scott Wilson Fine Art Studio and Gallery. He paints contemporary, simplistic art of local environment. www.jscottwilson.com

Until next time remember to "Discover It and Live It"

Awsome Forest

We  have been here in southern Washington for only four days and have had rain, fog, wind and sun and not all at the same time, fortunately.  On the sun day which was Saturday we visited Seaquest State Park hiking trails. Parking on Silverlake side of the highway (504) we headed through a tunnel under the highway and entered the campground and hiking trails. 

  

The trails are not difficult and wind through the tall treed forest. The further we walked into the forest the darker it got. All the trees were covered with a moss similar to a Spanish Moss that we saw in Georgia, but here even the trunk were covered. 

We had the feeling we were on an other planet. We were the only people on the trails so it was easy to stop walking and stop the rustling of the fallen leaves under foot. The silents was soothing and tranquil to the point of unbelievable.

 

We used a map supplied by the park ranger at the visitors centre to stay on track as there were many juncture, Ts, and Ys. Luckily no dead ends.   

 

We saw the smallest of mushrooms growing from the moss on trees. There may even have been a Bigfoot hiding behind one of the trees in the next photo.
   

 

So all in all it was a very nice sunny day that we spent in the dark forest.

 Until next time remember "Discover It and Live It"

Mt. St. Helens Visit

Can you remember where you were in May of 1980?  I was in Edmonton and Lorraine was in Regina.  The photo below was on display at the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument taken May 17, 1980, the day before it blew its top.  

We are now traveling south to spend the winter in warmer climates and along the way, in Washington is Mt. St. Helens. We are at the same name RV Park just off the I-5 in Castle Rock, WA. The first day of our stay we stopped at the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Centre where the young ranger showed the route to the view point and a live camera shot of the mountain and it was in the sun, a good thing. At the lower altitude we were in a fog so it was nice to see that the sun was out and no snow up higher.

The higher we went, the more we could see of our destination. There were many view points along the road. The RV Park is at 550 ft elevation and signs on the way told us the 2000, 3000, and 4000 ft. points. On arriving at Johnston Ridge Observatory we were 4,314 ft. above sea level and the temperature was 1C with a cold wind. It reminded me of summer hikes in the Canadian Rockies where you start the day in sunshine and when you get to the top it's snowing. Well today we didn't have any snow.       

From the top the view was fantastic. The info sign were set up along the train for a very informative self guided tour.  

While at the top we saw a plumb of white coming from the crater that we assumed was steam from the volcano its self. I was able to take the very clear shot of the snow capped mountain. 

   

So until next time remember "Discover It and Live It".