RV the Oregon Coast, December, 2005

	December 3, 2005: Only one week from today and we will be on the road toward the Oregon Coast. It's time to clean out the fifth wheel basement, vacume, wipe out the dust, tie up the heater hose, throw out stuff we haven't used in a year, and rinse then fill the fresh water tank. I'm also checking the water in the batteries.

December 5, 2005: We are making more plans for our vacation beginning in less than one week. Remember the Portland Spirit trip during the summer? We saw Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) during our tour of the Willamette River on the Portland Spirit.

Gwen was able to visit OMSI a few weeks ago with her Grandchildren. We have chosen to return to watch Polar Express in the 3D OMNIMAX theater and a very special treat, a ride on the steam locomotive, Holiday Express through Portland. This will all happen next Sunday, December 11. Our travel day is Saturday, December 10.

December 6, 2005: Fort Stevens State Park in the northwest corner of Oregon was the guardian of the Columbia River during WWII. It is now a beautiful Oregon State Park and our first park to visit when we begin our Oregon Coast tour in 4 days.

December 10, 2005: I am late posting this because of problems setting up my satellite Internet connection last night. I worked on it from 8 - 10pm (remember, this is only my second time to set it up without help from Glenn), then finally gave up. I discovered this morning that the OPI meter is unreliable. When that happens I'm suppose to go to the "screamer" method were the spouse screams out the trailer window the signal strength numbers as I adjust the dish. Rather than disturb my "vacationing" spouse, I used the remote laptop method where I set the laptop next to the dish and watched the signal strength numbers on the laptop. She has a wireless connection to our satellite modem. That worked well and I was connected quickly once I gave up on the OPI meter.

Timber Cove RV Park is a private Escapee CO-OP park in Sutherlin, Oregon. It is the only Escapee park in Oregon so I wanted to check it out. It is one of the most beautifully maintained parks I've seen. As you can see below, each space comes with a storage shed. This is not where we are staying this evening but I wanted to visit the park to know what to expect from an Escapee park. We are traveling on to the Roamers Rest RV park in Tualatin, Oregon.

Each parking space comes with a storage shed

December 11, 2005: Roamers Rest RV Park in Tualatin, Oregon ... a very nice place to be. Only $24 per night for full hook up and right on the Tualatin River. Note our satellite dish at the rear of the trailer. You can almost see the criss-crossing, rear stablizer supports which keep our trailer for moving around.

Our plan for today was to ride the Holiday Express, however, all trips were cancelled due to technical difficulties. We did get to view a surprise visit from the Spokane, Portland and Seattle #700 4-8-4 steam locomotive. It is unfortunate I could not provide you with the sound this steam locomotive made as is passed, whistled, then reversed into the storage shed. This truly made us even more disappointed that we were unable to ride the Holiday Express. Pass your mouse through the photo below for an additional photo.

..We continued our day at the Omnimax Theater to view the popular movie, Polar Express. We had not seen this movie before today so it made the movie that much more exciting.

Sea Kayaking on the Willamette in front of OMSI

The Omnimax projector is on a track where it can be lowered to load 70mm film then raised to the projection position. The film is advertised to be 10x the size of 35mm.

OMSI is truly a location you would not want to miss if visiting Portland. This is where the Omnimax Theater is located. If you have not seen an IMAX film, it is certainly worth the effort. You are literally surrounded by the movie by viewing on a domed screen. Imagine yourself in a large comfortable seat with head rest, tilted back and needing to turn your head left and right to see all of the projected movie. Add this to the giant speakers in front and back and you feel as if you are on the Polar Express headed to the North Pole.

December 12, 2005: This is a travel day from Tualatin Oregon to Fort Stevens State Park. This is an Oregon State Park which is the furthest point to the northwest of Oregon.

Along Oregon Highway 26, we passed the Camp 18 Restaurant and logging museum. Since it was past lunch time and we were hungry, we stopped to see what there was to see at the restaurant. As it turns out, the log cabin which houses the restaurant was handmade beginning in the 1970's by one of the local lumbermen. Note the wooden cougar over the sign sneaking up on the unsuspecting eagle. This little Christmas tree out on the road was pathetic but the giant 18 foot tree in the restaurant was

impressive. The most impressive thing to me was the size of the log beam holding up the roof. It is 85 feet long and weighs 25 tons. It is supported only on the two ends making a very large room for the dining area. According to the brochure, construction at the restaurant/museum will never be finished. The food was very good too.

We arrived at Fort Stevens at about 3pm. Just enough time to get set up before darkness arrived.

This time the satellite dish took me only 15 minutes to set up. Since this was my third time to do it without Glenn's help, the saying, "third time is the charm" must be true. The OPI meter was the problem during the second try, so I did not even attempt to use it this time. I will admit, we chose our campsite to be sure we had a clear view of the southern sky for Internet access. Still, there are no bad campsites at Fort Stevens State Park.

December 13, 2005: This morning has begun damp .. can you see the mist? Also note the satellite dish just to the left and behind the little tree.

Note that the day did finally clear up to a nice blue sky and very little wind. We spent our afternoon in Seaside, Oregon. The sign states "the End of the Lewis and Clark trail". It is interesting that this was "the end" because Lewis and Clark were told of a beached whale on Seaside beach. They needed the blubber and oil badly for their camp so went in search of the whale. By the time they arrived, the native

Clatsop Indians had taken everything but the bones for their own use. Lewis and Clark negotiated for several hundred pounds of blubber and oil .

Gwen and I are stolling along the Seaside Prominaide. Directly behind us is the Seaside Trendwest Resort where my son Joe would be "camped" while we are in our fifth wheel. The blue sign on the lamp post is a Tsunami Evacuation Route sign pointing toward the building. Perhaps you would run into the Trendwest Resort and start climbing stairs. The beach stretches for 3 - 5 miles and has a very gentle slope toward the town. If there was a tsunami, there would not be much to slow it down before entering Seaside.

Another interesting sign in Seaside ... "there were 40,000 Clatsop Indians in 1805, by 1905, the last Clasop Indian was dead". So it took the "invaders" 100 years to destroy the native culture, it's now 100 years later, do you think we have learned our lesson yet?

The above photo was made by merging 3 photos into this panorama using Photoshop Elements. The largest hotel is the Trendwest Resort, Shilo Inn is to the left of Trendwest with various other condos and hotels to the right.

Gwen and Morgan with the Peter Iredale Shipwreck

December 14, 2005: Today was tour day for the Fort Stevens area. We began with the Peter Iredale shipwreck. (Note: click the photo to see all the Columbia shipwrecks) Probably the most photographed shipwreck in the

world. The Columbia River south jetty protects ships from a south wind when entering the Columbia River. The fishing boat above is struggling against a wind on the Columbia River. The state of Washington is the opposite shore.

The are several batteries in the Fort Stevens shoreline defense system. Battery Russell is where Morgan and I are standing. Gwen is reading a map to locate the different batteries in the Fort Stevens area. Her Father served at Fort Stevens during WWII. The Columbia River is in the distance beyond the gun at the left.

In 1947, the French presented the people of the United States with 49 boxcars (one for each state) full of French gifts in their gratitude for help during WWII. This one boxcar was given to Oregon and is now preserved and displayed here at Fort Stevens.

December 15, 2005: We've parked, setup and had lunch already in our new camp site in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Laundry, indoor pool and hot tube are within 100 feet. At $24 per night, this is a bargain.

I've used Gwen's software again to create a panoramic view of Cannon Beach. Give it a try by clicking here, then scroll from left to right and back again to see at least a 180 degree view for the homes and businesses looking toward the ocean at Cannon Beach. The large rock on the right is Hay Stack Rock and is over 200 feet tall. If your browser is like mine, it will fit the entire photo onto the width of your monitor. When you hold your mouse over the photo, a magifying glass will appear with a (+) in the center. Click the photo and it will enlarge, then you can scroll back and forth to see a larger picture of the whole 180 degree view.

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