Pacific City

Yesterday at Long Beach (WA), the whole day was gray from start to finish.  In defiance I posted a series of bright flowers.  Today was not only gray, but misty.  Fortunately our way led south and hopefully out from under the overcast.

Once again US 101 took us across the Meglor-Astoria Bridge and around Astoria (OR) and beyond.

The weather didn’t stop these boats on the Columbia River.  There were salmon to be caught.

Stopping for a break we found one last stop on the Lewis and Clark Trail.

Just as we’d hoped, the further south we went, the fewer clouds.  Patches of blue opened up.

The original n/s road on the west coast was El Camino Real, the Spanish Royal Road (Rt 1) running the length of California.  As people moved into the area, improved roads began appearing one of these was US 101, sometimes running with and sometimes paralleling 1, and continuing north along the coasts of Oregon and Washington.  Part of the road is the Pacific Coast Scenic Highway.  Scenic it is,weaving through the Coast Ranges, National Forests, and small towns offering fresh seafood, Expresso, and Les Schwab Tires.

We caught glimpses of the Pacific, here a beautiful blue with white foam, unlike the Washington coast where it was brown with brown foam, much like the Atlantic around Galveston.

The clearer the skies, the bluer the water.

At times the road leaves the coast and runs along rivers.  Some of them run between the road and the ocean, often with a ridge of trees between them.

Loved this shark cloud resting on the ridge.

Wonderful bright sunshine and a very bumpy road.

We only drove 110 miles, but it took three hours on the roller coaster roads. To access our next resting place, we had to leave US 101 and drive 10 miles along Sandlake Road. 

The word to describe Pacific City Thousand Trails park is ‘maze”.  Not only are 95% of the sites made for smaller rigs, but the roads weave up and down and around a ridge.

Most of the sites are hidden behind brush fences.  Most are 50 or 30 amp and water, with a few full-hookups, and most of those are leased long-term.

It was tricky, but we managed to keep along the perimeter road.  We planned to check out the full-hookups to see if any were available, but after weaving up the hill around blind turns, we stopped at the next site big enough for us, since we are only staying 4 nights.

There is a road just behind us, then the hill runs down to the beach.  From here we can hear the ocean.  (To me it sounds like traffic noise!)

The family fun area was at the top of the hill, around this corner, up some more, and around another corner…well, you get the picture.

This guy kept getting into my pix.

Nice big playground and mini golf.  To the right (below) were

pickleball/basketball courts (only one net available), and behind them, horseshoe court.

To the left and up one last rise, nice indoor warm water pool with am and pm adults only swim times, and

activity center with seating area on the left and playroom on the right complete with kid’s books and a puppet stage.

Next to it was the store and the wifi center (people said the reception was iffy), but it had a beautiful view of the Pacific.

From there we took a shortcut to the registration office.  All TT parks in our package are first come, first served.  We check in, drive around, pick a site, then return to the registration office with our site number.  Sometimes we can call it in, but in this park we have no phone signal, and no antenna tv.  With all of the tall trees, even satellite reception is a crap shoot.  Of course, to access the registration office, we had to descend the hill,

cross a gully, and go up again.  Nothing in this park is easy.

It does have a short trail access crossing the road to the beach.  Of course, you have to go down the hill…….

Tomorrow we let the Eagle fly.

Louise and Duane

Errata:  in Friday’s post about the Lewis and Clark trail, I said that we used the tunnel to go around the point beyond Desolation Niche.  We drove past the point.  The tunnel was further along.  I also said that the importance of the port of Astoria was usurped by ports at Vancouver, Canada and Portland Oregon.  The port was in Vancouver, Oregon.  I have corrected these mistakes and reposted the Friday post.