Heading Home

We left Seattle on Thurs., Sept 6 and decided to take the scenic route home. We cut over to the coast and took Highway 101 south to Illwaco, WA. We had previously visited Cape Disappointment State Park on our 2005 Oregon coast trip, and we wanted to stay there on this trip. The park is located outside Illwaco, WA on a peninsula, with the Columbia River on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. It’s a beautiful park with large spaces located under towering pine trees. The very loud roar of the ocean made for great sleeping.

John was on a quest for Willapa Bay oysters, which he remembered as some of the best oysters that he’s ever had. We enjoyed a dinner of oysters, Dungeness crab, and Ahi tuna. I guess we weren’t as tired of seafood as we thought.

Fri. Sept 7 we drove all of about 20 miles across the bridge over the Columbia River to Astoria, OR. Pris was born and raised here.

We headed out to Ft. Stevens State Park (one of the nicest and most popular parks in OR) and were very surprised to see that they were full. So we went across the street to one of the nicest KOA Parks that we’ve ever stayed in.

The Oregon coast drive is one of the most beautiful drives in the U.S., and one of the most popular. We knew that the campgrounds were very full in the summer but we did not expect them to be full this time of year. On our drive south, we continued to see campgrounds and RV parks that were full. I guess lots of people have discovered that this is the best time of year to visit Oregon. (weather is beautiful and school is in session).

Relatives Susie, Ginger and Arnie drove down from Portland to meet us for lunch. We visited and learned all the details about the previous weekends wedding. Ginger and Arnie’s daughter, Shelby, got married in Seattle. We were sorry to have missed it by only a few days.

After lunch, we went to visit another relative, cousin Carol Jean and husband Don. The visit was too short, but we did get caught up. There were more relatives to visit, but that will have to wait for another trip.

Sept 8 we drove down the Oregon coast with its beautiful ocean views. We feel that this is one of the most beautiful drives anywhere. We arrived in Coos Bay to find that the RV park that we had picked out was full. So we picked an alternative private park. We did not remember having this problem on our previous trip, and it was the same time of year.

Sept 9 we continued south on Highway 101 and crossed into California. We headed inland and the weather got warmer. Time to bring out the shorts. We hadn’t used them since Fairbanks.

We stopped just south of Garberville at the Benbow RV Park & Resort. It was a very nice park with grassy sites in the trees. They even had a golf course as part of the RV Park.

Sept 10 we were off and running and not looking forward to going through San Francisco. We opted to take the long way around the city and miss the traffic. It worked fine and we didn’t encounter much traffic. Course, we went through around lunch time.

We had enough driving and decided to stay south of San Jose in San Juan Bautista. We had previously stayed at the Betabell RV Park and liked it, so we stayed there again. Besides, someone in our party was hankering for Mexican food. So, we drove into the small, quaint town of San Juan Bautista and enjoyed a nice Mexican food dinner.

Sept 11 we continued down 101 with Morro Bay State Park as our destination. This is one of our favorite parks and we have camped here many times. The park is located near the water and in eucalyptus trees. This also gave us an opportunity to eat at our favorite restaurant.

Sept 12 (somebody’s birthday) we arrived home, tired and ready to sit for awhile!

We started this odyssey on June 13, 2006, so our arrival home was exactly 15 months of traveling. During this time we passed through 41 states, 7 Canadian provinces and covered 21,000 miles in the RV and 12,000 miles in the CRV. 33,000 miles in total!

This ends our travel blog, for now. Stay tuned for future adventures.

John & Pris