table rock

Day 154 – Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway Part 2

Day 154 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

My gracious hosts for the evening prepared an excellent breakfast of oatmeal topped with cinnamon, bananas, and raisins; a soft boiled egg produced by their own hens; toast; cranberry juice and coffee…a feast!  After breakfast and of course a shower, I toured Richard and Renate’s Alpaca Farm.

Alpacas on the Web

Richard, from New Jersey and once in sales for a large company, and Renate from New York City, once a curator for a museum, retired from their jobs early and moved to Brookings where they opened a retail shop as a retirement business.  While Renate loved the business, Richard didn’t, so she said, “Then find something else for us to do.”  Richard said, “Let’s purchase a herd of Alpaca.”  So around ten years ago, they began their alpaca business called www.alpacasontheweb.com.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
watson falls

Day 153 – Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway

Day 153 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

So I didn’t look for the cache at Wal-Mart this morning as the landscape crew was nearby. But I did decide to drive inland toward Crater Lake today.  The scenic byway began at a lower elevation in Roseburg, so I figured I could at least enjoy a handful of stops in Umpqua National Forest if Crater Lake wasn’t feasible.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
ducks

Day 152 – Travel Day

Day 152 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Today was very uneventful.  I tried filling up VANilla with gas when a scruffy man in a black hoody came running toward.  I thought, “Uh Oh”.  He says to me, “You can’t pump your own gas in Oregon…it’s a $500 fine!”  Well, then they might want to post some “Full Service” signs on the pump!  So Oregon and New Jersey are in a league of their own on the gas pumping laws. 

Anyway, he finished the job and then I found Portland Bagel Co for breakfast. I hope to find a few more locations when I come back to Oregon.  What interesting flavored bagels including S’more bagels and rainbow bagels.  I could have left with several, but picked Tillamook Cheddar…delicious!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
sea lion caves

Day 151 – Oregon Coast Highway Part 2

Day 150 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

I awoke to a lawn mower…a signal for a second day of sun!  I had planned to head inland today to Crater Lake, but passing up a sunny day on the coast of Oregon seemed ludicrous, especially since it will be my last day on any coast for five months.  VANilla took us from Bandon to Cape Arago where we visited a couple of state parks.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
sea stars

Day 150 – Oregon Coast Highway

Day 150 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

For some reason, despite my glass of cabernet in a tin cup, I didn’t sleep a wink last night.  I’m not sure if it was the nearby traffic from Route 101, the sound of diesel engine belonging to large trucks that seemed like they were unloading freight outside my window, or that I was just out of my element a little.  Pros and cons of parking lots as compared to campgrounds kept racing through my mind…perhaps that will be a thought of the day sometime soon.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 148 – Redwood Highway, Part 3

Day 148 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

I’m not sure why I keep hoping for better weather.  I’m in the Pacific Northwest during the rainy season.  I think I just associate California with the sunny beaches of the southern half.  Regardless, the weather was somewhat reasonable today.  I started the morning taking the hottest shower of my life.  Those that know me, know that my tolerance for heat is super high, so for me to say the shower was hot, is like saying boiling water was flowing from the spigot.  At least I was clean briefly.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
campground prairie creek

Day 147 – Redwood Highway, Part 2

Day 147 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Wow. I stayed up way too late in the K-Mart parking lot blogging and taking advantage of 3G service, and I’m paying for it today…feeling a bit sluggish.  I saw all the redwoods I could handle yesterday, so I opted for a change of pace today.  First, in dire need of coffee, I utilized the “Around Me” application on my iPhone to find a local place.  The Boat House Expresso Bar, located on the harbor, sounded good to me.  As soon as I hopped out of VANilla, a nice lady greeted me and said, “I’m sorry, we’re closed right now…doing a little remodeling and painting.”

“Oh, too bad, I was just looking for a cup of coffee,” I replied.

“I have some coffee brewed, but I can’t make you anything fancy,” she responded.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
rockefeller forest

Day 146 – Redwood Highway

Day 146 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

Drive-thru Tree Park

I started today out joining the tourists and driving through a redwood tree…well, I was told VANilla wouldn’t fit, so I had to drive around the redwood tree. Regardless, I’d call the “Drive-thru Tree” a tourist trap and a waste of five bucks! Perhaps that was because during my recent trip to Africa we got to drive through a tree in the wilderness and take as many pictures as we wanted without dodging the next car coming through.

The Chandelier Redwood Tree stood 315 feet high, is approximately 2,400 years old, and has a diameter of 21 feet. A chandelier tree is a tree whose branches become injured or bent and upon continuing to grow, the branches attempt to correct the odd angle by growing upward. After driving through the tree, tourists could visit the gift shop and even purchase a redwood (twig size) for $9.95. A few tourist traps I didn’t visit were Confusion Hill and Legend of Big Foot.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

Day 145 – Pacific Coast Highway Part 4

Day 145 of Year Long Road Trip Along America’s Scenic Byways

My day began with a hot shower, tea, coffee, and a soft-boiled egg and bacon sandwich courtesy of Tish and Chris!  After Tish left for work, Chris and I took the dogs, Simon, Petey, and Chili down to Anchor Bay Beach.  It is one of the few places around that not only lets dogs visit the beach, but they may also run off leash.  Several locals frequent the area.  In fact, approximately 30 different families banded together to outbid Marriott in order to save the campground where many of them have been coming with their families for years!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!