oregon

Oregon Coast Adventure September 5th- 25th 2024 (20 nights)
The fall is usually when we take our biggest trip of the year.  The weather is generally optimal and places normally aren’t as crowded as during the summer.  This year our plan was to explore Oregon’s coastline.  We had made it up to Coos Bay in the past, but wanted to go further north.  So, we decided to head to Portland and then cut over to the coast via Astoria.  We joined Harvet Hosts again (annual membership was $79 on sale) so we could stay at some winery’s along with way.  Our first stop in Oregon was supposed to be a winery in Jacksonville, but the weather didn’t cooperate (98F degree temperatures were forecast for the two days we planned to be there).  So, instead, after stops in Santa Barbara and Oakland (it’s a long way to Oregon from San Diego), we detoured to the coast and stayed at Sue-meg State Park in Trinidad, California.  This turned out to be one of our all-time favorite campgrounds!

Sue-meg State Park (Sept. 8th – 10th)
The drive from Oakland was a long one.  It took us about eight hours with a couple of stops (including a farm honey purchase in Hopland, California) to arrive at the campground.  Sue-meg State Park is about one hundred miles south from the Oregon border.  It was foggy and around 60 degrees at the campground when we arrived in the late afternoon — perfect weather for hiking.  We had campsite #120 ($35/night + $8 reservation fee) at Agate Campround (there are other campgrounds as well within this large park), a lush and very private site.  The sites at the campground are very spaced out and there are water spigots throughout the campground.  Verizon coverage was fair but useable, even to text images and make phone calls.  There’s a free rv dump station one highway exit south at the Northbound Trinidad Rest Stop.

The first thing we did after a late lunch was head down to Agate beach for some treasure hunting.  Agates are semi-precious stones and part of the quartz family.  The stone is known for its striking translucence and colors.  It’s popular in jewelry and has a smooth polished surface.  Agate has been used in jewelry since ancient times.  The name “achates” comes from the river in Sicily where agate was discovered.  The agate is often formed when silica-rich fluids are sealed within volcanic rock and evaporate.

Agate beach is very long and wide.  There were only a few people on the entire beach when we descended the steep trail and stairs and stepped onto the sand.  The sunset was just breaking through, low over the ocean, when we started our search for agates.  We had watched a number of Youtube videos on agate hunting before our trip, so we had an idea of what to look for — translucent looking stones.  We brought our little bright flashlight with us (a phone flashlight may also be used for this) to verify the rocks we picked up were translucent (by placing the light behind the rock — light should be visible from the front of the stone).  We were amazed how many agates we were able to find — we filled up a couple of zip lock bags of them.  The stones are beautiful and come in different colors (white, amber, green ….).  The white ones are very easy to spot on the sand because they are so brilliant white.  The stones we found varied in size from one half inch to over 4 inches long.

In addition to agate hunting, Sue-meg SP has a lot more to offer.  There are miles of hiking trails through lush spruce forests and a lot of wildlife to see.  We climbed up to the elegant Ceremonial Rock to get a beautiful view of the bay and hiked along the Rim Trail.  There are a number of ocean overlook areas along the trail, including Patrick’s Point, Rocky Point, and Palmer’s Point.  If you are lucky, you might see whales and/or orcas swimming at Palmer’s Point.  There’s also a steep trail that goes down to Cannonball Beach where there are tide pools at low tide.  We saw a lot of wildlife, including a deer just a few feet away from us, squirrels, sea lions and harbor seals, and at night…bats flying.  We were warned by the ranger that bears had been seen within the campground, but we didn’t see one.  It seemed like we just scratched the surface of things to do and see here even after a couple of nights.  But, with a full schedule, we had to move on.  On the way to our next stop, we were treated to a sighting of a large heard of Roosevelt Elk crossing the highway near Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Cottage Grove, Oregon (Sept. 10th – 11th)
Our first stop within Oregon was at Baker Bay Campground at Dorena Lake (just outside Cottage Grove).  We had campsite #8 ($33/night), a beautiful spot adjacent to the lake with expansive lake views.  There are threaded water spigots within the campground and we were able to fill our Scamp’s fresh water tank at our site by using three zero-G rv and marine hoses attached together (25+50+50 feet hoses).  The dump station was closed for repairs during our visit, but there are waste water drains in which grey water can be dumped.  We used our grey water jugs and dolly to offload all the grey water after our visit.  There is no Verizon mobile phone service here, but there is coverage within a short drive to the historic town of Cottage Grove.  There are a number of leisurely walks within the campground.  Wild sweet blackberries are a delightful sweet treat when walking near the lake — just watch for the thorns when picking them.  And, if you bring your bikes, there is a 36 mile, mild to moderately skill level, paved bike path a few miles down the road which runs along the lake and past the historic covered bridges and into the Cottage Grove downtown area.

Sometimes called the “Covered Bridge Capital of the West”, Cottage Grove is a small quaint town with six covered bridges.  Some of the bridges were built in the early 1900’s to carry rail traffic hauling logs across the the Willamette River.  There’s also the “Swinging Bridge”, a historic suspension footbridge right in town.  We had fun walking its length and swinging up and down as we crossed.  The historic downtown area is small but charming with its shops and eateries.  We found the ice cream tasty and the townspeople very friendly and welcoming to tourists.

Portland Area (September 11th – 13th)
We couldn’t find any public campgrounds within the city of Portland and many of the private ones had reviews indicating crime is a potential issue.  So, we decided to stay just outside the city at two wineries (Harvest Hosts).  The first one we stayed at is a beautiful farm called Helvetia Winery in Hillsboro, Oregon.  We were able to park our Scamp 13′ out on a field in front of the owner’s home.  The owner, John, is very personable and gave us a detailed tour of his winery and offered wine tastings ($40 per person).  John gave us a background on the wine making process as well as a walk through his fields and look inside the wine room where the wine is made.  We also enjoyed playing with his labrador, Buddy (Chief Security Officer, vineyard dog).  After spending the night, we had a great breakfast at the recommended Longbottom Cafe and then moved onto the next day’s Harvest Host winery, Columbia Gorge Vitners.

To arrive at the Columbia Gorge Vitners we drove to the opposite side of the Columbia River, into Washington state.  This farm property, owned by Ray and Cheryl, is also very scenic and expansive.  We had a lot of fun walking through the vineyards and getting to know the farm’s horses, steer, sheep and guard dog.  There are rows and rows of apples here and we were given free reign to eat the sweet varieties.  In the afternoon we strolled through the wealthy town of Camas, Washington know for its competitive schools and expensive real estate.  We had a tasty dinner close by at the Washougal Times restaurant (excellent fish & chips and burgers).

Back at the farm, we got to know their very friendly Great Pyrenees guard dog, Whitey, quite well. He alone guards the animals and acres and acres of land all night long.  He’s two years old and since he’s been on patrol there have been no further bear, mountain lion, bobcat, or coyote sightings.  The last time a bear visited the farm, the apiary was completely robbed of its honey.  Now, the animals and the people can rest soundly at night knowing Whitey is on patrol as they sleep.

Astoria (September 13th – 15th)
Driving west about two and a half hours, we reached Astoria, where the mouth of the Columbia River meets the ocean.  A charming coastal community with stately Victorian homes, Astoria is the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains.  Its streets are saturated with themes of the Lewis & Clark expedition and all things “coastal military” (coast guards, Columbia River bar pilots, and old forts).  Established in 1810 as a fur trading post, it was once the salmon canning capital of the world.  Its Astoria-Megler Bridge is the longest three-truss bridge in the world.  Many movie fans will know the area as a filming location for the movie “The Goonies“.

We stayed at Fort Stevens State Park campground in nearby Hammond, Oregon.  Located at the mouth of the Columbia River where it joins the sea, Fort Stevens is the only military installation in the continental U.S. to be fired upon by a foreign power since the War of 1812.  At around 11:30 P.M. on the night of June 21, 1942 (during WWII), a long range Japanese I-25 submarine surfaced just south of Fort Stevens and began firing shells in the direction of the fort.  U.S. fort soldiers located the submarine by its gun flashes, but were told to hold fire.  No reason has been given why the hold order was given.  It might have been that the fort commander didn’t want to reveal the fort’s position.  The sub fired nine shells over approximately sixteen minutes before submerging and retreating beneath the waves.  Fortunately, none of the shells caused any damage.

Walking through the old fort and above its batteries built into the hillside is a glimpse back in time.  Some of the big guns still remain and at least one is still trained vigilantly out onto the bay.  Standing high above the batteries, facing the water, one doesn’t even have to close their eyes to imagine scenes of the surprise Japanese naval attack on the fort during WWII.  Each of Battery Russell’s two 10-inch rifles was manned by a team of 35 men.  A well-trained gun crew could fire a 617-pound shell up to 8 miles away, once per minute.

Fort Stevens State Park campground is very large.  There are multiple loops of campsites with 174 full hookup sites ($47/night), 302 electrical/water sites, 6 tents sites and 15 yurts.  We had campsite H15.  As a corner site, it provided us partial shade and full hookups as well as a bit more spacing between campsites than other choices.  The campground appeared full when we visited in September, but was still quiet throughout the day and night.  There is only marginal Verizon mobile service here.  A coin operated laundry is located right outside the park but we were advised by a park volunteer to drive about ten minutes to Marlin Avenue Coin Laundry in adjacent Warrenton, Oregon (he told us the one near the campground has a reputation for having sand in their machines due to its proximity to the beach).  There is a great paved, level bike trail network within the park that allows riders to travel from the campground to the Battery and other areas within the park.

Some of the highlights of our trip to Astoria included a visit to the historic Fort Stevens Battery, viewing the Peter Iredale (British) shipwreck from 1906 at the beach, walking around Coffenbury Lake where we saw big elk, exploring downtown Astoria by foot, and especially taking the Astoria Riverfront Trolley ($1 per ride or $2 for all day).  The trolley is a 3-mile heritage streetcar line that follows a former freight railroad track along the Columbia River.  The trolley does not have any overhead lines, so it uses a portable diesel generator (in front) to supply the electricity to move it.  Parallel to the trolley, the Astoria Riverfront Walk (4-mile paved trail from the Port of Astoria to Pier 39) is a long path which follows the river and makes for a scenic walk, run or bike ride.

Cannon Beach (September 15th – 16th)
After a quick drive from Astoria to Cannon Beach (less than an hour), we arrived at the Cannon Beach RV Resort.  It’s a private resort with amenities like a swimming pool and spa, gas station (full service only), basketball court, playground, pet area, and EV chargers.  The reason we chose this campground is that it is located within a fifteen minute walk to downtown and the famous Haystack Rock on the beach.  Check in is a fairly strict 2 p.m. (we arrive at 1:40 p.m. and they let us in but commented on our early arrival time).  We had site #13 ($86/night) which is on a curve in the road and has a little more space between spots than other locations.  Elk can often be seen wandering just outside the campground.

We walked into town from the campground (about 15 minutes) and explored some of the well-groomed shops and galleries along the main street, Hemlock Street.  There are many restaurants as well in the downtown area.  The area has an upscale beachy Del Mar / La Jolla vibe with an approximate 6 block city center and high end homes along the water (mostly beach rentals now).  After a quick tour of the downtown, we walked onto the beach toward Haystack Rock.  Similar in appearance to Morro Rock in Morro Bay, Haystack Rock juts high up out of the water.  You can practically walk right up to it during low tide, however, the rock is an environmental preserve and is roped off to protect the birds and animals.  There are also tide pools near the rock which can be observed for sea life at low tide.  Haystack Rock is one of Oregon’s famous landmarks and has been featured in many movies.  Tufted puffins can be seen on Haystack Rock from early spring to mid-summer offering the most accessible viewing of these puffins in the Northwest.  Many other varieties of birds can also be seen on Haystack Rock.  Like Morro Rock, Haystack Rock was formed millions of years ago from volcanic activity.

We visited Ecola State Park on our last day in Cannon Beach.  It’s a beautiful coastal park along 9 miles of coastline.  There are a couple of main parking areas which allow for hiking through forests of Sitka spruce and hemlocks sprinkled with breathtaking views of the Oregon coastline.  Terrible Tilly, the lighthouse just offshore, can also be seen from the park.  Lighthouse workers named the Tillamook lighthouse “Terrible Tilly” because the trip out was so difficult due to the unusually rough seas.  Many movies were filmed in Ecola Park, including “Kindergarten Cop“, “Twilight“, “The Goonies” and “Point Break“.  Indian Beach stood in for Bells Beach, Australia, in the story finale of “Point Break” , where Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swaze had their final showdown.

Cape Lookout State Park (September 16th – 18th)
Just an hour south of Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast, Cape Lookout State Park is just west of the town of Tillamook (yes, the cheese and ice cream giant).  The Tillamook factory is the main tourist draw in this town of Tillamook, Oregon.  Tillamook Creamery invites visitors to tour its cheese plant operation and purchase food and items from its gift shop.  There are paid as well as free self-guided tours available.  We took the self-guided tour with the highlight being the view from above the cheese factory floor.  Visitors can look down over the cheese factory workers though big windows on the second floor.  We were told there is no tour of the inside of the ice cream factory which is located in a building next door.  The Creamery can get very crowded with tourists, so if you want to visit then plan to arrive right when it opens and preferably on a weekday (it opened at 10 a.m. when we visited in September).

The town of Tillamook, however, also is home to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company.  The Blue Heron produces French brie cheese on its large farm.  The 1930’s Dutch colonial barn now houses the deli and gift shop.  There’s also a wonderful petting zoo on the farm with a miniature donkey, sheep, a cow, and other farm animals.  Guests can purchase food to feed the animals for $1.  The gift shop has a lot of great items produced in Oregon at reasonable prices (e.g. honey, preserves, toffee, brie, hot chocolate mix, t-shirts, ….).  There’s also a deli which, among other items, serves hot brie sandwiches (featuring their French brie cheese) and also has wine tastings.  Lastly, there is a field set aside for Harvest Host members to stay overnight for free in their RVs.  We didn’t stay here because we prefer to stay in state parks whenever possible.  We found the Blue Heron French Cheese Company to be the highlight on our visit to the town of Tillamook.

Cape Lookout State Park is about twenty five minutes outside the town of Tillamook, located on a sand spit between Netarts Bay and the ocean.  The campground is right behind a big sand dune, which separates the beach from the campground (no ocean views from campsites).  There are 38 full hook-up sites, 170 tent sites with water nearby, one electrical site with water, 13 yurts, six deluxe cabins, a group tent camping area, a hiker/biker camp, flush toilets and hot showers, and an central RV dump station.  We had tent site C1 ($28/night), which is an end campsite and is spacious with it’s own backyard and picnic table.  We used our three hose system to transport water from the closest spigot (two campsites away) all the way to our Scamp 13′ (to refill our fresh tank and fill our auxiliary water jugs).  The Verizon service here was very good.

Cape Lookout State Park is remote and only the campground can be found in this area (no stores or gas stations).  The beach, a few steps away, is a beautiful stretch for long-distance walking, as it goes on for miles.  There are also some long distance hiking trails that leave from the campground into the forest (including one that goes along Netarts Bay).  The signature hike is the Cape Trail (it can be reached from the campground, but it’s a long hike just getting to the trailhead).  Instead, drive to the Cape Trail parking lot a few miles away.  The Cape Trail itself is around five miles round trip from the parking lot and is rated as easy to moderate.  The 5-mile round-trip Cape Trail features views of the ocean and shore peeking through Sitka spruce and hemlocks on the way to the tip of Cape Lookout.  We found the first part of the trail to be mostly flat and easy, but the second half is riddled with large tree root obstacles and bogs of mud.  One has to be very careful in these sections not to slip or trip.  There are also a couple of sections of trail which are along sheer cliffs hundreds of feet over the ocean on one side (which are not roped off).  This hike took us about 2.5 hours, but allow three hours to be conservative and time for photos.  Walking miles on the beach along the Netarts Spit every morning was very relaxing and meditative.

A big storm came in on our last evening with strong wind and rain, but was gone by the morning.  We left Cape Lookout State Park heading south and in the direction of our next destination, Newport (about 1.5 hours south).

Newport, Oregon / South Beach State Park (September 18th – 20th)
Newport has a lot going on, with an old historic district featuring many fishing town shops and restaurants and even a first class aquarium.  Before arriving, we made sure to stop at Depoe Bay and the Yaquina Head lighthouse, both must-see attractions.  Depoe Bay is a small seaside town known for having the world’s smallest harbor as well as whale watching.  The downtown consists mostly of a street facing the ocean sprinkled with tourists shops and restaurants.  The draw for visitors are frequent sightings of whales that pass close by the coast here as well as a blow hole right along the main street.  We found a small city parking lot a few blocks back from the front street where we could park our Scamp 13′ for free.  We didn’t see any whales during our visit, but we did enjoy watching waves breaking into the rock channel forming the blow hole and shooting water straight up into the air!

After a short visit at Depoe Bay, we continued onto Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  The parking here is free with the America the Beautiful pass (otherwise it’s $7/vehicle).  There’s a informative visitor center which has some nice photos and historic information about Oregon’s tallest lighthouse as well as a short movie.  After learning about the lighthouse, we walked the quarter mile paved path down to the lighthouse.  There are currently tours of inside the first floor of the lighthouse, but the rest of the lighthouse, we were told, would be on tour after renovations.  We were able to see multiple whales swimming by from the fantastic views in front of the lighthouse!  There are also tidepools at a cobble beach below (if the tide is low — check tide table for planning your visit).

We stayed at South Beach State Park campground in Newport, Oregon.  This is a small city with a rich fishing history.  Accordingly, the Newport marina filled is filled with impressive large fishing vessels.  The campground is just a few miles south of historic downtown Newport, over the Yaquina Bay Bridge.  It’s located in a quiet isolated area surrounded by forests and the sea.  The campground is huge, with 227 elecrical sites with water, 60 tents sites, 27 yurts, and three group tent camps.  We had campsite D1, $44/night (electric & water), which is a good spacious and fairly private site.  Despite the campground’s size, we found it to be quiet at night (other than sometimes hearing the fog horn and sea lions).  The internet was great on Verizon’s network, with speeds able to stream movies.  There is a network of paved paths for bikes, and dirt trails for hikes, that run throughout the campground to the beach as well as all the way to the South Jetty (a large channel that boats traverse through when going from the marina out to sea).

We only spent a couple of nights here, but could easily have stayed a week.  There’s just so much to do and fun to be had.  We took walks to the South Jetty and road our bikes from the campground to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  The aquarium is great and the highlights for us included seeing the Tufted Puffins, sea otters, sea lions, walking through the clear underwater tubes and observing sharks, rays, and other fascinating sea life swimming around us, and meeting Percy the Giant Pacific Octopus.  There’s also a hands on tidepool exhibit where one can touch star fish, sea anemones, and other tidepool creatures.

After a fantastic visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium we had an excellent lunch at Clearwater restaurant (halibut fish chips, crab cakes, and chowder).  The restaurant is right in the historic downtown area and directly above the dock where the male sea lions like to hang out (from late August until June).  Watching these animals is hilarious — they are very loud and vocal and fight for spots on the dock.  Seeing these large animals up close is a special treat.  Don’t forget to visit Local Scoop if you still have room for ice-cream (it’s the locals’ favorite)!  When visiting the Welcome Center at the campground, the host volunteer triggered us by showing us her polished (rock tumbled for 30 days) agates she collected while treasure hunting on the beach.  After seeing her rocks, we had to try for ourselves.  She pointed us to Seal Rock (small parking spots at Quail Drive) and wished us luck.  Although not as fruitful a beach as Agate Beach was for us in California, we still managed to find some unique beauties!

We headed to the central RV dump on our way out of South Beach State Park campground at around 1 p.m. (check out time), only to find a long line of RVs (perhaps 10) waiting to dump (only one dump station for hundreds of campsites!!!).  We estimated the wait to dump would be over an hour!  Never before had we ever encountered such a thing … Since our next stop, Cape Perpetua, has no amenities, we knew it would be best to dump after spending a couple of days here.  We made some calls and found that there is a city RV dump station just a couple of miles away in Newport (and were told it is open 24/7 and free).  We left our place in line and arrived at the well-appointed city RV dump in Newport (run by their Chamber of Commerce) just minutes later with no one around!  We dumped quickly and left!

Cape Perpetua Scenic Area (September 20th – 22nd)
Cape Perpetua is perhaps one of the most scenic areas on the central Oregon coast.  This is where the forests meet the sea with large rock formations right off the coast.  Additionally, volcanic activity in the area has created unusual natural rock formations right at the shoreline which produce unique water features (e.g. Thor’s Well, Spouting Horn, and Devil’s Churn).

We spent a couple of nights at Cape Perpetua Campground (run by the National Forest Service).  It’s a small campground in a valley across Highway 101 and the ocean.  We stayed in campsite #37 ($38/night), the farthest site on the end (almost a mile from the entrance).  It’s a pull-in site and close to the group camping area (there’s also a site across from #37 as well).  There were lots of wild fresh blackberries to pick right at our campsite which we enjoyed with our morning granola!  There are water spigots here, but no RV dump station or electrical hookups.  There’s no internet at the campground, but free Wi-Fi at the Cape Perpetua Visitor’s Center.  We also were able to get Verizon internet a little way up the St. Perpetua Trail.  We arrived fully prepared, with completely empty grey and black tanks and a full fresh tank (along with two 6-gallon jugs of fresh water).  The campground is long and narrow in a valley and it tends to be dark as it is in a forest of tall trees.  Because it’s so dark at night in the campground and we had a pull-in campsite right off the campground road, we decided to set our LED underlighting to a “Warning Orange” color and left them on all night so anyone driving by would easily see our Scamp 13′.

Spending a couple of days here seems like the perfect amount of time for a visit to the area.  We hiked to the top of the St. Perpetua Trail (about 2.2 miles round trip / moderately difficult) and enjoyed the amazing views at the top.  We also walked around the coastal town of Yachats a few miles away.  The ocean’s awesome natural water features are another close by attraction to see (note — the America the Beautiful Pass is accepted at these scenic viewpoint parking lots in place of paying the day use fees).  Thor’s Well and Spouting Horn are right next to each other.  There are great views of these eroded natural fissures from viewing platforms above.  However, some people walk down onto the rocks which can be risky (large waves can come in without notice).  Thor’s Well is a large carved out section of rock where waves rush in and create a choatic basin of water smashing into rocks.  Spouting Horn is an ocean geyser where waves crash into the rocks which have a fissure carved out allowing the water to accelerate and then blow up through a hole in the top.  And, Devil’s Churn is a narrow chute carved out of the rock which allows waves to funnel up the shoot and crash into each other, creating a massive churning of white water.  All the of these effects are best observed at high tide.  In case you don’t have a tide chart, the Cape Perpetua campground host writes the time of high tide on the board near the host site each day.

We found Cape Perpetua very welcoming and beautiful.  We enjoyed many hikes in the area (including a free guided Ranger tour on Giant Spruce Trail, with a view of a 550 year old Spruce tree) as well as the natural ocean sights described above, just a few minutes drive from the campground.  Being in nature (with no cell coverage in the campground) was very calming and centering.  And, as a bonus, as we were leaving the area the next morning, we were treated to a free sunrise view of the Heceta Lighthouse at one of the view points going south on Highway 101.

Grants Pass (September 22nd – 23rd)
We chose Griffin Park Campground on the Rogue River in Grants Pass as just an overnight rest stop on our way back into California.  However, it turned into an adventure in its own right.  After a four hour drive from the coast to Grants Pass, we pulled into Josephine County Parks’ Griffin Park Campground.  It’s a very small campground with only 14 full hookup sites, 4 tent sites, and a yurt.  The campground is in a beautiful setting with a large grass field adjacent to the Rogue River (and all campsites have river views).  We set up our Scamp 13′ at campsite #6 (full hookup, $35/night).  It’s a pull through site that isn’t level and even with our Anderson leveler, we couldn’t quite get level side-to-side (although this didn’t really affect us).  There is good Verizon internet here.

After situating our Scamp 13′, we drove about fifteen minutes to the Rogue Creamery Dairy in Grants Pass (an organic farm).  It’s famous for its award winning cheeses.  We sampled their cheeses and took their free 2 p.m. tour (it’s short – we watched robots milking cows and observed cows in the barn eating).  After the tour, we ate a lunch on the farm, which consisted of their specialty (and only) item — grilled cheese sandwiches.  They are very good!  They also have a cheese counter with most of their cheeses available for sale.  We purchased their Caveman Blue Cheese.

Following the creamery, we headed to Grants Pass downtown area and took a stroll.  There are a lot of nice shops and restaurants in the historic district.  They have an iconic sign that says “It’s The Climate”, installed in 1920 as a slogan and tribute to its great weather.  If it’s warm and you feel like some Grants Pass ice cream, make sure to check out Udders Handcrafted Ice-cream for a fantastic selection of delicious flavors.

At the end of a fun day, we relaxed at the Griffin Park Campground and walked along the Rogue River.  We saw fast jet boats racing up the river and families playing in the park.  And, to top off our trip, when looking at the sand bar stones, we discovered a treasure trove of large agates!  What a fantastic way to end a wonderful three week adventure!  We had so many great experiences these past three weeks, that we can’t wait to plan our next trip!

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