October 2021 – Nehalem OR
It’s October, so for the seventh year we are camp hosts at Nehalem Bay State Park.
I think we both finally felt like the cross country trip was over. We still
have about 2,000 miles to go to actually close the loop back to Benson, but it
doesn’t seem so far now.
The trip up the coast from
Cape Blanco
went smoothly. We even nailed docking the coach into site A2; it only took us two attempts this year. We hadn’t finished settling in when the first camper wanted
to buy firewood. We have worked with the same ranger team and a couple of the
other camp hosts for several years, so once we picked up the keys and dug out
our snazzy brown official Oregon State Park Volunteer vests we were open for
business.
The last few years the weather here was pretty warm and
sunny, and we were lulled into forgetting where we were: the infamous north Oregon coast in the
fall. This year reminded us what the real “normal” is: unremitting rain, wind,
chilly and overcast. I think we had maybe six days all month when it didn’t
rain, and then it really blew. The wind was so strong one night that we pulled
in the slides. The next day we asked the rangers to cut down a tree next to the
coach. It was moving so much that we expected it to fall on us. Last year they
took down two trees that threatened to fall on us, and I think this is the one
we thought might be next.
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| It gets really windy |
During a brief lull, I pulled the coach out of the
site and a crew dropped the tree,
cut it up and hauled it away. We were back in
the site and hooked up in less than 30 minutes, feeling much safer.
Unfortunately, in all the excitement we forgot to take pictures.
After so many years in the same place at the same time, we
start to recognize some of the campers and they remember us, too. One extended
family has reserved the same four sites every year we’ve been here. The
matriarch of the clan seems to do nothing but cook all week. We helped them
with some small issue last year and she sent us some of her clam chowder, which
is the best I’ve ever eaten. Just before they pulled out this year, once again
she sent over a half a gallon of really outstanding chowder. Kayeanne sent her back
some whipped cream-frosted chocolate cupcakes (excellent!!) that, I’m happy to say, she thought a fair trade. She asked for the recipe. Boy, that chowder was good.
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| Kayeanne took this beautiful picture |
One clear evening we headed to the beach near sunset to
scatter Lucy’s ashes. She so loved this place that it seemed like the right time.
We sat on some driftwood and drank a little wine while we reminisced about our
lovely girl. As the sun set we let her free. I swear I saw her running toward
the sun in joyous bounds. Schroeder clearly saw something, too, so I’m sure she
was there. Boy, do we miss her.
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| Really big trees! |
After so many years, you’d think we had seen most of
what there was to see in
this area. For
some reason we’d never been to Oswald West State Park, despite it being part of
the same park management unit and just 10 miles or so from Nehalem Bay. We’ve driven
right through it at least a dozen times headed
north to
Seaside,
Cannon
Beach, Warrenton and
Astoria. In fact, we were driving by it to go
to Costco in Warrenton when we decided that enough was enough: we were going to
see what we were missing.
As soon as we headed down the trail to the beach, it was clear
why this park is one of the most popular in Oregon. Just look at the pictures! The Short
Sand Creek Trail is the most direct route to Short Sand Beach and the picturesque cove that
surrounds it. The trail follows the creek as it winds through huge Sitka
Spruce, western red cedar and western hemlock
trees that tower overhead. The white sand beach is embraced by steep headlands
covered in trees. The tide line has large tangles of driftwood that are twisted
and weathered into fantastic shapes. The northern part of the cove is a well
known surf spot and a number of surfers took advantage of the rare sunshine the
day we visited. If you are in the area, be sure to visit. There are miles of
trails in the park that wind through the forests and lead to beautiful,
sweeping coastal vistas.
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| Schroeder loves the beach |
Nehalem Bay State Park is usually sold out
every weekend at this time of year. The first two weeks of October are also
very popular if the weather is reasonable. This year, not so much. Oregonians
are hardy folk, and don’t let a little rain interfere with their fun. The
weather this year, though, really put a damper on things. Folks would arrive
for a week's stay decked out in their foul weather gear and wearing determined
smiles and pull out a couple of days early, defeated by the wind and rain.
Camping is supposed to be fun, and only the most determined and prepared folks
seemed to be having any.
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| I did get in a few fires |
This month seemed to fly by.
We weren’t especially busy, there weren’t any drunks to contend with, no epic
parking failures to unsnarl, not even any loud parties running too late. For
whatever reason, it was suddenly time to go. We pulled out on the 31st
to spend a week in Eugene
getting some coach repairs done and visiting with Sharon and Gary Sams. We also need a Trader Joe’s and Costco
resupply.
Speaking of wine, here are a
few that we enjoyed:
Costco currently sells a
wooden box of four French Bordeaux’s that each carry a 90 or 91 point rating. The
box sells for $30, or $7.50 a bottle! I liked all of them, and just bought two
more boxes. The boxes we bought contain:
Bel Ormeau Bordeau 2018
Chateuax Thomas Bordeaux 2018
Haute le Valette Bordeaux 2018
Chateau de Lyde Bordeaux 2018
Kayeanne also liked:
Brancott Sauv Blanc 2020 NZ
Allan Scott Sauv Blanc 2020 NZ
No books to report this month. I’m
becoming illiterate, I guess.
From Eugene
we will make our way to Salt Lake to spend Thanksgiving with Liesa, then on to California for December
More soon,
Bob
More pictures below:
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| Short Beach at Oswald West State Park |
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| Happy campers. Kayeanne took this one, too |
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| Pure joy |
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| More trees at Oswald West |
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| It's a gale but this Lab needs his ball time |
