USA – Week 2 - Coos Bay to San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Bridge





An ex giant redwood

Oregon Coast

Happy camper

Otter Point

Little Myrtle



The Oregon Dunes



Monday 28/5 – Moving on day again to day. Still in Oregon we are headed for the dunes area of the state. Education time again… There is an area that stretches for 50 miles down the coast from all the way down from Florence to Coos Bay. It is known as the Oregon Dunes area. The dunes can be up to 300 feet tall and up to 3 miles inland!! Our stop was at Coos Bay and we were having a treat in a motel tonight, by we know how to live!! On the way down we stopped off at the dunes and had a stroll out on the sandy masses, quite impressive. We checked into our digs and headed off to Fred Meyer for some retail therapy but were thwarted by the Oregon Police Department dealing with some fool who’d locked himself in a nearby store with a gun so we had to second rate shop at Safeway across town. The motel had a spa and sauna so we were in luxury for a night. Spa was great, motel comfortable. Mrs D got a TV fix and I got an internet fix and all was well with the world.

Tuesday 29/5 – With the gun seige over at Fred Meyers, we headed on in for some shopping. Then it was off down the coast towards a place called Golden Beach. En route today we called in at an ‘aminal park’ a mini zoo to you and me. We were petting a 6 month old lion cub, a 5 month old black leopard cub and a 3 month old black bear. There were all sorts of things wandering around from llamas to deer and goats. All good fun but the big cat enclosures were a little on the small side for our liking. Lunch time looming, we stopped on the coast at Port Orford before arriving at ‘the secret camp’ in Golden Beach. Superb little site with a character owner – Donna who appeared a little on the fresh side when we were checking in. Camping among more trees but lovely facilities. Super…..

Wednesday 30/5 – A morning stroll around giant Oregon Douglas Firs and Port Orford Cedars. A lovely wee trail dedicated to a former conservationist warden Frances Shrader. After this we headed off to see what was allegedly the biggest known Myrtle Tree on earth. A staggering 88 feet tall and 42 feet round the base with a 70 foot canopy spread. What a whopper. Late afternoon we headed for a spot on the coast known as Otter Point for another stretch before dinner at site. Now you know all about Slim in Corfu, now we have Myrtle the moggy, who sat with us all evening. A very pleasant litle thing apparently abondoned there by her owners, how could they!! Anyway we fussed and fed her before heading off to bed. What is it with cats and us?

Thursady 31/5 – “ Bye bye, going to California, bye bye.” Off to California today and the Giant Redwood area on the north coast. The tallest trees on earth. Obviously a trip all about trees of varying sizes so far!! We stopped off at a couple of good view points along the way and arrived at Hiouchi mid afternoon. Ace place, a campsite free of trees!! At last we could see the sky and the sun!! Lovely big site, good facilities and the use of an indoor area in the evenings. We had a local stroll though a grove of massive trees before a beer and grub in our huge plot.

Friday 1/6 – A day out of the car today with a reasonable hike planned. We were heading on the Hiochi trail then a loop on the Mill Creek Trail and back via Hiochi. Keep up please. Trails superb, trees jaw droppers and we had an unplanned fording of a river to deal with. There was no mention of this in the local guide!! However Mrs D took it well and quite enjoyed the challenge. Sadly the trail was a little longer than anticipated so a quiet evening followed with tired and weary feet.

Saturday 2/6 – The plan today was to leave highway 101 for highway 1 on the last coastal stretch down to San Francisco. Pick up a campsite en route and ease on down into San Fran the following day. Big mistake, the road was windy, narrow, the famous fog was rolling in and every man and his dog in California was out camping as every site was full!! After many hours of coastal road we decided to head inland away from the fog. Still no empty campsites. We ended up back on the 101 in a posy little town in a motel we both had to go out selling our bodies to pay for it!! What a chore………………Not the best of days. Missed out on the sausages we’d bought for camp dinner too.

Sunday 3/6 – We checked out of our Travelodge and were away fairly early. As we were only 60 miles from San Fran it didn’t take us long to get there. We arrived via the famous Golden Gate bridge where we stopped for a while, had a walk to the end of the bridge, took far too many pictures and cooked the sausages, they were great!! It was then a short drive to our digs for the 1st night. Nice tidy spot next to the railway into town and across from the mighty Pacific Ocean. More TV fix for Mrs D and more internet catch up for me. We did manage a walk along the beach before we beers n bed. The San Francisco adventure begins……………………..