North on the Coastal route to Oregon
Leaving early in the morning, we wanted to get through San Francisco before afternoon rush hour, and actually made it pretty much on time. Across the Golden Gate, and straight up to Samuel P. Taylor State Park by 6:30, among the redwoods.
So..... after checking into our campsite, the male of our team suggested a drive to Point Reyes National Seashore Lighthouse, which should be pretty cool at sunset.
Alas, it was a dark and stormy night, with cold grey,ever increasing fog, along a road much longer than wanted. Not a jolly time in that regard.
When we finally got there it was very windy, and no cars in the parking lot. Fog getting thicker, and blowing by in light and heavy clouds, with visibility quickly changing from a few hundred feet to a few hundred inches. The good news it turned out to be very cool, both the views of the lighthouse, and also the elk that were out in the fog going up and down the hills at the cliffs.
Rather than driving back to the campsite, we just parked the van and spent the night, with the wind buffeting us incessantly for a few hours. Don't even think of going into the parking lot restrooms on account of violent updrafts when the door was opened.
Nest stop up the coast north of Eureka was Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. Just magnificent. Great sites, everywhere trees and ferns, and quiet.
On the way north to Umpqua State Park and the Lighthouse, we met a gentleman and his wife traveling up from LA in their son's Sportsmobile. He offered a tour, and it is very well equipped, complete with full four wheel drive, a powerstorke Diesel engine and lots of living space. At the back you can see an Engels freezer cantilevered out the back behind the spare tire. They are just going wherever they feel like it, rough roads or highways.
About a quarter of the way up the Oregon coastline, and halfway to Portland are the Oregon Dunes- 15 miles of ocean-side high sand as a recreation area, complete with areas for Dune Buggies.
We didn't get a picture of far-away buggies this time, but here's picture from the Coral Pink Sand Dunes rec area from a prior southwest trip some time ago.
Overlooking the dunes is the Umpqua Lighthouse, and we stayed at the nearby Umpqua State Park -also very nice.
Jackie is inspecting the fence rail, which is actually a whale rib...
Our Umpqua State Park campsite
Now, under sunny skies, we're heading north towards Mt. Rainier, and maybe some heavy weather is coming...