Today we were up early to get on the road out of Crater Lake. We ran into some road construction on the north side of Crater Rim Drive yesterday that we wanted to avoid. We exited the park on the north side, noticing that the smoke was still obscuring the view of the lake. We drove toward Eugene, Oregon and then crossed over to the coast at Florence. From Florence, we followed Highway 101 all the way up to Newport, stopping at some oceanside pull-outs on the way to take pictures.
Once in Newport, we went to Georgie’s Beachside Grill for lunch. While we waiting for a table, the kids and I walked down to the beach for a few minutes. When our table was ready, hubby ordered a Diablo Seafood Pasta dish, our son ordered Salmon, I ordered a seafood sauté with scallops, whitefish, salmon, crab, shrimp, and clams, and our daughter ordered chicken. (She's such a party-pooper.) Everything was delicious. After lunch we stopped for some groceries. All four of us made quick work of our list and put everything away while we were still in the parking lot. I wish grocery trips at home went as smoothly.
After we left the grocery store, we decided to stop at the nearby Yaquina Lighthouse. We walked out to the ocean view boardwalk and took some photos before going into the visitor center to look around the museum. We watched the historic film there and stamped our passports. From there we continued north on Highway 101 to our campground – Sea and Sand RV Park. Over a year ago, we booked a front-row spot right on the sand (on a tiered bluff overlooking the beach). We stopped off at the laundry and loaded up three washer’s worth of clothes. We found our spot and hubby went to monitor the laundry and make some phone calls. This campground has great wifi – even all the way down on the beach at our site!
The weather was a bit cool and overcast. Apparently, the air quality here is suffering from several large forest fires in Canada. The kids and I walked up to the campground store and we bought some little souvenirs, then we all went over to the laundry room to help hubby with the laundry – it took all of us to carry it back down to the RV in several smaller bags. Back at the RV, we folded and put away all of the laundry. With all of our chores complete, we headed outside to meet our neighbors and explore the beach. On one side of us was a family from Canada. They were very nice and we had some great conversations. On the other side was a family from Bend, Oregon. They were driving a vintage 1973 Winnebago motorhome . . . with original ORANGE shag carpet in the cockpit area. It was awesome!
We sat outside of the RV for quite a while chatting and just looking at the ocean view. When the sun went down and it got even more chilly, we took showers in the heated shower house – it was heaven. Even though it was cool, we added some blankets to the beds and cracked the windows open just a bit so we could hear the crash of the surf. We went to bed and all slept like babies!
