We continued another fifty miles south down Highway 101 to Bullards Beach State Park in Bandon, Oregon, where we enjoyed a fun day at the beach!

After about a week of rain in Eugene, we headed to the dunes in Florence, Oregon. We were excited to sand sled, but when we went to rent the sleds, we learned that they didn’t work on wet sand. We were very disappointed, but we still had fun playing in the sand. We made lots of sand cakes.

After a few lovely days strolling the beach at Carl Washburne State Park, the weather forecast took a turn for the worse, calling for a few days of heavy rains. Our original plan was to ride the storm out, but after a half day of being cooped up in the RV with the nearest town a half hour away, we made a snap decision to pack up and head inland an hour to Eugene Oregon where there was supposed to be less rain. Also, the city is a much better place to be on a rainy day because you can get out of the house doing errands, etc.

When we arrived at Armitage Park just north of Eugene we snagged a campsite near the bathroom. Very early in the trip we decided to decommission our toilet and use campground restrooms instead. We needed more storage space and the toilet room made a great place to throw all sorts of odds and ends. Also, I had never liked having to empty the “black tank” (as it is known in RV circles) every few days, especially after one unfortunate episode where the drainage hose came loose in the middle of the process (yuck!). Once we started using campground bathrooms exclusively we quickly learned the value of being close to the bathroom, especially when it is rainy.

The bathrooms at Armitage were probably the nicest we have seen, and we have seen a lot. The best feature was that instead of a men’s room and a ladies room there were five individual private bathrooms, each with a shower (free!), toilet, sink, and infrared heat lamp. For us, it was like being at a resort! The icing on the cake was that the bathroom building also included a spotless laundry room with commercial grade machines for reasonable prices. One of the few things I miss about living in a house is having a washer and dryer and being able to do laundry at home.

The other thing we loved about Armitage Park Campground was that it was out in open fields, not in a forest. Over the course of this trip we have become less and less enamored of camping in the woods. Being in the forest just feels too dark and claustrophobic. We much prefer camping where its bright and spacious.

During a break in the rain we engaged in another staple activity of the Big Trip: seeking out a local playground for the kids. Our kids have probably played at more different playgrounds than any other kids in North America. In this case we went to a playground near downtown Eugene that had a great play structure.

When it started raining at the playground we switched gears to another staple rainy day activity: a slow troll through Costco; up and down every aisle, stopping to try all of the (non-meat) samples. Although it may not sound very exciting, it sure beats watching the kids bounce off the walls of the RV while listening to the drumbeat of rain on the roof (which can be quite loud in an RV).

Another day we went to the Science Factory museum on the University of Oregon campus. After we strolled around the first room, Ma and I both thought “well that was nice, I wonder what’s in the other rooms.” Except there weren’t any other rooms; that was it. Fortunately, our kids had a grand old time for hours in that one room. After we left the tiny science center we spent an hour walking around the massive Oregon Ducks stadium complex next door. Oregonians sure love their Ducks.

Once the rain passed we headed back to the coast again. Now that we are heading into serious winter we have to stay close to the coast to avoid freezing temps and snow. Because of the relatively warm Pacific Ocean current off the coast of the Northwest, it almost never freezes or snows near the ocean.

We spent a few days at Washburne State Park, on the central coast of Oregon, between the towns of Florence and Yachats. One of the highlights was visiting Devil’s Churn, a chasm filled with crashing ocean waves. We climbed down the stairs and stood right next to the churn. Giant waves crashed into the rock, spraying foam into the air. There was so much foam that the water was almost pure white. It really looked like milk!

While we were at Washburne, there was a storm that tossed up lots of driftwood and debris onto the beach. The next day, Ma and I walked on the beach and found lots of beautiful pieces of driftwood. My cubby is stuffed now!

After we left Tillamook, we headed down the coast to Newport, Oregon. We had a very busy week there. We went to the Hatfield Marine Science Center, which had lots of cool hands-on exhibits. At one, I made a Lego house that survived a mini tsunami. We also spent a lot of time looking at the different types of fish, and feeling anemones in the touch tank.

The beach at our campground was awesome. Giant waves tossed strange and beautiful things up onto the huge sand beach. There were rocks with holes in them, small rounded rocks, and smooth worn down shells. We also saw a huge log that looked like a dog from the distance. The beach ended at a long jetty that protected the bay in front of Newport. We played in the sand dunes that lined the beach.

We also went to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. (Yes, that is the official name!) We climbed to the top of Yaquina Head Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. It was only 93 feet tall though. After climbing the lighthouse, we headed to the rock beach below it. We explored the tide pools, feeling giant green anemones, purple urchins, and strange sea stars. On the small rock islands just off shore, thousands of seals lay in the sun to warm up.

While we were at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, we met someone who told us about a place in town where there were a few floating docks for sea lions to rest on. The next day, we went to the sea lion docks. Eight or so small square docks were tied together next to a pier that we watched from. The docks were covered with sea lions barking their heads off. They fought for every inch of space on the docks, but nobody even tried to get on the dock that was almost empty (only two sea lions on it!). I really don’t get how the dock space privileges work with sea lions. Sea lions were swimming in the water, trying to climb onto docks with seven sea lions already on them. It was just plain old insane.