A welcome return to Oregon's Mid-Willamette Valley

June 30- July 5, 2013
Lebanon, Oregon
Mallard Creek RV Resort




A belated Happy 4th of July to everyone. Hope you celebrated a special sense of freedom in your life on this annual holiday. Something we are celebrating is the freedom to change our plans on a whim. Yay! We were going to spend this week in Northern California but decided to head north to the Willamette Valley to get to cooler temperatures. The best bonus related to this decision had nothing to do with escaping the heat; we were able to stay at a great RV park near my youngest son.



This park, Mallard Creek, is a major destination for avid golfers as it ranks in the top 50 RV Golf Resorts. The monthly rate of $1200 includes unlimited golf for two people. For golfers, this is quite a good deal. We, however, are not golfers, but were lucky to score a weekly rate of $259 for non-golfers (and no sales tax in Oregon.)  The park is absolutely lovely and its elevation is a little higher than the valley so our highest temps here have been 88 while others on the West Coast have been suffering with temps in the high 90s. We lucked out. No bugs, a great breeze, and cool nights—three of the main reasons we trek all the way across the country to come back to our beloved Oregon for the summer months.



We lived in Corvallis for more than twenty years, but during most of that time we were raising families and working, so we had less time to take full advantage of the wonders of nature that are here. Coming back here in the motorhome opens up whole new vistas for us. One of these little gems of nature happens to be just a few miles from this park. Years ago, I had a reading assistant who worked with me who made a hand drawn map for a hike she recommended at McDowell Creek. She was part Native American and told me this place had special spiritual significance. I kept her map in the top drawer of my teacher desk for almost ten years!  When I was retiring and cleaning out my classroom, I recycled the map with a promise to the universe that I would indeed do this hike someday.



Someday arrived a few days ago. Ironically, Vic used to drive right past the sign for McDowell Creek Park everyday for almost twenty years when he commuted to work from Corvallis to Sweet Home, yet he had never been stopped to check it out either. When I told him I wanted to go for a hike here, his interest was piqued as he had been curious about this area for a long time. With temps forecast to be in the high 80s, we chose to do a morning hike as we didn't know how much shade there would be on the trail. We were happy to discover most of the hike was quite shady and cool.



McDowell Creek Park turned out to be only about five miles from our campground. When we started on the trail, the first thing we saw was someone panning for gold. I can’t imagine finding much in this area, but I guess it might be a fun pastime in a pretty setting.



The trails were a little confusing as we had no map, but no matter which way we ventured, we were delighted with a memorable walk which included two waterfalls. The dogs were even able to stop and play in McDowell Creek to cool off and get a drink along the way.



Hiking is a renewed interest for me and not really something Vic used to do. He used to golf, fish, cross-country ski, and run (and officiating football and coaching basketball were also quite time consuming in those days). I have to acknowledge fellow bloggers Pam and John, Lisa and Hans, and Gay and Joe for inspiring us to get out on the trails. We are slowly working towards maybe half of what they do, but we are excited to be adding this outdoor activity to our travel adventures.



Most of the trails were through an old growth Douglas Fir rain forest—lots of ferns, moss, wildflowers and even ripe thimbleberries. I must have been in a similar environment in a prior life because the lush forest and the sound of the water cascading over rocks feels like an ancestral kind of home to me.


 


I took way too many photos of the creek and falls, but the most outstanding features were the refreshing sounds and smells.



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The shorter falls were the 40-foot Majestic Falls on McDowell Creek and the more impressive falls were the 120-foot Royal Terrace Falls on Fall Creek.





We hiked lots of rock steps to get to the top of  Royal Terrace Falls, but it was worth it as there was an impressive viewing bridge at the top of the falls.







Another wonderful feature on our hike were the wildflowers. I neglected to get photos of the white forget-me-nots, pink phlox, daisies, and bachelor buttons. I thought I would catch them on the way back and found myself distracted by the water. I did get this photo of my favorite wildflower of the day: foxglove.



After a couple of hours of wandering around on the trails here, we headed back on the lovely country drive to our campground. Along the way we stopped at the Marks Ridge Winery, one of the only wineries in this immediate area, but alas it is only open Wednesday-Sunday and this was Monday. Rumor has it that their pinot noir is the kind I like, rich and earthy.  With over 300 wineries in the Willamette Valley, we will have plenty of opportunities to do some serious wine tasting during our stay here this summer.



The rest of our week we focused on spending some quality time with my son Jesse, visiting with friendly RV neighbors, and enjoying the amazing weather.  Jesse and his roommate golf at this course quite often and managed to get in 24 holes on the 4th while I made a special holiday meal for the four of us.



On the 5th, I drove Jesse to the Portland airport for a flight to Omaha where he is working for the next few months. He was pretty bummed about leaving this great weather and not being able to spend more time with us while we are here, but the good news is he will still be there when we travel through Omaha in September on our trip back to the East Coast. Another big plus for our life on the road.



As I write, we are on the road en route to Southern Oregon for a family reunion that includes seeing Vic’s daughter and the grandsons again. This time I vow to get in the water with them no matter how cold it is! Laissez les bons temps rouler.

A gem in the canyon: Seven Feathers RV Resort

June 27-28, 2013
Canyonville, Oregon
Seven Feathers RV Resort



Good thing we are lucky enough to be living a life where our plans are flexible most of the time. Our intention after leaving the San Jose area was to spend a week at the Durango RV Resort, a place someone recommended as a fantastic park on the Sacramento River in Red Bluff, California. Vic has a high school buddy in nearby Redding and we have a commitment to be at a family reunion in Southern Oregon starting July 6, so we thought Red Bluff might be a good stopover.



A few things changed our mind. It turned out Vic’s friend was going to be out of town, temperatures were forecast to be in the 100s, and our reservation had no cancellation penalty. Heading further north into Oregon would mean cooler temperatures and a chance to try out an RV park we have long heard about: Seven Feathers RV Resort. The resort is part of the Umpqua Indian Seven Feathers Casino and even though we have heard others rave about it, we are not big on spending time at casinos and always imagined the RV part would be a little sketchy in spite of its Trailer Life 10:10:10 rating. We were wrong. This place and Tiger Run RV Resort in Breckenridge are the nicest parks we have ever stayed at, but with the Good Sam rate of $37 a night, Seven Feathers was about half the cost of staying at Tiger Run. And, if you get a player’s card for the casino (which is free), you even get an additional 10% discount. Quite reasonable for the gorgeous setting and well-planned out sites.





The park has 191 sites (some are pull-throughs and others are back-ins, but they are all the same price) spread across thirty-three acres. Even though it is less than a mile from I-5, it is in a private peaceful canyon in the mountains with amazing landscaping that integrates beautifully with the natural surroundings. I will let the many photos I took of the place give you a chance to judge for yourself.



The photo above shows the main office and lounge. You actually pull in under the entryway as it is high enough for any motorhome. Probably a helpful feature when it is raining as this park is open year-round.



In addition to beautiful birch, cedar, maple and pine trees and lots of Northwest plants such as rhodies and azaleas, they have planted a profusion of purple and white flowers everywhere in hanging baskets, planters, and as borders. The only other flowering plant I saw was lavender, so all the flowers at the park and the casino were either purple or white. Not sure if those colors have some tribal symbolism but it tied everything together.













In addition to most of the landscaping being xeriscape (requiring minimal water), we were impressed to see signs indicating that only reclaimed water is used for irrigation. For people who are not familiar with the climate here, it rarely rains in the summer which means most yards and gardens require quite a bit of watering. The winters, of course, are another story which is why I always wanted to invest in several rain barrels.



I don’t normally care for indoor pools, but it makes sense in a place that is open year-round when most of the months are way too cool to use an outdoor pool. We were especially impressed with the comfy teak furniture and New Age style music that created a relaxing atmosphere. (The casino also has the River Rock spa available for extra pampering.)



We had only planned on staying one night here just to check it out, but shortly after arriving we decided to extend our stay another night. One reason was to go to a free Motown Show with dancing afterwards at the Seven Feathers Cabaret Lounge in the casino. This choice gave us a day of much needed lounging after our nearly 500 mile day on the road.  The next morning, with temperatures forecast to be nearly 90 degrees, we took the dogs for a long walk checking out all the facilities before it was too warm. Then we took advantage of a good soak in the spa and a refreshing cool down in the pool in the early afternoon followed by resting up for our 9 p.m. show reservation.



To be honest, our expectations were not too high for the show but we love live music and the possibility of dancing afterwards definitely lured us in. The 24 hour casino shuttle arrived at our site for an 8:45 p.m. pick-up and when we arrived to the lounge we were seated at a table in the front row.



At first we thought it would be too loud to sit in front but it turned out to be a great seat to see Champagne and Caviar, the name of this group of three talented singers. The theme of the show was “Heart and Soul,” as they sang a series of songs with lyrics that started out describing love at first sight, obsessive love, commitment songs (for which they performed one of my all time favorites: Etta Janes “At Last”), then pretty soon the love arc descended to ““Breaking up is Hard to Do” and “Fifty Ways to Leave your Lover.” They each had absolutely amazing voices and lots of personality on the stage. Later we learned that they typically perform at smaller clubs in Vegas and had been back-up singers with the Platters and the Drifters. Very entertaining.I managed to snap one photo of them at the beginning of the show, then I was told no photos. Bummer.



Perhaps the best part of their show was their commitment to audience participation. They came and sang to me personally at least three times (it was the front row thing), then the lead singer pulled me onto the stage for a dance! It seemed like I was up there a long time and I don’t even remember the song, but I gave it my all. He thanked me after the show for my enthusiastic participation. The last song of the night was full on audience participation with a conga line to “Love Train.” Once again I was chosen by the lead singer to put my hands on his muscular shoulders (ha) to start the conga line.  After the show, a DJ played songs that were way too rappy sounding for us, but we danced a couple songs and Vic even joined in the “Cupid Shuffle” line dance. You have probably heard this song before but, like me, never knew the name of it:

To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right
To the left, to the left, to the left, to the left
Now kick, now kick, now kick, now kick
Now walk it by yourself, now walk it by yourself

I forgot to get a photo of Vic line dancing, but here is one of the some others taking to the small dance floor. The whole place is quite intimate, shall we say.



The singers sat at table for awhile selling their CDs and doing autographs, then returned for a short while to have a drink. One girl grabbed the lead singer and dragged him out on the dance floor. Way to turn the tables on him, but he was gracious enough to go along.



That about wraps it up for our unexpected stop and Canyonville discovery. We are considering going back for a week and getting in some hikes in the gorgeous surroundings nearby, doing a little wine-tasting in the Umpqua Valley, and maybe even some whitewater rafting on the Rogue River.



I am struck by the realization that Oregon is our home state and there are still so many places we have yet to explore here. This full-timing really opens one’s eyes to places and adventures I never even knew I wanted to see or do. As we are approaching our two year anniversary, I thought we would have shortened our list of travel plans but instead it keeps getting longer. I think that is the addictive nature of this kind of travel, but I also know that there will come a day when we crave having a home on land instead of on wheels. We don’t see ourselves being able to keep the motorhome at that point too, so this is the time to seize the day. Carpe Diem!

The Santa Cruz Boardwalk: A trip down memory lane and a few other roads

June 26, 2013
Morgan Hill, California
Coyote Valley RV Resort



June 25 was our 14th wedding anniversary. This year is a milestone for me because very few of my family members have been able to get past
thirteen years, including me in my first marriage. I couldn't find a photo of Vic and me from our wedding day on my laptop, but here is one of me on this happy, happy day. We chose a simple way to commemorate the occasion with a lovely lunch with Vic’s sister in the historic Gold Rush era town of Sonora at the Diamondback Grill. I had never been to the town of Sonora and found it quite delightful. It happened to be perfect weather again, about 80 degrees with a lovely breeze; we were lucky as it can get quite hot in this part of California.

We spent the following day in Santa Cruz, a place where Vic spent many days on the beach and Boardwalk as a teenager. This was my first trip to Santa Cruz, a place I always associated with surfing for some reason only to discover the waves there are not very good for this sport. The drive from our park was less than an hour mostly on State Hwy 17. About eight miles of it were curvy with one climb and a 6% grade. You could do easily do the trip in a motorhome, so we were also on the lookout for future places to stay if we wanted to come back in the motorhome someday.





It was forecast to be a hot day in the valley with temperatures in the high 80s, but the temps at the coast were at least ten degrees cooler, an ideal day for strolling the Boardwalk and spending some time on the beach. We learned that the Boardwalk celebrated its 100th birthday in 2007 making it a few years older than its East Coast rival, Coney Island. The size of the amusement park at this historic place surprised me. I imagined something like the Santa Monica Pier which this place greatly exceeded in size and style.



Gotta say that neither of us is drawn to spending time at amusement parks, but this place is special. I think it has to do with how artfully they kept the nostalgic feel of the place while adding a fun mix of contemporary attractions such as a reverse bungee ride, and two weather simulation rides: the tornado and the tsunami among several others. The park still has many updated classic rides like the tilt-a-whirl, the wooden roller coaster, bumper cars, and Ferris wheel.





The beautiful backdrop of a mile long beach where you can have a picnic after going on rides certainly adds to the festive atmosphere. Although the beach itself was more crowded than we would like, we enjoyed walking along the shore taking in the beautiful scenery and watching diverse beach activities.







There is no cost to go on the Boardwalk, but a ticket for unlimited rides was about $60 or you could buy individual tickets for the rides. If we were here with the grandkids, this grandma would be going on all the rides, especially the roller coaster, but Victor is not a ride guy at all. Woe is me—not too fun to go alone but I thoroughly enjoyed taking photos of others getting their thrills.



The place was immaculate, everything was well-maintained, there were no long lines, and best of all you escape to the beach or nearby San Lorenzo River in minutes. We were very impressed with the variety of things to do here and have already planned to bring the grandsons here next year in the motorhome and experience a classic amusement park that is part of their grandpa’s past.























As we walked around, Vic described to me what the Boardwalk used to be like in the late 50s and early 60s. First of all, it was much smaller, but the indoor area where they now have a miniature golf course and hundreds of arcade games used to have an Olympic size indoor pool called The Plunge. Vic admits he never went in The Plunge because they did not heat the water. I was way more of a water baby than he was as I grew up on Midwest lakes and rivers waterskiing and swimming any chance I could get. There were lots of vintage photos of the park on display so I was able to see the park as it was in days of old. Looks like a place I would have loved to spend time.



The Plunge was transformed into a miniature golf area the year that Vic graduated from high school in 1963. Here is what The Plunge area looks like now.



Other random history--the first of many Miss California Beauty Pageants was held on the Boardwalk in 1924. There was also originally a casino and dance hall here called Cocoanut Grove where bands like Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, and Lawrence Welk used to play. Oh how I wish they had ballrooms like this for dancers today to experience such a place. The casino itself burned down in 1904 and was replaced with the indoor area that now holds the ballroom, the miniature golf, and indoor arcades. They have turned the original dance hall into a venue for weddings, dance parties, and conferences.





Apparently, there were surfers here at the beach back then but I didn't see any on our visit. Maybe the waves were bigger or maybe these guys just thought it was cool to pose with their long boards.



Other than the beach itself, Vic’s most vivid memory of the Boardwalk was the Fun House which, sadly, no longer exists, but they have kept a few of the relics from the Fun House to put on display such as this one of Laffing Sal.





Another thing Vic liked to do here as a teenager was ride a giant wooden slide that you had to go down on a burlap sack. He said everyone would leave their shoes at the bottom and climb the stairs to the top in their socks with sack in hand. I asked him how high the slide was and he recalled, “It seemed like it was pretty damn high, probably a couple of stories.”  The ride down took you up and down hills, a rolling trip to the bottom where most everyone (adults and kids who were old enough) would get right back in line. Vic said, “It was never just a one time thing.” We found a photo of the old slide on display but the folks in this photo had their shoes on. Vic thinks they were dressed up for the photo opp.



Vic also liked the part of the Fun House where you had to walk in a barrel. He says the real challenge was getting across to the next activity while still standing instead of resorting to a crawl.

The other vintage rides he remembers enjoying were the original bumper cars. Check out these classics then and now.

Fortunately, Vic had an old photo in his jewelry box of himself at the beach back in those days with a few buddies. He hadn't told me he was also a Life Guard at the beach here until he showed me the photo.



We also discovered a mural that depicted what the streets along the Boardwalk looked like back then. Notice how much the mural romanticizes what the streets actually looked like in terms of traffic and the actual photo was from at least a decade earlier.





A few more then and now comparisons.










After spending a few hours at the Boardwalk and on the beach, we decided to get away from the tourists and enjoy a quiet lunch outside at a French bakery recommended to us by a woman in our RV park. It did not disappoint at all. Kelly’s French Bakery is in a renovated industrial section of Santa Cruz with a lovely landscaped patio nestled alongside some wine tasting shops . (The only downside was all three wine bars were closed ‘til the evening hours.)



Gorgeous loafs of bread and pastries greet you. This place brought us back to the feeling of France where we spent our honeymoon fourteen years ago to the day—perfect.



We had tasty Parisian salads on the patio and split a dark chocolate French custard cream puff for dessert. As the next day was a traveling day, we also thought to get a breakfast treat, a croissant bear claw for Vic and a pear ginger scone for me. This was the kind of day that reaffirms this lifestyle in every way.

Next up—a 480+ mile PD style day en route to a 10:10:10 RV Resort in Canyonville, Oregon.