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| A Dinosaur Park on the Oregon Coast! |
We Packed As Much As We Could into the Last Couple Days!
The Harvey trip was past the halfway point as we rolled on in our big
recreational vehicle, and by this time we have figured out a rhythm and are
getting in the groove, or so it seemed. We stayed the night in a campground called
Humbug Mountain; it was one that we were familiar with, having stayed there in
the past a few times.
In fact, we have some iconic family pictures of Fiona on the beach way back
in the early days when we first moved to Oregon in 1977, and then about ten
years later with our own kids on the same beach when they were just little. So naturally we had to get another updated
picture of Fiona in the same spot this time with the grandsons.
Me and the boys set out on a hike, and started up the trail to the top
of Humbug Mtn. This turned out to be not
a good idea. The trail quickly became
steep and then very steep, and of course the little guys were dashing about
carelessly close to a narrow path with a severe drop off. I couldn’t relax and enjoy the beautiful
scenery, I was too nervous they would plunge off the edge. And they began to wrestle and push each other
and I said “Right! Okay! (I’ve had enough of this!) … it’s time to
head back down … hey, let’s go to the beach!”
And they yelled “Awesome!” and began to race back down the hill. I shouted “easy now!” but do you think they
listened? By the time we got back to the Harvey (get it? Harvey = RV?) Fiona
had some yummy breakfast and the boys dug into it. They ate really hearty for the most part on
this trip, which was one of the concerns going in. We didn’t take a lot of Mackie Cheese and
Goldfish. We had real food for the most
part. And all that eating gave them a
lot of energy.
Once breakfast was over, we walked the mile or so to the beach. It was a glorious sunny day with not much
wind. And of course the boys immediately
began to run and splash in the water and get wet. By this time, we were running out of dry
clothes, or any clothes for that matter.
What to do? They were going to
ruin what they were wearing. So I suggested they strip down to their
underwear and t-shirts and just play in the water that way. Initially they were a bit reluctant, and
looked around. But it was still mid-morning and there weren’t many people
down there.
I think Yoppie was the first one to yank off his pants. Then Jackson and Sam followed. They loved it – running around in their
underpants in public! What could be
better?!?! And sure enough, they got
their shirts soaked so off they came too.
They were stripped down to almost nothing. They had a great time! Jackson told the boys “If anyone says anything,
just tell them we’re wearing Speedo’s!”
They played with complete abandon, and laughed so hard you could hear
them all up and down the beach.
Eventually we got them out of the water and kind of forced them to take
showers. One draw back to a Harvey is
that they don’t usually have a bath tub.
So the boys were almost constantly dirty from head to toe, even with
splashing in the ocean. In fact, when we
finally got home we tossed them all into the tub together and you should have
seen the water when they were done! It was
like brown sludge, it looked like thick beef broth or something nasty.
Anyway, we took off with another fun destination in mind. There was a really cool dinosaur park up the
road about twenty miles. It looked like
one of those super cheesy road side attractions, but since we had committed to
this, we traipsed in, and it was really great! A lot of fun. The kids knew the names of most of the big
critters. It was actually pretty well
done, and even looked a bit like Jurassic Park in the woods.
So we kept going, this was to be the longest day of driving we had the
whole trip. We were heading to the
redwoods and crossed the border into California, the land of high gas prices. It cost a stinking fortune to fill the Harvey. It was quite a journey down past Crescent
City to a campground called Del Norte. It
was supposed to be smack dab in the Redwoods, but it … wasn’t really. In fact, it was kinda rough and, dare we say, primitive?
Things began to take a turn for the worse. Just as we were pulling up to the Ranger station
to get checked in, we hit a major bump in the road and the cabinet doors flew open
inside the Harvey and there was a tremendous loud crash when the dishes fell
out! They smashed into fifty thousand
pieces! Well, maybe a thousand. Man, it was bad. And the boys had bare feet. Fiona shouted “nobody move!” Important note to RV rental companies – don’t
use glass dishes, use plastic.
And in the meantime, I pull up to the Ranger guy and he looks at me and
asks “everything okay sir?” “Oh, sure,”
I say “just a minor disaster … merely a flesh wound”.
It took us a long time to get all the glass pieces picked up. We were finding shards for the next couple
days. Fortunately the boys played outside
and rode their bikes forever.
Oh, and another unfortunate thing happened. The campsite had no hookups! What?
You mean we have to rough it here?
No electricity and no water? What
kind of camping … oh wait … we are supposed to be camping, right? It turned out to be okay. We made another campfire and worked on our s’more
techniques
And Fiona read the boys a story
by flashlight and we all slept pretty good.
It was a fun night. But one more
indignity faced us (or me, to be more accurate). I had to dump the tanks from the Harvey and
they had facilities there, even though the place was pretty basic. So I managed to dump the “grey” water and
then the “poopy” water – important note:
we had pretty much forbid the boys to poop in the Harvey so it was just
pee and whatnot.
The only thing left to do was wash out the sewer hookup, and there was a
water hose hanging from a pole. I turned
it on and it was high pressure and jerked out of my hand and began flying around
spraying water everywhere and mostly on me.
Jackson was watching the whole thing from inside the Harvey and he
started yelling. I couldn’t get a grip
on the wildly gyrating hose. I mean the
thing was strong, like a raging boa constrictor. It was like trying to grab an out-of-control
fire hose. I got soaked! I figured I would try to turn the water off,
and the handle came off in my hand. What
a bummer!
I finally got things cleaned up and when I opened door to get back in
the rig, Fiona looked at me and we both just started laughing. It was hilarious. She said “that better not be poop on you!”
The next day, which was the last day of the trip before we returned
home, we made a point to visit the Jedediah Smith Redwood State Park. It took some doing in the Harvey, but it was
worth it. We hiked down to a bridge over
the river and crossed over into the Stout Grove, a relatively unblemished forest
of old growth Redwoods.
It was
spectacular. We hiked for quite a ways
among the giants. The boys ran and
jumped and climbed and had a ton of fun.
It was a great way to finish up the trip only we weren’t’ done. We hit one last campsite before the long
drive home. Lo and behold they were hosting
a bluegrass festival the next morning and we were able to enjoy that while the
boys did some “fishing”.
Never a dull moment? Hopefully
lots of stories for the boys to remember.
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