Along the Oregon Coast

As promised, this post is about our recent camping trip along the Oregon coast. We traveled with friends Wendy and her delightful daughters: Melissa, Maggie and Hope. We had a full van-load; my wife, Lori was driving, my daughter Melissa and her kids: Jesse, Anna, and Leah were with us as was another grandson Caidin .

We had hooked up our trusty T@B trailer and departed Bellevue only an hour or two behind schedule. Our destination for day one was Fort Stevens state park in Seaside Oregon.

Previously, the majority of our camping had been in Washington state campgrounds. Washington can be hit or miss especially in regards to accessibility – you never know, for example, if you're going to be able to get your wheelchair into a bathroom and once you do, will there be a stall wide enough or a shower with grab bars.

Oregon State campgrounds however, all seem to have separate bathrooms for handicap patrons with extrawide doors, free hot showers and ample grab bars. Fort Stevens was no exception.

What was also nice was the fact that we only were only charged for one campsite which kept our cost down. Paths were paved but needed a bit of work. More than once, I nearly tumbled from my chair going over uneven pavement

But overall Fort Stevens was a pleasant experience, not too noisy and the ocean air was nice.

Our next night we made it to Devils Lake campground near Lincoln City. Probably my least favorite spot of the entire trip. Our campsite was tiny and very difficult to maneuver in. Additionally, the rangers that we encountered there were rude. When asked about accessible sites, they said all sites were more or less accessible and if not, I could just stay in my trailer.

Since we didn't get much rest that night our next stop wasn't very far along the road., Newport, OR South Beach state park. This was a major change from the previous night's camp ground! The rangers were helpful going as far as to help push me to  the handicap bathroom and chasing out a non-handicap person who seemed to be using it at his own personal, sauna. There was a great path to a well constructed lookout to the beach. It was a bit steep but my dog, Gracie,(who must've been a sled-dog in a previous life) greatly enjoyed helping pull me up the trail. Had it not been so windy there we might stay an extra day.

We made good time the next day, getting all the way down to Brookings to what I think was Harris beach state park.. We arrived rather late but fortunately the handicap spot had not been taken. We set up camp and drove to Brookings to get our first meal of the trip that wasn't either fast food or prepared at the campsite. Wendy used her phone to Google restaurants in Brookings and we came up with the place by the name of the Hungry Clam. We were served Promptly and courteously despite the fact that we were a very large party and the place was pretty busy. We loaded up on fresh seafood – most of it deep fried – and sat outside to enjoy it. I had the combo platter which included cod, oysters,, calamari, clam strips shrimp, scallops and hush puppies. By far the star of the platter was the clam strips. These were not the tiny clam crumbs you get it someplace like Ivars. No, these were big tender chunks of clam. We left feeling satisfied albeit somewhat greasy.

The next morning an ocean view spot at the camp ground opened up so we decided to stay an extra day. This enabled us to play on the beach, rest and even get someone laundry done at the laundromat there in the park.

I was quite taken by the paved path down to the beach. There were several switchbacks and it was rather steep in places but I was able to actually get to the beach itself, something I haven't been able to do in a very long time.

The next day it was off to the Redwood forest. While this leg of the trip was lovely; due to a lack of cell phone reception we lost our traveling companion Wendy and her girls. By the time we finally had a signal they were already miles ahead of us and had decided to push on home. We made it to a little town called Wolf's Creek where we camped in a newly reopened camp ground but that and the restaurant we ate breakfast at will be the subject of my next entry.

And now a request, if you've been reading this blog and enjoyed it or even if you have not enjoyed it I would still like your comments. Please take a minute, find the comment link and leave me a note. I appreciate the feedback