We Live Outside

[Editor’s Note, to those of you who receive our updates via email: we inadvertently had the wrong title on our last dispatch when we hit the “send” button. The post about our travels across Hwy 2 is correctly entitled “The Hi-Line”, and THIS is the “We Live Outside” post. We apologize for the error.]

It’s a frequent question at a lot of restaurants during nice weather: “Would you like to sit inside or out?” But, as you know, dining outside is not such a novelty for us, and especially with these hot temps, we’ve definitely been opting for indoors and a/c! This blog chapter will share more about our outdoor livin’, Twyla’s brain condition, and an exciting night with a motorcycle club.

July 7: Olympia & Centralia
Odometer reading = 5,112

Today we’re celebrating 17 years of married times! So grateful for all the adventures and sweet harmonies all these years have provided us. We have a nice morning with Terry and Mary, then bid them adieu. Our non-interstate route takes us on Hwy 18, 276th Ave, Hwy 169S, Hwy 164, 410W, 165S, 162W, Orville Rd, Hwy 7, 702E, 507, and 510W! Beautiful views of Mt Rainier along the way. We stop in Olympia for lunch … guess where? McMenamin’s Spar Cafe of course! Continuing on to Centralia, we follow old Hwy 99 to Tenino, then 507 S. It’s NINETY-FIVE DEGREES outside, and for that reason alone we’re glad we’re staying at the McMenamin’s Olympic Club hotel. Not a whole lot else going on in Centralia, so we settle in for full McMenamin’s treatment: drinks, shufflepuck, dinner, and an internet connection to watch The Bear.

July 8–10: Cape Decision State Park (Long Beach, WA)
After some work meetings and provisioning, we hit the road again. Pointed south to Chevalis, then west on 6 to Raymond until we hit good ol’ Hwy 101. The temperature finally started to drop – the predicted high temp on the coast today is 70 vs 97 in Centralia/Seattle!

We arrive at Cape Disappointment State Park with plenty of time to set up the camper and take a bike tour of the whole campground. Windy! And blissfully cool. Sweeping Pacific Coast landscapes including cliffs and lighthouses. Oh yeah – and the real special part about this place is that it’s where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. In fact, it got its name because in 1788, English explorer John Meares made a wrong turn and found this bay instead of the mighty river he was looking for, and was …. well … DISAPPOINTED.

We have a lovely few days in this dynamic place. We’re in the “D” part of the campground, which initially seemed somewhat removed from the action, but in reality, it was also protected from the relentless wind, we had a nice deep campsite so we felt like we could spread out and have some privacy, and we’re really close to the cute little store. Kayla managed to string together enough cell signal and public library time to get some work done, and we had enough time to set up the tent and stretch out a little bit. Nice adventures, also: we biked about 15 miles of the Discovery Trail, which winds through the grassy dunes along the shore, and we popped into the towns of Seaview and Long Beach. We visited both lighthouses (the Cape Disappointment lighthouse was supposedly a quick 1/2-mile hike, but we weren’t prepared for the steep incline!) and enjoyed the amazing views. We also biked to Benson Beach one evening and let the ocean wind blast us for awhile.

The Long Beach peninsula was once America’s largest producer of farmed oysters, and they’re still crankin ’em out – there are piles of oyster shells along the roadsides and everywhere you look. We took a drive to the northern-most tip of the peninsula, all the way to Oysterville, thinking that would be a great place to have ourselves a few oysters. But NOPE – closed on Wednesdays, go figure. The other oyster lead we had was to someone’s house, where they were selling a few things out of their garage and oysters were priced at $3.50 each! NOPE! We found some delicious shrimp tacos down the road instead. The town of Long Beach reminds us a little of the Outer Banks in North Carolina, but waaaaaay less busy.

While we’re at Cape Disappointment, our beloved Twyla is starting to act a little funny – she’s not sure she wants to let us remote lock/unlock the doors anymore. We have a way of manually unlocking them, but it sets off the car alarm and we have to be ready to immediately shove our key into its slot when we get the door open.

July 11-12: Cannon Beach, OR
We jump back on Hwy 101 and cross an amazing bridge into Astoria, OR. McMenamin’s Gearhart Hotel is en route to our next stop, so we stop in for lunch and stamps. Definitely a country club vibe here, and another cleverly-apportioned property. There’s a full restaurant plus one small bar within the main building, but the real treat is the Sand Bar, a little shack nestled next to the 9th tee and paired with a fun little putting course.

Back on 101, we head to Cannon Beach and pull into our spot for 2 nights at the Sea Ranch RV Park. Haha, what a goofy place. Small sites, ridiculously small bathroom/shower areas, a community dishwashing station crowded between the women’s restroom and someone else’s campsite … but it’s literally across a small bridge from downtown and a quick bike ride to beach access. Plus, they have really good internet throughout the campground and we’re able to catch up with The Bear.

Over the course of our 2 days here, we walk the main beach and admire Haystack Rock of course, but our grand adventure was a big bike & hike to Ecola State Park. We biked up to the main lookout (only a 1-mile distance, but close to a 700-ft incline = OOF!) and thought we could catch the trail to secluded Crescent Beach from there, but some landslide potential makes that part of the trail off-limits. We bike back down about halfway and find another unmarked trail to the beach where there are only a handful of people. We set up our chairs to have a snack and enjoy the view, then walk the beach before we hike back up and enjoy the all-downhill return to the campground. Quick dinner, more Bear, then zzzzzzz…..

July 13-14: Kalama, WA and camping with a motorcycle club
We retrace our path back to Astoria, then head east on Hwy 30 to Rainier, then south to Kalama. Why on earth is Kalama our destination? A McMenamin’s Hotel, of course! But we can’t afford those lodge prices, so we have a spot booked at Camp Kalama RV Park. As we pull toward our campsite, we see a large gathering of people in the center grassy area of the grounds and a stage being set up. We reach the row of our site, and the whole area is packed with Harley Davidson motorcycles, and those who ride them. Our pull-thru spot is right in the middle of this group, and the entrance and exit are both blocked by Harleys. We pull up and get out of the car, and within seconds Ray-Ray, the leader of the pack, is by our side and hollering “Who’s bikes are these?!” Turns out the Alky Angels (a club of sober bikers) are gathering here tonight, and Ray-Ray is the president. They’re all super-friendly and invite us to join them, but we’re desperate for a shower (we’re back in temps of upper 90s again) and we have six stamps to get at Kalama Harbor Lodge, so off we go!

Kalama is kind of a strange, sad town. It looks like it was once a busy industrial waterfront for ships on the Columbia and a busy train depot. Just up the river bank there is a cute little downtown just outside from all that activity. But when they built I-5, they put it right along the train tracks and basically severed downtown from the waterfront. McMenamin’s Lodge is right on the river, and it’s another fun spot to explore, with one outpost 1/2 mile north of the main lodge, and another one 1/2 mile south. We have fun watching the ship traffic, as well as the people.

When we get back to the campground, the Alky Angels are gathering for their late-night AA meeting, but all is quiet until about 8 am, when the Harleys start revving up and pulling out.

Update on Twyla: she has been increasingly slow to start, and continues to be inconsistent with the locks. We’ve determined the battery needs to be replaced – but with your VW Touareg, this isn’t as simple as stopping at Napa and swapping it out. Nope, those German engineers decided the best place for the battery is under the driver’s seat, so it’s a bit of a production. We managed to get an appointment at a shop in Portland for Monday, so we just need her to start about 8 more times. But sure enough, she won’t start on Sunday morning in Kalama. Fortunately we’re surrounded by helpful folks, so we get a jump and are on our way.

Our Seattle friends Jenny & Mickey are down in the Portland area for their son’s baseball tournament, so we stop in Beaverton to have brunch with them. Always a hoot to see them! Twyla managed to start after brunch, and we continued our journey to Sherwood (south of Portland), where we’re crashing at Bill & Poppy’s house for a few days while they’re up at a bluegrass festival in northern WA. We’re SO GRATEFUL to have a place to unpack, do laundry, and spread out for a little bit. We continue to have troubles with Twyla – also grateful to B&P for letting us borrow their Jeep for jumpstarts and temporary transportation while Twyla gets her brain transplant.

July 15-16: Twyla has surgery, and we wander the suburbs
After another jumpstart, we get Twyla to Hillside Imports. Thinking this will only take a few hours, we take a Lyft to one of the suburban McMenamin’s we haven’t been to yet, and then a city bus to another one. (One of the great things about McM’s is that there’s good internet at all of them, so we can work and catch up on blogging/correspondence while we’re killing time and getting stamps!) It isn’t until 4:00 that we learn Twyla won’t be discharged until TOMORROW (uggghhhhh) so we grab some groceries and another Lyft back to Sherwood. Bill’s Jeep comes in super-handy the next day for us to go pick her up. We spend another day in Sherwood: Kayla works her job and Matthew catches up on some camper projects.

On the 17th we head into Portland and have been here ever since – but this is plenty enough for now, we’ll save our city stories for the next post. Thanks for reading all of this! We love hearing from you and hope to connect soon.