We left Bullards Beach State Park on a Friday morning, and had made reservations at a commercial RV park near Depoe Bay. It sounded good on the Web, and we were having no luck finding vacancies in any State Parks in the area--probably too close to the major metropolitan areas and the desirable campgrounds fill up well in advance of the weekend.
Along the way, we stopped at the Darlingtonia Bog State Wayside. This patch of large (two feet or more high) carniverous California Pitcher Plants (also known as Cobra Lilies from their shape) is traversed along a wooden boardwalk. These unique plants can also be found in the Smith River watershed in bogs with standing water and acidic soils of nutrient poor quality, and I had come across them before in my work and travels there. This particular patch is the largest I have ever seen, and the plants themselves were the tallest I had ever seen. Years ago I had written an article called Strike of the Cobra Lily and had photographed this bog--the article and pictures were published in The American Gardener magazine.
That night we found (eventually--took almost four passes before we finally figured out the entrance) our RV park and were disappointed that the campsites were very small, lacked amenities, and ours was far from the beach. Others we might have reserved were not pull-throughs but were right next to the beach, but one couldn't tell from the automated reservation system whether those back-in sites would be workable for us. It turns out that they would have been far better than the one we had reserved. In any event, the weather has turned, so we are planning to leave this site a day early (after exploring the nearby Newport Aquarium) and heading south to Reedsport and a State Park there.
It rained in the early morning of Saturday, and continues to threaten rain throughout the day. On Saturday morning, we dined out at the Pig N' Pancake for breakfast (I had a crab omelette--delish--and Lizzie had a taco omelette; highly varied menu) and it rained briefly while we dined, then explored the OSU Aquarium (and it rained once while we explored). This latter has great displays for both children and adults, but it is truly engaging for kids. Later, we shopped and explored the main strip of Depoe Bay, enjoying Tillamook ice cream and the many shops along the way.
We had planned to go to Astoria for a couple of nights, but it is forecast to rain there, so we are heading back along the coast, stopping for two nights at Reedsport and exploring that area. Rain hits Reedsport on Wednesday, but we plan to depart on Tuesday, and end up for three nights in the Redwood National Park in Del Norte County. After working in that country for 30 years, there are plenty of sites that I still want to explore more!
Tomorrow (Sunday) we head south again
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