A Non-Fishing Trip

After a nice breakfast, we went to the Rogue Outdoor Shop to get our fishing licenses.  A very knowledgeable man named Steve was very helpful and ready to sell us some licenses.  He gave us a map with good fishing places circled.  So map in hand, we’re really to give it a try.  Tom readied the lines and we were set.    Cast after cast and nothing.  Tom decided to give fly fishing a try.  Cast after cast and nothing.  Two hours later, well, we tried.  

Back in the car and ready to leave, we spotted some wild blackberry bushes.  

We picked until we had a cup full. 

 At least we came away with something, not a lost day after all.  

We went back to the cliff overlooking the mouth of the river to watch the people fishing for salmon in boats.

It’s almost comical to watch all the boats jockeying for position in the “salmon parade.”  We watched the boats land at least 10 salmon in the short time we were there. 

We are looking forward to fishing with a guide on Thursday.  Can’t wait to be part of the parade!  Hoping to catch at least one big one.

The Mary D Hume was built in Gold Beach and launched in Gold Beach harbor in 1881.  It was a steam powered commercial vessel that served proudly for 97 years.  It was retired in 1978 and steamed into Gold Beach harbor under it’s own power and retired a few hundred feet from where it was launched.

This is what it looked like when it was retired. 

This is what it looks like today after it sank in 1985.

The Hume is on the “National Register of Historical Places”.

 

Finally! Gold Beach, Oregon

 We have certainly enjoyed our month of August and all the adventures we have had thus far, but Gold Beach has been our goal ever since planning this trip over a year ago, and here we are!  

We can’t get into the house we have rented for a couple of days so we will be contented with this motel room.  Seems they have a lot of rules. 

 We are exploring and trying to get the lay of the land before our company arrives. 

 The Pacific Ocean and the Rouge River come together right where we are.  

This is such a beautiful area!  

The Patterson Bridge is a historic bridge across the Rouge River.  

We are excited about fishing for salmon while we are here.  When we crossed the Patterson Bridge this morning, there were lots of fishing boats.  This afternoon, Tom wanted to take a look to see if there was any action.  

Lots of fish jumping, but we couldn’t see any catching.  Hope we have better luck. 

Maybe tomorrow we’ll see just how lucky we are! 

And Now, Coos Bay, Oregon

We left Lincoln City this morning and headed for Coos Bay, Oregon.  But, just outside of our room was a duck. 

 I’ve long heard about the Oregon ducks, but I thought they might be a little more lively than this one. LOL.  

The coast of Oregon is both rugged and rocky,

and has long stretches of beautiful but mostly deserted sandy beaches. 

The Great Sand Dune National Park is a very interesting area.

 The massive sand dune hills go on for miles and are one of the largest stretches of sand In the world, second only to the Sahara Desert.  

Dune Buggies (both store bought and homemade) are a favorite sport racing up and down the hills of sand.

As we drove along, we were constantly reminded about Tsunami areas, 

just hope this is not information we will need.  

Tonight, we are staying in a funky little road side motel.  

The outside of the buildings are painted with nautical themes.  

Like I said, it’s kinda funky, but I kinda like it.  

This little boat along side the road next to the motel seems to have met the same fate as the airplane in the last blog!

Tomorrow we are off to Gold Beach for a couple of nights in a motel to prepare for our company to join us at our rental house on Tuesday.

The Coast of Oregon

 After a three day stay in Seattle we are on the move again.  We started out in bright sunshine and the farther south we drove, the fogger it became.  

It was never a problem, just there.  Finally the sun broke through again. Tom predicted 10:00am and sure enough that was precisely when it happened!  Psychic?  

There’s a lot of agriculture going on in Oregon.  There’s the logging industry,

 grapes—wine, 

walnuts, hazelnuts and blueberries. 

I took a picture of downtown Portland, but that was as close as we came. 

 Unfortunately, it seems Portland is still having some problems, hopefully they will be resolved soon for the sake of everyone.  

As we drove through McMinnville, Oregon we passed by the bankrupt headquarters of Evergreen International Airline.

Then we saw something unusual. I’m no airline expert, but I would say if this is an example of their proficiency at landing a plane it’s no wonder they went bankrupt.

Finally, we arrived in Lincoln City, Oregon.  

We drove to the beach just to check it out—beautiful, but very chilly!  

One night here then on to Coos Bay.  Got clams?

Starbucks, Seafood and Seagulls

 As you may know, Seattle is the home of Starbucks Coffee.  

In fact, it’s the home of the very first Starbucks.  

There are 8,791 company-operated and 6,250 licensed stores in the U.S. as of  2019.  World-wide, there are 31,256.  Quite a phenomenon from these humble beginnings.  They say there is always a line and today was no exception—so we got in line.  

It was drinks only, no pastries or breakfast sandwiches, but you could buy bags of coffee.  It was a small shop with only 5 employees, and they were efficient.  

Coffee in hand we strolled through the Pike Place Market one last time.  The bouquets of flowers were brilliant and very reasonably priced at $10.00.  

We found a Zoltar (Swami) but didn’t ask him any questions. 

 Lunchtime!  

We had seen Ivar’s the other day when we were looking for a place to have lunch.  

Today, it was the place.  We ordered fish and chips and fried clams, it was a hit!  

It was also a hit with the seagulls when Tom made some friends.  

As we were leaving Ivar’s I decided to sit down and have a little chat with Mr. Ivar. I did all the talking!

We have just about come to the end of our visit to Seattle.  Time to do laundry, pack and get ready to move on in the morning.  

Thanks, Seattle—You have a lot to offer!