Turtle Tales: Day 16 - Willits, California

We finally left California and crossed into Oregon......another state down and a new sticker to add to our map! This travel day was not without some challenges. Hwy 101, still had a lot of curves, ups and downs and many mountains to pass through! Anxiety attack #2! LOL However, the coastal vistas were awesome and will be forever etched in our memories. Due to recent bad storms on the Oregon coast, parts of Hwy 101 were washed out and therefore in many places only one lane was open to traffic which means we had to wait our turn to pass......so it took a little longer to get to our destination today. Once we arrived at the KOA Campground we set out to get something to eat, as we were too tired to cook tonight. The Campground Manager told us of a really neat little place called Griffs in Port Orford, on the harbor. And it was as close to the water as one can be without getting your feet wet! It had a wonderful ambiance and it was interesting to learn that due to low water level at the harbor, they cannot moor the fishing boats in the water after a days work, and they can't put them out in deeper water because they cannot get to them and there is a good chance that they would be washed out into the ocean - so they hoist them out and place them on trailers in the parking lot each evening, and each morning they put them back into the water for another days work! In this area, they fish for bottom fish (cod, ling, salmon). I had salmon served with a dill sauce which was very tasty.

Today we also managed to visit the replica of the Table Bluff Lighthouse in Eureka. The orignal is no longer standing. We had missed this lighthouse our last trip, so wanted to make sure we saw it this time around. We also attempted to visit the St. George Lighthouse in Crescent City, but we weren't sure we could get to the viewing spot (the lighthouse is 8 miles off shore on a reef) and have a place to turn around with the Turtle, so we passed it by. However, tonight, on our way back to the RV, we revisited the Cape Blanco Lighthouse, which we had visited on our last trip to Oregon, in hopes of getting a good picture of it at night with the light working...... I think we missed the "just right time" by about 15 minutes, as my pictures just show the light.......Jim's weren't that much better, but interesting anyway.......oh well, we tried.

It is getting closer to our time to depart for Hawaii, so we need to head to Seattle, Washington so we can drop the girls off at our friends boarding kennel. We will leave the Turtle there as well and drive to Portland to catch our flight to Oahu! We are anxious to visit with our son who is in the military and has recently returned from Iraq. He is stationed at Schoffield Barracks on Oahu.

Tomorrow we will head north to Astoria, Oregon - one of our favorite towns to visit on the coast! We've been told the road north from this point on is in good shape so we don't anticipate any delays.

As we celebrate this Easter season, we are reminded of how much was given up for us so that we may have eternal life! (John 3:16) May you all have a joyous Easter!