Gold Beach
The town of Gold Beach, located on the mouth of the Rogue River, sprang up in the 1800’s mostly to support the timber and fishing industries. First named Ellensburg, it was renamed when gold was discovered in the sediment flowing out of the river. The gold boom was short-lived and the town soon returned to timber and fishing to support itself. As both industries waned, tourism became the mainstay of the town. It’s still a blue-collar town, simple but very friendly and accepting. Deep-pocket tourism has evaded Gold Beach, so the primary businesses in town include motels and inns, restaurants, gas stations, two grocery stores, and Jerry’s Rogue Jets, which takes passengers on high-speed jetboat tours up the Rogue River. Jerry’s also has a mailboat contract with the Post Office to deliver mail to the little town of Agness, one of two mailboat routes left in the U.S.
We haven’t done a lot while here, partly because about half the time since arriving it’s been rainy, windy, and cool. It’s still early to be on the Pacific coast. The constant on-shore breeze brings low temperatures ashore from the 51º F (10.5º C) seawater. Since we’re parked about 200’ from the water, we’ve had very cool temperatures. Add to this the passing rain showers, and you have a mostly-indoor scenario. We’ve caught up on bill-paying and the like, did some reading, listened to music, and planned a diet that’s going to get us back down to fightin’ weight by next fall.
We have gotten out enough to tour up and down the coast. It’s a beautiful area—turquoise sea, white surf, gray-white sand, dark volcanic haystack rocks, and deep green hills. Once again we’ve been amazed at how remote and rural the Oregon coast is. Most of it seems almost uninhabited, like we’ve just discovered it. Few of the beaches are improved or maintained, leaving them in their wild state.
We love it—especially Ann and Muffin. Ann grew up within sight of the beaches south of Durban, South Africa, and is at her happiest when she has sand between her toes. I think she’s spend all day sitting in the sand watching the waves if the pup and I would let her. It’s good to see her absorb the experience. And her “daughter” takes after her. In our 2008 Gold Beach post, Ann said, “Puppy has decided she is a beach dog or maybe a bird dog… she goes crazy when we take her out on the sand… she bounces around, digs holes, chases the birds or her ball and generally has a blast, although she has discovered chasing and catching tennis balls comes with a mouthful of sand. She doesn’t like that much.” I could write exactly the same words today. Being back at the beach is like coming home to Muffin—she loves it!
We also discovered a new business in town—a brewery! The Arch Rock Brewing Company has been in business since January and currently has three excellent beers available: a porter, a pale ale, and a lager. They don’t have an actual tasting room yet but you can stand in the front part of the brewery and sip samples while talking to Larry, the owner, and Charles, the brewmaster. That’s about as close as you can get to fresh beer. Luckily, the brewery is next door to the Hunter Creek Bar & Grill, which has their beers on tap. By the way, the Hunter Creek Bar & Grill quickly became our favorite hangout in Gold Beach. Nice beer and food, nice people, and a nice setting.
Tomorrow we move 22 miles up Highway 101 to Humbug State Park, set in the forest and sheltered from the coast by Humbug Mountain. I understand it’s a lot warmer there, which will be welcome. I also understand there’s no phone, Internet, or TV service there, so we’ll be incommunicado for a few days. Should be interesting.
Alan
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Grants Pass
Grants Pass was settled in the early-to-mid 1800’s and was finally incorporated in 1865 and named in honor of General Ulysses S. Grant’s shortly after his victory at Gettysburg. It’s a natural place for a town, being at the intersection of the Rogue River, which runs roughly east and west, and a natural series of passes through the mountains to the north. It’s a fairly small town with a rural feel, much like many of the small towns in Oklahoma where I grew up. In fact, the people are a lot like the Okies and Arkies I’ve lived amongst much of my life. As a result, if you’re into antiques or quilting or the like, you’re in heaven; otherwise, there’s not much to do in the town.
But the town isn’t what draws one here; it’s the river and mountains and all the outdoor recreation opportunities they provide. This time of year, most days are warm and sunny and dry with evening temperatures dropping into the lower forties. As a result of the nice weather and the many outdoor activities, tourism is one of the main industries in the area. The Rogue River, in particular, draws many campers, boaters, and fishermen to the area. In addition, several local companies offer tours of the river in jet boats. Since we’ll be at the mouth of the Rogue at Gold Beach next week , we chose not to do a jet boat tour here but to wait until we’re there. From what I hear, the tours at the mouth are better than the upriver ones.
As you know by now, one of my passions is visiting breweries along our route. There’s a single brewery in Grants Pass, the Wild River Brewing and Pizza Company. If you are looking for a family pizza and burger restaurant, Wild River is for you, but if you’re looking for a brew pub, forget it. They actually brew their own beer and it’s not bad, but the atmosphere is definitely not in keeping with the “Brewery” name.
We had more luck in Medford, about thirty miles to the east. In one afternoon, we visited Apocalypse Brewing Company, WalkAbout Brewing Company, BricktownE Brewing Company (no, the capital “E” is not a typo), and Portal Brewing Company. In each case, we were able to spend time with their brewmasters, all friendly folks who love to share their beers with other beerlovers. All four had some great beers, with WalkAbout being my personal favorite. Speaking of WalkAbout, when we passed through the area in 2008, we tried to find WalkAbout but kept ending up at someone’s house. We gave up, chalking it up to a bad Google address. Well, it turns out that Google was right. Russ, the owner and brewmaster, started his operation in his garage and only in the last year moved to his current location. He’s an Aussie expat, which explains all the Australian name of his business and some of his beers. All four breweries were fun and definitely worth a visit.
One of the challenges fulltime travel presents to Ann is finding someone to do her hair. In case you haven’t noticed, she has long, thick, naturally wavy hair—a test of any hair stylist’s skills. I’ve learned to do minor coloring and can even be pressed into trimming dead ends if I have to, but I wouldn’t attempt anything major. As a result, Ann simply picks a place and hopes for the best. The results have ranged from great to terrible, as you might expect. Well, sometimes luck comes your way. We became acquainted with a very nice couple who were spending a few days in the park. When Ann found out that Michelle owned a hair salon she asked, “How’d you like to cut my hair?” A short time later, she had a beautiful cut and Michelle’s business card, with plans to visit her salon as we pass through the Tacoma area in a couple of months. How’s that for getting lucky?
We leave tomorrow morning for Gold Beach, about 55 miles away as the crow flies, but 125 miles by highway. If the weather forecast is right, we can look forward to several days of cool rain while there, which means we’ll spend a lot of time sitting in the motorhome. Oh well, such is the life of the fulltimer.
Alan
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Mount Shasta
Second, the town of Mount Shasta is..., what should I say..., charming? It's a rustic old town that has obviously grown up with little planning or regulation. It's small enough to allow the residents to get to know one another but large enough to serve your basic needs. The people are a mix of artists, spiritualists, hippies, big-city retirees, and just plain folks. It's an odd mix, but it works. Bottom line: I like the place.
We're parked at the Lake Siskiyou Resort & Camp just west of the city of Mount Shasta. The lake is beautiful, made especially so by the mountain towering in the background. The RV parking sites are primitive but roomy and nice. Deer wander through the campsites and black bear raid the trash cans just about every night. It’s quiet and peaceful, a nice place to unwind. Unfortunately, the park is poorly maintained and managed. For example, although the rules clearly state that all dogs must be kept on leash and that the owner must pick up droppings, many, if not most, campsites have one or more dogs running loose, and dog droppings are scattered everywhere. It's a shame that poor management ruins so many great campgrounds. Nonetheless, we’ll stay here the next time we’re in the area.
But the main reason we're here isn't the park or the city or the mountain—it's because my two sisters are here. My niece Sharon moved here a number of years ago. Her Mom, Jean, came a few years later and my other sister, Jeannine, joined them about a year ago. I've been lucky enough to visit here four times in the past half-dozen years. It's important to me, as we three are the only remaining members of our immediate family. I'm sure it's pretty boring to Ann as we sit for hours remembering things from our shared pasts and catching up on things we've missed, but she tolerates it well.
Having been here several times, we know the area pretty well. One stop we always make is Dunsmuir. Dunsmuir is an old railroad town and still has an Amtrak stop. The layout of the town, perched on the side of a very steep hill, ensures that you get your daily exercise during your visit. There's really not much to see or do other than visit the Dunsmuir True Value Hardware store, full of all sorts of antiques scattered around the expected hardware, and the Dunsmuir Brewery Works, home to some fine beers. Regardless, it's a "feel-good" place that we always visit.
Another old town in the area that's worth a stop is McCloud. Unless you're a trout fisherman, there's little to do there except visit McCloud Mercantile and the McCloud General Store and Building Supply, but it’s the quiet peacefulness of the place that attracts us.
It's been great being in Mount Shasta and visiting with my sisters, but the pages of our calendar keep turning, so tomorrow we head north to Grants Pass, OR for a few days. See'ya there.
Alan
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Wine Country
Until now. We’ve just spent a very peaceful week, with lots of time just sitting enjoying the scenery. It’s been nice.
I’ve been in Petaluma, CA, once before. My visit was limited to a couple of pubs and some restaurants, all on the east side of Hwy 101. I wasn’t impressed by what I saw, so when we started looking for a place to stay in wine country, Petaluma was near the bottom of my list. But luckily for us, there are a limited number of RV parks in the Napa/Sonoma area and the ones I checked were ridiculously expensive, so I widened my search. It was then that I remembered that there’s a Coast Guard Training Center about ten miles west of Petaluma that has a tiny RV campground. It’s in a rural setting, there are only six parking spots, and there are no sewer hookups, but the price was right so I made a reservation and hoped for the best.
Fast-forward to last Tuesday. After fighting construction traffic coming through Petaluma, we found ourselves on a winding country road, surrounded by dairies set in beautiful rolling hills covered in green pastures. We pulled into the base and soon parked at our site near a small lake. We were greeted by an incredible view of the dairies from our “patio” (see photo above). The RV park is near the edge of the base and there is a farm house with several exotic animals, including some very noisy peafowl, a short distance across the fence. Deer, geese, wild turkeys, and other animals wander through the campground. The weather has been perfect and our neighbors are a nice young Coast Guard couple about to relocate to their new post in Virginia. Their house had sold sooner than expected so they are spending their last couple of weeks on base in their small motorhome.
So, in case you haven’t figured it out, we’ve been very pleasantly surprised. We’ve agreed that this is the best RV park we’ve experienced, ever! A good indicator of this is that the park provides Direct TV hookups with 212 channels, and we’ve not turned our TV on a single time. It’s just too nice outside to be inside. The Coast Guard members we’ve met have been wonderful. They also have a sense of humor, demonstrated by the sign we found near the entry to the firing range.
It turns out I was wrong about Petaluma as well. It’s a blue-collar town, but with character. In particular, the old downtown area has some great early 20th century architecture. There are also a couple of great breweries there, the well-known Lagunitas Brewing Company and the practically unknown Dempsey’s Brewery. It’s heresy among beer lovers to say this, but I think I like Dempsey’s beers better. They use an unusual amount of crystal malt (malted barley containing unfermentable dextrins) which lends a slightly sweet, caramel taste to their beers. If you happen to be in the area, give them a try.
Of course, since we’ve been in wine country, we’ve spent a good bit of time visiting wine estates and doing wine tastings. But the highlight was last Thursday, which was Ann’s birthday and our 24th wedding anniversary. Chalk Hill is a premier wine estate located east of Healdsburg in the northern part of Sonoma County. Its beautiful vineyards and culinary gardens are set on steep hills, connected by steep and winding roads. Chalk Hill is recognized for its Chardonnay, but it was the setting that drew us there. We signed up for their “culinary lunch tour.” Quoting their Web site,
The food was wonderful, the wines superb, the company—there were only six of us on the tour—was pleasant, and the estate was magnificent. It was a very good day. And, for the 24th time, I managed to come up with three pink roses, an unbreakable tradition.Your morning will begin with a brief excursion through the Estate vineyards. Following the vineyard tour guests are lead through the new culinary garden where organically-farmed produce is the inspiration for Executive Chef Didier Ageorges’ culinary artistry. You will then arrive at the Pavilion – a conservatory overlooking the equestrian center with panoramic views of the Chalk Hill valley. There, you will enjoy a sit-down tasting of our wines paired with four small plates prepared by Chef Didier.
There’s lots more to tell, but this post is getting too long so I’ll only mention our visit to Blind Beach, where Muffin tired herself out running from one end to the other of the 200’ cord we use as her beach leash, our stop at Stumptown Brewing in Guerneville, which has an absolutely beautiful deck overlooking the Russian River, our stop at Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, which is recognized by many as the premier brewery in the U.S., and our afternoon in Healdsburg, one of my favorite towns, which included lunch and beer tasting at Bear Republic Brewing. Yeah, I like beer.
Today we wash the rig, the first time in more than a year, and get ready for our trip to Mount Shasta tomorrow. We’ll spend ten days there in the company of my two sisters and my niece. Although we hate to leave our beautiful spot here, I look forward to spending time with them again. Check back in a week or so for a report.
Alan
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