OUR TOP - and not so hot - FOURTEEN

Here they are, our personal Top 14 (of whatever) from our trip:

Best Seaside Resort: Ironically, it's SEASIDE, Oregon

For it's charming little village, extra-ordinary shops, fine beach, promenade and overall flair!

 Dumpiest RV Resort: SUNSET LAKE, Warrington, WA State

Best Detour: LOON LAKE, Oregon, off Hwy 101, 7 miles west of Reedsport

RV ground right next to the beach, quiet, quaint, a location straight from a Stephen King novel.

Most Amazing Nature: SAND DUNES off the Oregon coast . Here is the Wikipedia link

Second Best: REDWOODS, Northern California

Quietest Spot for a Good Night Sleep: Mill Hill, California right in the middle of the Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park

Most boring Boardwalk: EUREKA, northern California

Seriously, it's a dump. Approximately 300 meters of Nothing, no shops, no entertainment, no atmosphere.

Best Strawberry Ice-Cream: Funny enough, in EUREKA at LIVING THE DREAM!

They marinade their strawberries in balsamic vinegar for extra flavour extraction. You need to taste it to believe it! The best ever! ( I am a self proclaimed expert in this flavour- it has been my favourite since I can remember....).

Best Marketing Ploy: ASHLAND, Oregon
Ashland brings Shakespeare to the masses; they make it easy for all of us to understand, sit through and enjoy old English classics. In a nutshell, old English translated into common English!  
This town created their whole existence around Shakespeare , sort of! 
Let's be all honest here, only the most hard core of English literature fans can sit through a proper production of e.g. Hamlet -  It takes full concentration on your behalf to understand old English, patience and a soft cushion for your butt. This whole spectacle takes 4 hours! Yes, I 'suffered' through it. I had the privilege of watching one of England's finest live and in action: Mr. Kenneth Brennagh, Gods gift to the stage!  Therefore, I have to give this clever town my thumbs up!

Alfresco Live entertainment for the masses, lots of fun shops, a well designed park, plenty of parking and an easy going attitude towards arts! Well done Ashland!

Most adventurous, fun activity we did as a family: WILD WATER RAFTING down Rogue River in Cold Hill, Oregon

Coldest Water to swim in: The PACIFIC, brrrrr

Biggest Disappointment for Fish & Chips:

 In Newport at the highly acclaimed LOCAL OCEAN!
The presentation was fabulous, the chips were ok, the fish was fresh with no season, spice and / or taste! Oh how I dislike a chef who plays it safe! Put your finger into the pot of seasoning and show me what you stand for!

Best Shopping Deal: Adidas soccer cleats for $ 30.00 a pair for the boys at SEATTLE'S OUTLET VILLAGE!

Best Deals: OREGON! NO SALES TAX! The price you see is the price you pay! Hurrah!

Best people to hang out with:
Our own family! Yes, it can be done, 24/7 for 14 days straight!
 Apart from hanging out with the family, we met quite a few very nice RVers along the way. We had  a nice chat, exchanged information, shared stories - and waived good-bye. No obligation, no promises, none of the 'let's stay in touch, drop by when you are in the area" kind of talk.  Because we know by now this ain't going to happen anyway! Magic moments and fun memories, that what they are!

Overall Rating of the trip: 10 out of 10!

One Thousand Kilometers

further down the road and we are still in Oregon.
Our driver, fabulous husband extra-ordinaire Dominic, is doing a great job maneuvering this big 30 feet Beast along Hwy 101.

 So far he brought us from Trailer Trash Park (sorry, photos deleted)

via Newport

 

 to Loon Lake, (Reedsport)

to the magnificent Sand Dunes,

 all the way down to Gold Beach -  our last stop before we hit Cali.

 To put us in the right frame of mind, our boys make us listen to the Red Hot Chilly Pepper's Californication over and over again...

The views along the coast are magnificent,

 


the water of the Pacific is freezing cold

and the wind blows so hard it can take your breath away:

California, I hope you have less wind and more sun for us: 35 miles to go -

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES

 Howdy folks, guess what we are doing at the moment:  We are RV - ing to California!                 We swapped beautiful B.C. for Hwy 101. We swapped our house for a 30 footer. So far, our boys are pretty psyched about driving, eating and living together in close proximity of each other -  let's see how long this is going to last...

Dominic put me in charge of organising a hook-up for our mobile home for the first few nights. From the comfort of our home I booked our first spot in Warrington / Oregon. The RV park I chose is called Sunset Lake Park!
The Internet site didn't have any pictures, but with a name like this you can't go wrong, can you?

Actually, you can: we ended up at White Trailer Trash Heaven!

Thanks to various TV shows (e.g. My name is Earl)  our boys are familiar with that kind of living;    they just have never seen it, breathed it or lived it in real life - until now. One night definitely is enough to get a taste of how The Other Half Lives.
I wanted to give you a virtual tour around the park - until I noticed (with slight frustration) I deleted all photos!
Oh well, it wasn't a pretty side anyway...
On the next stop I will show you the pretty sites! Until then,
 Happy days to you, Happy RV- ing to us!