Vandy Returns Home to Oregon – Old Kids Adventures

October 11 – October 24, 2021

It’s hard to believe, but it’s already October of our first year traveling – time does go by fast! This week we made our way to Pescadero, CA. The coast of California is very pretty, and being able to see things on weekdays makes things easier – fewer crowds, less traffic, etc.

Pescadero is a small town with exorbitant prices! Gas was over five bucks a gallon (the rest of the country is averaging around 3.75), and a burger was eighteen bucks at a little restaurant we encountered. That said, there were better deals to be found – we ate good Mexican food in a gas station where the working class likely goes out – places like this tend to feel more authentic, and give a person a better perspective on the place and its people. We stayed on a small “farm” run by a woman and her husband. They grew berries that people could come pick when in season – of course for us, it was too late in the year, but it was still a nice play to stay. I ran some in a cold wind, and Ramona and I did some biking out in the country. All in all, our stay at Pescadero was nice, but not something I’d rush back to do.

After a few days in Pescadero, we made our way up to Moss Beach, which is just south of San Francisco. We stayed in a driveway of a home just off the beach – a fellow van lifer that was very friendly and helped us out a bit with a few tools. We did some biking, and then Ramona went to Andrea’s 60^th birthday party up north of San Francisco. While Ramona was gone, I *finally* figured out why our battery charger was not consistently working and got that fixed. I also worked a bit on being able to keep some things outside the van (e.g., our flexible sewer hose), but scrapped my plans after realizing that what I would come up with could end up coming loose or breaking while we were driving. After a couple of days at Moss beach, it was time to head up to Dillon beach and pick up Ramona.

Next up was Patricks Point campground, where we explored the Redwoods. It was nice to get out of the crowds and the city, and back up to a much quieter area. Since we are now well into the shoulder season for many areas, finding places to stay, and traveling in general, is much easier. As with the central coast of California, we saw some very beautiful things and enjoyed the scenery. California is a nice place to visit and explore – living in many of the areas would be quite expensive, and the benefits to be had by living in California don’t seem to be worth the associated cost. Maybe one day that will change, but for now, it’s hard to see living in the state.

After a couple days in northern CA, it was finally time to leave the state behind and head to Oregon. We stayed at Bandon beach and found both a nice place to run, as well as a nice lighthouse to check out. There were a few people around, but we’ve definitely gone from having a hard time finding places to stay, to having a much easier time! We still have to pay attention to where we’re going to find water (many of the places have their water turned off for the year), but it hasn’t been too bad. Now, with knowing that we have power, we feel that much more confident in being effectively off the grid.

Next we stayed on Cape Lookout near Tillamook. It’s a beautiful place with wide sandy beaches and sparse crowds. We explored a bit and could certainly tell that the temps were starting to change. The heater in the van is a nice fall-back, and we used that occasionally to take the edge off if it ever got too cool.

It was finally time to head to Portland and do a few things that we wanted to get done in Portland – namely an additional solar panel for the van, and a water gauge so we could better tell exactly where we’re at when it comes to water. We reached Van Specialties and explained what we wanted to have done. After some reservations on their part as to whether they could get things done for us, they finally calmed down a bit, and we left the van with them for a long weekend. We drove into Portland where we spent our first night downtown. We did a little shopping our first night, walking over to an REI located in the downtown region – the downtown area has dealt with some major blows leaving it feeling a bit like a ghost town; a serious homelessness problem made worse with Black Lives Matter protests and rioting; offices largely shutting down due to COVID, and then not wanted to deal with some of the potential violence still happening downtown. It didn’t exactly feel threatening, but it did have a rather eerie feeling being so shut down. Some of the local businesses have really taken a beating, there’s no question (think restaurants, etc.).

After a night downtown, the next day we went and picked up Adam and his girlfriend Kelsie, and then made our way back out to the Oregon coast to a small town called Seaside. We had a nice condo to stay in, and got checked in late that evening without any problems. The next day, we got up and headed out to do some crabbing. It was cool and a bit rainy, but we had a good time renting a small motor boat, three baited crab pots, and getting our crabbing permits. We spent a morning chasing crabs – lots of small ones were caught in our pots, and we ended up with 3 keepers which we promptly took back and fixed at the condo. The girls weren’t so crazy about the crab, but we all had fun going out and doing something we’d never done before! We managed to warm up that afternoon, and did just a bit more sightseeing before the day was done.

The next day we drove down to Oceanside, braving some truly fierce winds along the way – so much so that a few storm chasers were even out measuring the power of the gusts. We had a nice lunch in Oceanside, and liked it well enough to seriously consider coming back at some future point and actually spending a month there – rent a small place on or near the coast, and just enjoy the area – biking, surfing, maybe some more crabbing!

We made our way back to Portland that evening where we stayed in a house that we’d rented for 2 nights. I went to an Instacare to have my pinky finger checked out (I hurt it surfing, and even after a month it was still bugging me – it checked out find), and Ramona, Adam, and Kelsie did some more site seeing.