Florence, Eugene, and Portland, Oregon

After leaving Charleston, we headed up the highway to a familiar spot in Florence, Oregon. We always stay at the Port of Suislaw Marina and RV Park http://www.portofsuislaw.com/ which is right on the Suislaw River as it nears the ocean. The photo on the right is of Mo's Restaurant at the Harbor just a very short walk from our rv park. Even though it was the 4th of July weekend coming up, the town was not as packed as we remember. Either the economy was still holding people back or the gloomy foggy weather kept people indoors. Even on the night of the 4th, it was so foggy that the rockets red glare was up above the fog somewhere and we were treated to a trickle of sparks falling down through the misty drizzle.

We met an interesting couple traveling in their Land Rover through out the US of A and Canada. They were from Scotland and had an unusual tent arrangement in a Land Rover that had been completely remodeled. You can read more about them by clicking on their link on my blog.

We were to meet up with Rose and Mike in Florence but it was just too miserable and more rain was expected so we arranged to meet in Eugene instead. We stayed at the Deerwood RV Park http://www.deerwoodrvpark.com/ in Goshen, which would be a 10 in my books if it did not have the highway traffic noise most of the time. The rest of the park was delightful and sparkling clean with beautiful landscaping all around. Each site was quite large with a lawn, shrubs, and trees. There was a dog wash station and no problems with walking the dogs around the park. You can see our truck with the Montana and Rose & Mikes Brave to our left in the photo on the right.

We took a trip to tour the covered bridges in the area with Rose and Mike and had a great time seeing the scenery, eating lunch, and chatting up a storm. Apparently Oregon has the most covered bridges west of the Mississippi River and they were covered to protect the lumber in the bridge from rotting. We took the tour along the river and saw 5 bridges and there is another tour in Cottage Grove with 7 more. In the photo to the left, you can see Mike, Rose, and Allan in front of the Pengra Bridge.

We also went downtown to Eugene with them the following day and had another great day seeing the sights, eating lunch, and visiting Trader Joes. The photo on the left is of the Eugene Farmers Market which Allan and I had visited on Saturday the 4th of July. It is a good market but has a heavy emphasis on arts & crafts with a much smaller selection of produce. On Friday we headed up to Tualatin to the RV Park of Portland http://www.rvparkofportland.com/ where the rates had gone up and the management seemed a little too gung ho this year. It was still a good place to land to visit Powells Book Store which has the distinction of not only being the largest in the land but placing its used, new, paperback & hardbacks all together on the shelf for easy choosing of the copy that you want. In the morning we had gone to one of the best farmers markets that we have ever been to in Portland near the University in the parkway with smoked salmon, french pastries, brie, pate, pesto, and all of the usual jams, baked goods, and produce that you could ever want, all homegrown or handmade products. Both Rose and I came away with full bags of goodies for a week of good eats until the next farmers market comes along.

Friday evening we had all attended the Concert in the Commons at the Tualatin lake after having a chinese dinner at Lees. This night we listened to Blues music which was not as uplifting and fun as some of the concerts we have attended there but it was a relaxing evening and we all enjoyed the people watching. Rose and Mike were the greatest of company for all of these activities and we were sorry to leave them on Sunday even though we would be meeting again for a couple of days in Coeur d'Alene.