Tag Archives: Elks Lodge

Day 1, Tillamook, OR

Another hot, sunny day here on Saturday (13 Sept) in Tillamook, OR.  We’ve been told that this nice weather is highly unusual for this time of year.  We decided to get out and enjoy it for most of the day.

But first, here’s a morning picture of our RV site at the Elks RV Park. It’s nice having full hook-ups and a good internet connection for a change.  We have WiFi through the park and also have good AT&T 4G signal on the iPhones.  We haven’t even turned on the MiFi JetPack with Verizon.

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The RV Park hostess provided a map yesterday at check-in that was chock full of tourist attractions and activities, so with map in hand, we headed out for another day-trip.

We decided to take a loop (tip was courtesy of our neighbor Susie Claxton) by going South from the RV Park which is just off Hwy 101 and then turning West to skirt along the coast going North again on Three Capes Road.  We left the park at 10 AM.  Shortly after driving South, we saw a sign for Munson Creek Falls to the East.  We decided to check it out… you can never get enough falls, right?  It was only 1-1/2 miles off our intended route on a mostly bumpy dirt road.  Once in the turn-around parking lot, we saw that it was a 1/4 mile hike.  We felt up to that.

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The trail was nice and reminded us of being back in the Hoh Rainforest again.  We were the first people there, but it was short-lived.  As soon as we got on the trail we saw about 4 other vehicles pull into the parking area too.

The trail was closed just a little ways before the bottom of the falls.  This is as close as we could get (pic below).  We said, “Ooh, Aah”, took a picture, and headed back.  We passed the many other folks along the trail that were coming in while stopping to answer the common question: “What kind of dog is that?”

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After the falls, we got back on Hwy 101 for a short distance before turning West as planned.  We skirted the coast on the unusually wavy and bumpy road in dire need of repair.  We passed the seemingly popular Whiskey Creek Fish Hatchery, there were absolutely no parking spots left, even the sides of the road were full of cars, so we drove on.

We kept our eyes open for a place to stop and eat breakfast, but found nothing.  We didn’t eat before we left this morning 🙁

We stopped at this nice beach that was being enjoyed by lots of folks out for the weekend.  There were signs posted that said not to approach the sea lions, but we didn’t see any.

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We then drove to Cape Meares.  It turns out the road past this point was closed, so we would have to double back a ways to get to Tillamook… still no sign of a restaurant or cafe to get breakfast at.

But, here’s a sign that describes Cape Meares:

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And a highly ornate informational kiosk in the parking area for the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

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We walked down to the lighthouse and took pictures of the scenery along the way.

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Here I tried to zoom in on some sea lions or other such related critters that were hanging out on the rocky coastline below.

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View from near the lighthouse.

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We took turns taking the free tour through the lighthouse.  They didn’t allow dogs.

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I took some pictures inside the lighthouse:

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The floor above that surrounds the light had glass inserts in the floor.

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View from inside the lighthouse at the top.

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We took a different trail back up to the parking lot.

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We looked real hard… but didn’t get to see any whales,  Stilla was disappointed.

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Back at the parking lot, there was a relatively short path that led up the hill to an Octopus Tree.  Here’s the informational placard.

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Pretty cool in a weird kind of way.

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We then took the long way around to get back to Hwy 101 because of the road closure… still didn’t see a place to get breakfast!  So when we got into the town of Tillamook, we spotted a Pancake House that served breakfast all day.  We found a spot out front, put up the sun-visors, and cracked the windows for Coach while we went in and got a late breakfast finally.

After breakfast, er lunch, we debated on whether to go to the Cheese Factory or the Air Museum.  We figured the Cheese Factory definitely didn’t allow dogs, so we drove to the Air Museum to see if they were dog-friendly.  They weren’t.  But we found out they have a nice cafe just inside their doorway and it’s only a $7 entrance fee for veterans.  But it was too hot to leave Coach in the Silverado so we headed back to the RV Park with the thought we could leave Coach in the air-conditioned Motorhome.  But, I think we were both feeling tired and lethargic from the big breakfast, so we just hung out at the Park the rest of the day instead of going back.  There’s always tomorrow, right?

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I spent time in the afternoon-evening to catch up on my blog post for the trip down here.  And here I am again this morning (Sunday) catching up on this blog post for Saturday.  Time to close this post and head out for more adventures…

C U tomorrow!

Moving Day (Tillamook, OR)

It’s time to move on again today, Friday (12 Sept).  We’ve really enjoyed this state park.  Would definitely come here again to Cape Disappointment if the opportunity arises in the future.

We met a nice couple that was camped next to us, they come here every year from Eatonville, WA.  My neighbor’s name was Brian, but I don’t think I caught his wife’s name.  Brian was interested in tips on diesel pushers and was full of questions.  He was thinking of getting a Class A in the future.  I tried to be as informative as I could without  seeming biased… hard for us Alpine Coach owners, eh?  Anyway, safe travels Brian – good luck with your search and I hope I was able to help.

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Before we packed up, we took another morning walk.  I noticed a little-used trail behind our camping circle, so we followed it through the woods towards the cliffs as we swatted away spider webs across the path.

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We ended up finding a couple of hidden caves.

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And then, I’m convinced we found the remains of an old ship wreck hidden in the trees near the cliffs.  The remaining wood is covered with moss and pine needles… What do you think?  Stilla won’t believe me.

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We continued on the hidden path  and came out onto the beach again.

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Once on the beach, we came upon someone’s idea of a beach fort.  They must have spent some time on this… it even had a “garden” in the front “yard”.

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After our morning’s exploits, we finished packing up and then drove the Coach to the park entrance, Stilla followed in the Silverado.  We connected the truck up to the Coach once we were at a wide, straight section in the road.  We successfully navigated under all the low-hanging branches and came through unscathed again.

We headed South on Hwy 101 again after exiting the park.  Then we crossed over the Columbia River into Oregon via the Astoria-Megler Bridge that I posted about yesterday.  After going through Astoria we started looking on-line for RV Parks.  We didn’t have cell service for the last two days at Cape Disappointment on either the iPhones with AT&T or the MiFi Jetpack with Verizon so I hadn’t done any prior planning.  I quickly determined that Tillamook had an Elks Lodge so I called their number to ask if they had RV parking and it turns out that they have their own RV park just South of town that is separate from their downtown Lodge.  Wow!  Who knew?  So I called ahead to make sure they had room.  Dixie, the camp-hostess said, “Come on in!”

Our first rest stop was above Smugglers Cove after the town of Cannon Beach.  We enjoyed the views and took a couple pictures.

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And here’s the obligatory “selfie”.

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Here’s a few pictures of our second and final rest stop for the day.  Nice views, eh?  I think it was overlooking Devils Cauldron, also not far South of Cannon Beach.

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Here’s the entrance to the Elks Park, located ~5 miles South of Tillamook.  Total travel distance for the day was just under 90 miles.

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View of the rigs in the Elks RV Park.

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As soon as we pulled in, we met the Camp Hostess, Dixie.  She rolled up in her golf cart to greet us.  She told us to pick a spot and stop by once we got settled to pay the $20 per day donation.  However, before I parked the Coach for the next couple days, I wanted to get fuel – I was on 1/4 tank.  It’s always best to keep the tank as full as possible at all times to prevent moisture from condensation building up in the tank and possibly even causing algae to grow.  This can wreak havoc on your fuel system and especially filters.  I had been on the look out for a decent fuel station the entire trip today that would accommodate the Coach while I was still towing the truck, but only saw one place back in Tillamook.  But, naturally I was already past it before I realized it would have worked for us.  I mentioned my need to get fuel to Dixie, and she recommended a place just back up the road that I must have missed.  So we disconnected the truck and parked it in the spot we wanted and headed back out to fuel up.  We found the country store / gas station alright and topped off.  Diesel was $3.99 a gallon!  Here in Oregon, a gas station attendant has to pump your fuel by state law.  The attendant said this was the first time he pumped so much into one vehicle.

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After returning to the RV Park and setting up.  We turned on the AC(s) so we could leave little Coach in the Coach in order to go into town and partake of the Elks Lodge Friday dinner.  One thing about Elks lodges across the country is that they all seem to offer a good meal every Friday for a good price and we heard from Dixie, that tonight’s specialty was a fish platter.  This park has full hook-ups with 50amp service, so we could leave both air conditioners on… and it was so hot, we needed it.  We also took the bicycles off the Silverado so we wouldn’t have any trouble in town finding a parking spot to fit into.  And also, as I think I’ve mentioned before, the bike rack sticks out pretty far with the tailgate down and I don’t want to get a ticket from the local police.

BTW – We chose the RV site next to Orman and Susie Claxton who we know from the Alpine SoCal Association and Redmond FMCA Rally we recently attended.  It’s a small RV world out here 🙂

Here’s a couple pics of the downtown Tillamook Elks Lodge #1437.  The food was great!  But I didn’t like the slot machines in the bar area we frequented before dinner… they didn’t give me any money! 🙂

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For tomorrow (Saturday) we already got a lot of tips on things to do and see in the area: Munson Creek Falls; Tillamook Cheese Factory tour; Air Museum; 3 Capes; Octopus Tree; Cape Meares and Lighthouse… so stay tuned for our next adventure…