Heceta State Beach, Birthday and More

Bill and I, and a little later, Keith and Joanette drove from our camp at Armitage County Park to Heceta Beach RV Park near Florence, Oregon. It was a quick, hour and a half drive across the Oregon Coast Range. Because the Coast Range is made up of fairly low level mountains, the ride was much less arduous than you usually find in mountain driving.

Once we reached the summit, the remainder of the drive was along the Suislaw (pronounced sigh YEW slaw) River, which reaches the Pacific in Florence.

Siuslaw River Bridge, US Hwy 101, in Florence

The bridge was completed in 1936, and was one of the early WPA projects in Oregon. prior to then highway traffic was handled by a ferry, whose terminal pylons you can see in the foreground.

We set up camp at Heceta RV Park, and awaited Keith and Joannette’s arrival. They had been delayed by a mechanical issue with their coach. Eventually they left the RV at the repair station and drove over with their tent, the two dogs and tent camped for the night. Luckily, the repair was complete early afternoon on the 20th and they did the roundtrip drive to retrieve it.

On Tuesday, while waiting for the RV repair, we all (well except for Mouse), went on, what turned out to be a 5.3 mile walk along the beach to the Siuslaw jetty and then back on the streets. we all felt the effects of walking on sand. It was a slightly overcast day, but not too breezy, so easy walking weather.

The dunes, along this stretch of coast, reach heights of up to 50 feet. Bill climbed up to check out how much farther it was to the jetty, which we could not see from beach level.

There is a jetty similar to the one you can see on the other side of the river, just below the sand behind Keith and Joanette. A word about the dogs. The one on the left is Goober, Keith and Joanette’s miniature schnauzer. The chihuahua-Jack Russell mix, on the right, is Kona, K&J’s granddaughter, Bailey’s dog. Kona is spending the year with Keith and Joanette while Bailey is at University in housing that does not allow pets.

You know I can’t pass up a large chair photo op. Well this one is just made of natural stone.

After the walk, we went back for a well deserved nap. Keith got the call the coach was ready and they headed back to Eugene.

I made dinner using a whole chicken that had been in Joanette’s freezer. I have to admit, I have not cut up a whole chicken in years, and the cut parts did not resemble any chicken part I would recognize. So, the whole lot went into a pot of chicken stew. That and warm bread was dinner.

Some of you know that Wednesday was my 66th birthday.

It got started early, when two women, whom met earlier, dropped by, with balloons, cookies and a special treat. We met them on our beach walk and they were walking with a pet stroller with a Devon Rex cat inside. The Devon Rex is a similar breed to Mouse’s Cornish Rex. We spend some of Tuesday helping one of them celebrate a birthday. And they reciprocated early Tuesday.

The flowers were from Bill.

Bill and I went into Florence for a walk, shared a sandwich at a riverside market and got to know the cute little town. We found the pier-side shop we had heard about, where one could buy crab by the pound. We will head back there with Keith and Joanette sometime to enjoy some dungeness crab, very soon.

Later that evening Keith, Joanette and Bill took me to La Pomodori, a cute Italian restaurant for a birthday dinner.

It was a great birthday and spending time with these three special people made it all.