Oregon Coast

Now that we are pretty much moved and nested into our little apartment  I feel that I can sit down and edit some pictures!

Here is a short rundown of what we have done the past 2 weeks.

First, we started our journey by traveling to Crater Lake at the wrong time of the year. We planned on stopping and sightseeing along our way to my cousin's house in Medford, OR. She warned us that the park might be closed due to seasonal snow...

We checked the website and found that it was open, but that certain trails were closed. We decided we'd drop by just for fun. And it started out pretty nice.

Then we hit a blizzard and, in some spots, a wall of snow over 15 feet high.
We found out that Crater Lake gets over 44 feet of snow per year...

We ended up barely making it through the storm and eating in Bend, OR. We also stopped in to an antiques store and overheard some older ladies talking about the different ways to smoke marijuana. They also talked about how to get it for cheap: "Pay your doctor $300 and tell him you need it for menopause."

After the Crater Lake fiasco, we were glad to find that the Redwoods were the perfect temperature for exploring and hiking.

My cousin suggested visiting the Jedediah Smith State Park instead of, or in addition to, the famous National Forest. Since she was pretty accurate the last time she gave us advice, we decided to take it.
And it was great! The park was absolutely beautiful and it had tons of massive redwoods. Plus, it was almost void of other visitors, which was nice since we could walk around in peace and quiet.

Someone had carved this in a fallen tree, but it just so happens to be our initials :)
Below you can see a banana slug, the only critter we saw on our hikes.

After visiting the redwoods for most of the day, we decided it was time to find a place to camp (yes, I decided I could sleep in a tent for one more night). However, we found that campgrounds were about $20 for a tent, and $35 for a yurt.

We decided to rent a yurt because of the bed and the protection from the wind, and we are so glad we did!
The campground was the Oceanside RV Park in Gold Beach, OR. The yurt was clean and in great condition, plus there were bathrooms close by. The best part? It was right on the beach!

We went for a walk along the beach at sunset... So cliche but sooo good!
There were a lot of seals (or seas lions? We don't know!) along the beach, and if you look close in the black and white picture of the boat you can see a TON of seals sunbathing in the background.

The next day, we drove about 12 miles north of Gold Beach to a spot that was considered one of the better tidepooling areas.
If you are thinking about tidepooling in the future here are some tips:

• Get a schedule of the tides (you can find one at a visitor's center or online) and use it! You want to go about an hour before the low tide.
• Wear appropriate shoes and do not wear long pants.
• Bring along a book or guide of sea creatures (we wish we had done this!)
• Don't be afraid to turn over rocks and move aside seaweed. This is when you find the most interesting creatures.

The only picture we got of us together; not the most attractive, but oh well!

This is the view from the Sea Lion Caves just outside of Yachats. We got there just after it closed :( but we've heard it's really cool! So if you are planning a trip along the Oregon Coast make sure you stop there before 5 pm Pacific time.

34 weeks!

We spent a relatively small amount for this trip because of advanced planning and researching. Here are some tips for making the most of your money while traveling (plus a list of restaurants we ate at along the way).

1. Plan how much gasoline costs where you will be traveling and your car's miles/gallon. This way you will get a rough estimate of how much travel will cost and you can plan accordingly.
   Tools: GasBuddy is an app that tells you how much gasoline costs at almost every gas station in every city. You can use it to figure out the best place to fill up!
2. Look for places other than motels, hotels, inns, etc. Those can get really spendy depending on where you stay. Check out options like a yurt or campground.
   Tools: AirBnB (we use this all the time), Couch Surfing (we haven't tried this one, and it all depends on how adventurous you are!)
3. Research the highest rated places to eat as well as how much they cost before you decide where to eat. Also, bring a small cooler and buy some dry ice to store foods for breakfast and lunch. We only ate out during dinner time and this saved us a bunch of money.
   Tools: Yelp (also available as an app), Urban Spoon
4. Buy a map of the area! I know, I know. This is the 21st century and nobody uses those anymore. However, most of the places we stayed (Zions, Bryce, Crater Lake, etc.) did not have reception and definitely did not have data service. So buy a map! Or if you want to save some money...
   Go to the map app on your phone and download a map of the area while you have data service and/or wifi access. This was so crucial for finding our way around, we literally had access to Navigation and Maps maybe once or twice during our adventures. So, buy a map or download one!

Finally, here are our favorite restaurants we ate at during out trips:

Bend, OR: Deschutes Brewery

Gold Beach,OR: Barnacles Bistro (fish and chips was the best I have ever had)

Yachats, OR: Green Salmon (amazing hot chocolate!), Luna Fish Restaurant (chowder was fabulous)

Thank you for all your suggestions of places to go and see! Unfortunately we didn't get to see all the places we wanted, but we will be going again soon! We had to cut our trip short and didn't get to see the north part of Oregon. But, that gives us something to look forward to in the future :)

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