We left the Tucson area and moved northward on February 18. We spent the next four nights at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood, Arizona. The park was at about 3,300 ft elevation so it got below freezing most evenings. The park is very nice and has lots of trails, many of which we hiked on and little lagoons so Mark was able to sail his remote control sailboat. The first afternoon that we were there we visited Tuzigoot National Monument. It is the remnants of a Sinagua village built sometime between 1000 and 1400. It was quite impressive built on top of a small hill overlooking the valley and river.
Saturday we drove the short distance to Cornville to do some wine tasting.
Who knew that Arizona has all these wine regions? We went to two different wineries. The first one was the Javelina Leap Winery. We even got to listen to a nice band there. We took a break and went across the road to the Page Spring Fish Hatchery which was a very interesting and pretty. Then on to the Oak Creek Winery and Vineyard. It was a fun afternoon!
Sunday we moved farther north. We decided to take scenic route 89 to Flagstaff, We drove through Sedona and continued up through Oak Creek Canyon. We went up to 6,900 ft and there was a lot of snow on the hillsides and along the sides of the road. It was quite pretty. We continued west on I 40 and then north to Nevada. Our GPS routed us through Lake Mead National Recreation Area, a very rugged but beautiful area but we avoided Las Vegas.
Our stop for the next three nights was Valley of Fire State Park. We stopped there on our trip late last April, and it was extremely warm, so we decided to visit it again at a cooler season. This is such an amazing park and we took lots of very nice hikes: The White Dome Trail, the Rainbow Vista Trail, The Mouse’s Tank Trail, The Fire Wave Trail and the Elephant Rock Loop Trail. We saw beautiful rocks of many different colors, petroglyphs and even an herd of Desert Big Horn Sheep. We visited the brand new Visitor Center which was only opened last November. It was absolutely beautiful and nicer than visitor centers at most national parks.
We left Valley of Fire State Park on February 25 and headed westward to California. We stayed at three Harvest Hosts on our way north through California. The first stop was near Barstow, California at the Slash X Cafe which isn’t even opened during the week, but had a nice, quiet parking area. Our next stop was at Zivoli Winery near Fresno and the third place was at Mascarin Family Wines near Healdsburg on California Rt 101. We had a nice time at all three Harvest Host spots.
As we continued north on route 101 we saw lots of beautiful rolling green hills and amazing redwood trees. We stopped at a campground in Arcata, California. We have driven by Arcata many times and never stopped. We found out it has a very nice Victorian type downtown. We took a nice hike at the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary and saw about 14 species of birds including more Black Crowned Night Herons than we have ever seen in one place. It was a nice surprise.
Driving through Redwood National and State Parks and seeing amazing Redwood trees and even some elk! Then it was on to Oregon. We spent 2 nights camping at Bullards Beach State Park outside of Bandon, Oregon. We had absolutely beautiful weather the full day we were there. We went a little ways north to South Slough Reserve near Charleston, Oregon and took a very nice hike there. We always enjoy coming back to all the green and tall trees after visiting the desert. We saw lots of newts and tons of skunk cabbage. The tide was very high and we have never seen so much water in the slough. Later in the afternoon, when we got back to the campground, we got our bikes out and rode them out to the beach.
On Tuesday, March 2, we continued north, stopping briefly at Honeyman State Park to see the dunes and lake, in Florence to have some clam chowder and at Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint to stretch our legs and hike up to the lighthouse. Then it was on to Beverly Beach State Park outside of Newport for 2 nights.
The weather was kind of iffy on Wednesday. Our first stop was Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. We visited the lighthouse first and then spent some time at the Visitor Center. The Oregon Coast Aquarium was our next stop. We hadn’t been there for awhile and really enjoyed our visit. We saw all the outside displays and saw the sea otters, sea lions and seabirds being fed. We went through the Passage of the Deep exhibit and saw sharks and lots of other fish swim over and under us as we walked through the glass tunnels.The inside aquarium always has colorful and beautiful sea creatures. When we returned to the campground, we took a nice walk on the Spencer Creek Nature Trail.
Thursday, we left the Coast and headed inland and north to home. We traveled to six states driving about 8,700 miles and had sunny warm weather for most of the trip. We spent between $2.17 and $5.49 on gas over the trip. The camper and truck performed perfectly and we have many fond memories. It was a wonderful trip, but it is always nice to be home.
