Newport to Eugene - Beautiful Oregon

Cucumber Sea Star

Sea Lions and Seals

Oh, Boy!!!!! We are back on the Oregon coast. We arrived in Newport at the Port of Newport Marina which is a little less then half way down the coast. It’s not a beautiful campground, but it's really cool and there are places for Phaedra and me to walk though I didn’t get the tug thrown a lot. We are right under the famous Newport bridge and did see the fog roll in which was a sight.  This is so different from Hood River: here sights and sounds are really part of the ocean.  There are foghorns calling each night and the sea gulls' mournful cries fly overhead.  The marina has beautiful yatchs and sailboats.  We even walked out on the piers to check the boats out.  Right nearby, there is a science center, Hatfield Marine Science Center, which is a research station for Oregon State University.  We stayed home while Mama and Papa saw a Giant Pacific Octopus being fed and learned

about other ocean creatures.  Who cares about stupid octopuses anyway?  Not us!


Our friends from Sanibel, Joann and Bob, drove down from their summer place near Seattle and visited us the first 2 days. We really enjoyed them. They all went to the Rogue Brewery right next to the campground the first night and celebrated Mama’s birthday (she just turned 39, you know) at an ocean front restaurant the second night. They spent a lot of time at Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, a park

Western Gull and chicks

shared by the BLM and Oregon parks.  There is a really pretty lighthouse and below it is a very rocky shoreline with cool tide pools, lots of birds, and harbor seals. Over the time we were in this area, Mama and Papa saw young Peregrine Falcons, baby Western Gulls, baby Brandt’s Cormorants and sooooo many seals.  One was a baby. This has really become a baby trip for all of us.

Tsunami Pier

After our friends left, we traveled up the coast to Lincoln City to visit the sights stopping at Depot Bay, the world’s smallest harbor. Phaedra and I got to go along to help them look for whales. None swam by - otherwise our outstanding eye sight would have found them for the folks!  I bet all of you remember the terrible tsunami that hit Japan.  Anyway, when we were in Newport, there was this place called Agate Beach where a pier from Japan washed on shore.  It was washed away in the tsunami, floated all the way across the Pacific Ocean and landed on this beach.  It is huge!  Bigger that the Brooklyn Bridge, I bet.  Papa says no, but I think I know more than he does.  I’ll let him think he is right, though.  All of us girls have to humor him every once in a while.  We also spent a day riding south to Florence to go to a dealer to have our hitch looked at. That was about as much fun as getting my teeth cleaned.  The scenery was great, though, with wonderful views of the ocean and big trees that a boy dog would love.

From Newport we went on to Winchester Bay.  The marina there had the neatest campground - with views out to the ocean and then boats on the other side. We were surrounded by water on 3 sides with a dog walking path all the way around.  One day we were walking and all of a sudden there was this really, really loud ROAR!  I thought the spots on my body were going to jump right off.  Then I thought it was a tsunami!  Well, I’m still here, but the day was soooo windy that the waves were crashing and banging on the rocks.  I was really scared on that walk.

The best part for me was that there are huge sand dunes going for miles and I was able to run, run run. Papa wanted to ride an ATV but never did. Phaedra and I took the folks on a hike which ended up above the sand dunes and we saw tons of these little buzzing ants - they were really the ATVs.  It looked like lots of fun, but kinda scary the way the zipped up to the top of a huge dune and then flew down again with sand flying from the paddles on their back wheels.

We went south to our friend, Pat Kelly’s area of Coos Bay. We drove along the coast to a special area called Simpson Reef and saw Harbor Seals, Elephant Seals, California Sea Lions and Stellar Sea Lions. Boy, did the folks have a great time. We ended up in Bandon which had wonderful rock formations sticking up right out of the sand.

It was then on to Eugene, Oregon to visit with Saralee and Ralph who introduced Mom to Dad many,many, many years ago. Along the way, we passed huge herds of Roosevelt Elk.  They live in an area that has been designated a refuge.  There were babies!

Animal House

The campground that Ralph found, was next to Dexter Lake which was well known for The Dexter Lake Club that appeared in the movie Animal House from a long, long, long time ago. They had to go one night to have a drink. Remember the original Food Fight?  That was from the University of Oregon at a fraternity party.  Wish I had been there, then!

Eugene has some fantastic gardens.  We visited the Hesse Gardens which are amazing because Ralph and Saralee made them.  Ralph built a building in the garden.  It has trains running around in it.  All of them walked all over the gardens and on their river, played with the trains, drank Margaritas,  and played with cats.  Guess where we were... at home in the RV.  I hate cats! Those gardens were better than ones that they have paid money to visit Mama said. Saralee and Ralph took them all over the area and visited University of Oregon’s campus, various covered bridges and spent a day at King Estates, a winery.

Well, all good things must come to an end, but something new is always just around the corner.  Next stop is the giant redwoods in Northern California.

Phaedra will keep you posted on the Redwoods when we get back to you.  And, be sure to check out the video below of the Giant Pacific Octopus - he's cool. 

Licks and Wags for now.

Zoe the Great!  (And her faithful sidekick, Phaedra!)

Moon Walk To Mountain Top!

Boy, oh boy, have we had excitement since leaving The Tetons.

Mama and Papa wanted to see something new so they chose a place in southern Idaho near Arco which was the first American city to be totally powered by atomic power. This was the location of Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. The drive took us through some beautiful countryside in Wyoming, and then onto the high desert of Idaho where we lost the air conditioner in the truck. Zoe and I loved it with the windows open and the wind “a blowin”. Dad complained about the 93 degree temperature, but we loved it.

Bluebird in the Craters

By the the time we got to the campground, everybody was tired because wehad to drive through 40 mph winds. That didn't stop us from heading

out to Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.  Whew!  That's a mouthful!  The last eruption of this volcanic area was 2000 years ago.  The Pahoehoe flow traveled 18 miles before it stopped.  We could even see lava rocks in our campground in Arco.  We all drove over to the park which was very stark and empty except for the lava beds. The wind was blowing so hard we would have
been blown into a lava tube if we got out, so we all just rode around and looked from the car. 

This is so cool!  It looks like Hawaii - or at least that's what the parents said.  But, it's sharp and black and hard on puppy paws.  I know this because the first people who crossed the volcanic field who weren't Native Americans were two guys and a dog.  Big mistake!  This guy, Robert Limbert decided that someone needed to preserve this area so he got a friend, Walter Cole, and his Airedale dog went with him.  You know, the tragedy of this is that nowhere is his dog's name given!  The good news is that Limbert loved his pooch so much that he carried him many miles over the lava when his paws became so cut and sore from walking on the lava that he could only hobble.  Bad people would just have left this big guy there.  He's good people!


The next day Mom and Dad went back and hiked into lava tubes which would have been fun for us. We knew by then, though, that this type of ground is really hard on poor little puppy paws, so it was good that we stayed at the camper.  Still, we had to stay alone.  It is amazing how many flowers and trees find a way to live on the lava fields.

Mt. Hood

We were there only 2 nights and then drove on towards The Columbia Gorge. The air still was not working but an Papa got an appointment to have the truck looked at in "The Dalles", Oregon which was near Hood River where we were going to stay for a week.  Mom offered to drive on the way there, again, and noticed something loose on the camper so she stopped along the interstate. They got out to discover the the back camper tire had shredded with only a 1/2 inch of tread left on either side.  The center was completely bare like a reverse Mohawk haircut -  or the opposite from Zoe's Mohawk when she gets riled up!  We were so lucky that the tire did not blow.  We made it to town and were able to get all 4 tires replaced but discovered that the tire pieces had damaged the underside of the camper. But, we could drive it and found out we could get the camper fixed in Portland which is where our good friend Nancy - from old times in Germany - lives. 

We camped in a state park for 6 nights right along the Columbia River Gorge. There was a great field in back of the camper where I could run, run and run.  Every time the folks would leave us alone to watch the kite boarders and wind surfers in Hood River or explore the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway, they would return, feel guilty about leaving us alone,  and take me out to play in the field. FUN ! FUN ! FUN !



They took us up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood and we got to play in he snow!  It was  51 degrees. Our little tender paws got really cold but I really loved it.  Zoe didn't quite know what to do - first thing she thought of was to turn the snow white! Yuck!  Who wants to roll around in yellow snow?


We got to visit wineries and fruit orchards on the way to Mt. Hood.  You know, there is only one food I don't like - celery.  They don't grow celery near Hood River.  We saw cherry trees that I could have feasted under and apples starting on the trees.  I'd spend more time running through the lavender fields, too!  Zoe really liked it every time we left the park because the rangers gave us doggie treats when we came back.  I even ate them just so Zoe wouldn't get it all! There were tons of squirrels for us to chase, too, if we had been able to.  There were so many that they looked like lemmings going over the edge of the gorge cliffs! 

Remember the fires in Estes Park?  Well, they followed us to Hood River, too. They were close by but we couldn’t smell them.  The firefighters were worried as much about falling off the cliffs and the rattlesnakes as they were about being able to contain the fires.  When we heard about the snakes, Zoe and I didn’t like walking in the tall grass much anymore!

On the 4th of July, we drove over to Mt. Adams in southern Washington and spent the day getting lost and seeing beautiful scenery. We heard lot of fireworks that night, but never saw any.  There was part of the road that had blockades up and the road had dropped four or five inches down.  We either had to go back 25 miles or go across it.  I think that we went across it but I crawled under my pillow and didn't watch.  It's bad, you know, when the folks stop talking and the knuckles of their hands get really white while holding on!  Anyway, when I came out from under the pillow, we were on a really small road and I hoped there would not be any cars that came toward us - there wasn't anywhere to go.  Whew!  We made it back though.

We drove to Portland and left the camper to get fixed and stayed in our first hotel. We liked the camper much better. There was a big bowl of treats near the hotel door, though, so Dad got us one every time he took us for a walk. I had to go out alottttttt!. We got to see Nancy, a friend from their Germany days which made Mom and Dad happy.  We love Nancy!  She is the best!  We met her two years ago and she brought us the best treats.   It only took one overnight before we could pick up the camper and we headed out for Newport on the Oregon Coast where we are going to stay.


Hope that Zoe has ONLY good news on the next part of our voyage!

Here's wishes for “Fair Winds and Following Seas”!

Phaedra (and Zoe)

Phaedra and I had a great trip over to the Tetons with a stopover at a small town called Dubois, Wyoming.  Mind you, there is no French influence here - that’s what we were told by the indigenous peoples.  It’s pronounced DuBoys!  (Not very chi chi as Mama says sometimes.)  We camped on a river with great sights and fantastic new smells.  We drove over a pass which was really steep going in to the Tetons, and Mom and Dad really loved the views.

The name Grand does not do justice to these fantastic mountains. They just seemed to have sprung out of the flat ground and rose to great heights. Mom found out that when they were formed that for every foot they rose, the ground fell three feet. Don’t understand what that means but you’ll have to take my word for it.

Father’s day was very exciting. We had lots of wind all day.  Then in the late afternoon, it got really, really BAD!  Mama was on the phone with Parker and Anne and all of a sudden, we heard her exclaim, “OMG! Alan, a tree just came down and I don’t know if it hit our truck!”  Then she said, “Better cancel our dinner reservations at the Jackson Lodge for tonight!”  Long story short, we are lucky to be Irish.  The tree branches on this 40 foot tree got stripped off as it fell through two pine trees on our campsite!  Otherwise, we would have had a “totaled truck” and needed to come back home.  Parker thought that it would have been a great idea for us to return and since we miss her so much, Phaedra and I thought that was a good idea.  Then we thought about all the fun things we have planned and are really thankful for several things - the truck didn’t get hit, we weren’t standing under where the tree fell down, and we get to camp some more.  Anyway, the tree got cleared out by a caterpillar - not Parker’s favorite crawly kind - and within an hour they left us alone, once again, to celebrated Father’s Day at the Mural Room in Jackson Lake Lodge where they feasted  on delicacies that we would love to try!  Still we do get delicacies like elk scat and bison patties.  They never ask to share, either!

This has been a trip of babies.  You know about the baby Great Horned Owls, the baby Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheet, the baby Rocky Mountain Elk, baby Turkeys, baby Bluebirds, and the baby Wyoming Ground Squirrels which are called Chiselers here in the Tetons.  Well, now we have collected baby Grizzly Bears, baby Sandhill Cranes, baby Canada Geese, and baby Bison.  The way Papa and Mama ooh and aaah over them makes me jealous.  So, I am trying to teach them a lesson - when they leave Phaedra and me to go view animals, I pull off the bed covers, throw pillows on the floor, and wait for them to be punished.  It never seems to work out that way, but I’ll keep on trying. 

The first encounters we had with large mammals once we got to the Tetons were with Grizzlies.  So far we have seen 5 different grizzlies.  The most exciting ones are a mama grizzly and her three cubs.  This grizzly is called 610.  She is the daughter of 399.  It turns out that 399 had triplets and abandoned them.  Two of those cubs struck out on their own leaving behind one other cub.  That cub has been adopted by 610 who has two of her own cubs.  You see, bear cubs stay with their moms for 3 winters.  The reason for that is they have so much to learn - how to hunt, what to do if there are no animals to hunt, where to find berries, and how to avoid things like humans and fires.  It goes on.  Even though I am very smart, there is too much for me to remember about what they have to learn.  When 399 abandoned her babies, their chances of survival dropped a whole bunch.  If the two cubs stay together they might be able to survive.  I hope so even though I might be a good meal for the two of them.  You know, most puppies are lucky.  Even though they don’t get to stay with their parents for 3 winters, they often get adopted by people like Papa and Mama.

We had fun one day when Patsy and Bob came to visit us. They are friends from Sanibel who are really good ball throwers. They are working at the Elk Refuge in Jackson about 40 miles from our campground. They took Mom and Dad for the day and showed them places they had never been. They drove to an  area of a national forest called the Red Hills. It was beautiful thou not for our eyes. Mom and Dad were really happy about spending the time with them. They went back one evening and had dinner (left us with kibbles) and enjoyed walking around town. Jackson was having a Japanese Fire Festival. We heard that Mom went into The Cowboy Bar and sat on a saddle as a bar stool. They went one more time south to visit and had dinner again with them. It’s nice to have good friends.

We went on a lot of rides with the folks, but we could not get out too often to run. The

best day was the one we drove all over Yellowstone. We only spent the one day but drove 200 miles. It sounds really silly to do that but we all spent a lot of time there two years ago so Papa and Mama decided to stay in the Tetons this year. We saw Old Faithful, Firehole Canyon, Virginia Cascades, lots of Bison and some with babies, Lake Yellowstone, and had a wonderful picnic along the Firehole River. We were gone 10 hours and had a great time.


They left us a few times to visit the Jackson Lodge which looks out over a large marshy area with the mountains in the background. This became their Panera.  They viewed American White Pelicans, Sandhill Cranes, Cowbirds, Cliff Swallows, Moose, and Elk from the veranda.  They, also, went to The Rockefeller Center in the southern part of the park which was donated by Laurance Rockefeller. They went on a great 3 mile hike to Phelps Lake which was the location of their lodge. We would have loved to swim in that lake!  All buildings were removed at the instructions of the Rockefellers when the property was donated to the park in order to bring it back to the original state. I spent more time with Phaedra and got into a little trouble.

Well, I wish we could stay longer but it’s goodbye to the moose, elk and deer that we saw and on to new adventures. We are heading into southern Idaho to visit Craters of the Moon. I see the moon every night when we look for beaver so I don’t quite understand this trip. Guess I’ll leaving the driving to Dad (maybe Mom?)
Until next time with Phaedra........

Bye from cowboy country.
Zoe, the Magnificent.

P.S. We are really sad about Estes Park which has had 22 homes destroyed by the Woodland Heights Fire.  The Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park which we camped next to was closed.  As of today, though, this fire is 100% contained and we are so happy that Estes Park will still be there when we return in August.  We feel really sad for all the people who lost their homes.  And, we are so thankful for the amazing firefighters who battled and continue to battle the worst fire season in recent history.