Flutterwheeling: Seaside Oregon & Thousand Trails RV Resort

This is the view at our site in Seaside, OR at the Thousand Trails RV Resort. We were here over the 4th of July holiday. It wasn't very long before all those empty looking sites were occupied! It was a full-hookup site, but had 30 amp service in our particular area instead of 50 amp. That wasn't an issue mainly because the temperatures were on the cool side, and it wasn't necessary to have any A/C running. In fact, we had to wear sweaters much of the time, and run the furnace in the mornings to take the chill off.

We stayed about 2 weeks and had a good time...so good that we'll be back here toward the end of July.

We went to a square/round dance on Saturday night but with the holiday they didn't have enough for a square, we did get to round dance for a half hour but it was very low level. There was a 4th of July parade, fireworks, biking and geocaching. What more is there??

Well, for one thing, there's Pronto Pups! For the uninitiated, it's a weiner on a stick, dipped in batter and deep fried, a little different from a corn dog but not much. So very yummy with mustard spread all around. I didn't get one because of this dad-burned new healthy diet! My first experience with them was as a youngster at the Ventura Calif County Fair. Tell you one thing. Next time in town I'm getting one! But I did have chowder, and boy was it delicious.

About this blogger. Some of the pictures don't match the narratives as they are in the draft once it's sent for publication. They get all messed up and out of sync. It's free though, and worth every cent I pay! I've tried to use the 'live writer' software that melds with blogger and lets you work off-line. It's final outcome looks even worse. I may have to use another blog service. If anybody can recommend a better one, send an email, okay?

Eloise finished up her very first queen sized quilt while we were here. You wouldn't believe how many hours she spent with needle in hand. The pattern is called "Cards". It's very beautiful. Ask to have a look at it when we're around.

It was a coincidence that there was a 4-day line dance rally going on right here in the park. We were there for only two of the four days, but we had a great time. The dances were pretty easy, but fun anyway. There were about 30 dancers. Had to dance on the deck which had a partial area covered in plywood, the rest were 2X6s. Not the greatest dance floor, but nobody complained. Everyone had a ball. Wish we could have stayed for the entire rally.

Here's Eloise under the dash of the CRV. We had to re-wire the auxiliary brake (the one that activates when the motor home brake is applied). The brain died, and the replacement was wired differently. She's under there and looking comfortable. It's anything but! Your head is cocked at an angle, crammed between seats so you back aches and look at wires that are only inches away and you've got to have an unstable head-band kind of light to see into the dark. Other than that, it's comfortable. End result is that the brake works great.

I am going to tell you a story about these two pictures. The raven on the table is there apparently dying. I don't know from what--maybe just old.

Its mate is there on the ground by the picnic table watching only the other. It wasn't looking around, only concentrating, willing the raven to fly away. Even when we came out of our rig and slammed the door, the raven didn't flinch or look at us or act nervous, just helplessly staring straight ahead. Call me an idiot, but I was very touched. Birds likely die every day, and all the time, but not like this. This was truly a sad thing for me, and I've spent some time considering these ravens. I even had a dream about them that night. As we were driving off on whatever our business was, the watching bird jumped up on the table, faced the sick one, and spread its wings, I'm thinking to shade it from the sun. It simply sat stiffly in that position as we left. Regrettably, I didn't take a picture of that. Just so you know, ravens nest in single pairs, away from others. Once paired, they are mated for life.

The Necanicum River

This is the Necanicum River that flows thru town. Several bridges offer fishing and crabbing opportunity.

It is a tourist town, no getting around that. Traffic snarls Hwy 101 that runs thru, as well as clogging all the city streets. The very best way of getting around town is by bicycle, except on Broadway clear out to the turn-around, where it is best to be a pedestrian with sharp elbows!

Can you make out the yellow rubber duckie? It is known as a 'travel bug' or TB, a sort of traveling geocache. These TBs can be made of anything the owner wants them to be with a dog tag showing its number, and are placed into caches which can accommodate their size. A finder of the cache can leave it there, or take it with them and deposit it in another cache according to the wishes of the owner of the TB. We picked up this ducky in a cache in Bend, officially known as "Atlantic Duck", whose goal was to get to the Pacific Ocean. We knew we would be at the ocean pretty soon so we took it here to Seaside and Eloise touched it down in the surf. Later we dropped it off in a cache nearby. We sent this picture to the owner. Now the TB can just make its way to different caches all around the world...

We started a TB once. It was called "The Dance Bug". Cachers were supposed to log it with a description of a dance they attended or simply take it to another cache and drop it off. Somebody kept it. We started a duplicate. Somebody kept it. Neither has shown up in over a year. Not starting another, this time we are ordering one that goes on your vehicle window. People who spot it log it in and tell where they saw it.

The city aquarium has some windows that show a whale that washed ashore near Ft Stevens State Park in 1988. You can see it behind my bicycle, it goes all the way to the right window.

It was a 36 foot long Gray Whale, 9 years old. The bones have been painted to preserve them. Incidentally, our first motorhome was 36 feet long also!

These water craft are located pretty well downtown area. Those round ones on the right of the pier have small outboard motors on them and you can use them like bumper cars out on the river. We watched some kids at the Lake of the Springs camp using them and having a great time.

Down where you see the

flag is the end of Broadway and is the auto turn-around. Eloise is there in the white shirt on the bicycle on what the locals call the promenade or just prom. It is a paved walking/bike riding path the runs a long way, from 12th street down past the Lewis and Clark salt making location to some apartment buildings.

Seaside Turn-Around

A rare moment in time when no cars are circling the turn-around at the end of Broadway.

Of course there was a 4th of July parade. Be calm, I'm not going to include many pictures...just a portion.

Eloise and I were on opposite sides of the road. That worked good because we could get different perspectives on the parade.

Just one band, but it was big and had flag girls. Flag girls must have started sometime after I graduated, there certainly weren't any at Nordhoff High!

Some Seaside police ride bicycles. Very smart!

You can see these pedal carts running all around thru the city streets.

This was a hit with me. Cute huh?

Here's a row of pretty neat cars. Hey George, what is that 3rd car back??

I don't usually shoot horses, but these were the only ones in the parade. No, really, just two! Not only that, there were two pick up wagons behind them.

I didn't recognize this car, but I was able to take a picture of the hub cap and its emblem. DB. I was thinking maybe Deusenberg. Wrongo! It's the emblem used by the Dodge Brothers after 1938 for awhile. Before that there was a Star of David around the DB.