May 2025

Back in the Pacific Northwest

It was bittersweet to leave the Yosemite Valley.  We had a final night at Hodgdon Meadow Campground, which is on the northwestern side of Yosemite National Park.   From Yosemite National Park it was  a hard shift back to a city.  We didn't want to detour off the road too much, so we stayed a night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Sacramento, which is actually in Wheatland, CA.  Although there was a designated area for RVs, there were a ton of people who used the space as overflow parking.  We constantly heard people coming and going, doing donuts in their cars, and we even saw on our security cameras a guy peeing right behind the van.  It was an obnoxious evening and we didn't sleep well.   Hailey had hoped for a better experience since we had a much better stay at the Silver Reef Casino in Ferndale, WA.  

Thankfully the next night was spent boondocking in Cline Gulch, which was much more peaceful.  On the way to Cline Gulch we stopped at Lassen Volanic National Park.  We couldn't drive all the way through due to the snow, but we were able to do a three mile walk with Lucky since we stayed on pavement the entire time.        

We drove to the Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center at Redwood National Park but the power was out.  Without electricity they couldn't sell any of their merchandise.  We were able to talk to a ranger and get information about dog friendly walk paths.  There were high winds at the  Prairie Creek Visitor Center so the main road through the park was closed.  We were able to walk the Cal Barrel road and main road with Lucky since there was no traffic.  It was a nice jaunt through the trees and we saw a salamander.    

Josh found a great dispersed campsite for the night off of China Mountain Road.  The last stretch of the road to get to the turnoff was narrow and had a steep dropoff.  Both of us felt uneasy about it but we went slow and it was fine.  The area was nice and quiet, and we had a beautiful view of the trees and water. 

Since finding dispersed campsites on the Oregon coast is challenging, we did spend a night at Chinook RV Park, and then at the Oregon Coast Military Museum and the Blue Heron French Cheese Company (the latter two are listed on Harvest Hosts).  This was our third time staying at the Blue Heron French Cheese Company.  We appreciate that there's no check-in or check-out time, they just ask that you register and don't stay for longer than five consecutive nights.  We also enjoy browsing their store and exploring the grounds, which includes a petting zoo.   While in the Tillamook area we stopped in Nehalem, which is one of our favorite towns.  We tried the chowder and ice cream at Buttercup Ice Creams & Chowders.  Both were really good and we'd get them again when in the area next time.   

After a few days in Tillamook we headed to Edgewood, WA to catch up with some friends.  We stayed the night in their driveway before arriving in Marysville, WA on Mother's Day.  We'll stay in Marysville for several weeks as we do some van modifications and upgrades.  The primary upgrade will be installing a high output alternator.  This will make it so we aren't as reliant on our deployable solar panels and we can convert the cupboard that stores the solar panels into a shoe cubby instead.